The Immune System, Cancer, HIV and Exercise
Exercise = two-edged sword ⚔️:
- ✅ Moderate → beneficial
- ❌ Excess → negative effects
Exercise and Cancer
- Moderate exercise → lowers risk of colon & breast cancer 🎗️
- Young women exercising regularly during reproductive years → reduced breast cancer risk 👩🦰🏋️♀️
- Cancer patients exercising regularly → improved psychological well-being 😊, preservation of lean tissue 💪, enhanced immune system 🛡️
Exercise and the Immune System
- Moderate exercise → ↑ mood 😄 + ↑ immune function 🛡️
- Chronic intense exercise → mood disturbance 😔 + suppressed immune system 🛑
- Optimal level of exercise = strongest resistance to illness 💪
Exercise and HIV
- HIV → AIDS progression risk ⬆️
- Anxiety & depression = risk factors 😟
- Exercise → ↓ anxiety & depression 😊 → slows negative effects of HIV
- Moderate exercise = complementary therapy for HIV psychological effects 🏃♂️
Social Physique Anxiety, Physical Self-Concept & Body Image
Constructs describing how one feels about their body:
- Social Physique Anxiety 😰 → fear of negative evaluation by others
- Physical Self-Concept 🏋️♀️ → self-perception of physical self
- Body Image 🖼️ → mental picture of one's body
- High anxiety + low self-concept & poor body image → low exercise motivation ❌
- Physically active people → better body image 😄
Exercise Addiction
- Psychophysiological dependence on exercise 🏃♂️
- Missing workouts → mood disturbance 😤, anxiety 😰, depression 😔
- Addicted exercisers = "obligatory runners" 🏃♀️ → exercise despite pain/injury ⚡
Eating Disorders & Physical Activity
Clinically Diagnosed Eating Disorders ⚠️
1. Anorexia Nervosa
- Severe weight loss ⚖️
- Refusal to maintain normal weight 🚫
- Intense fear of gaining weight 😨
- Severe body image disturbance 🪞
- Requires professional help 🏥
2. Bulimia Nervosa
- Binge eating + purging ≥2x/week for 3 months ⏱️🍽️
- Loss of self-control 😟
- Severe body image disturbance 🪞
- Treatment requires professional help 🏥
Subclinical Eating Disorders among Athletes
- Pressure to be thin for sports like gymnastics & dance 🤸♀️🩰
- Subclinical eating disorders → more common than clinical
- Meta-analysis (92 studies, 10,878 athletes):
- Athletes > non-athletes in eating disorder symptoms ⚠️
- Aesthetic sports (gymnastics, dance) > non-aesthetic sports 💃🤸♂️
- Drive for thinness ≈ same in athletes & non-athletes ⚖️
Eating Disorders & Unhealthy Exercise Behavior
- Anorexia Analogue Hypothesis: males (obligatory runners) & anorexic females → common drive for thinness through excessive exercise 🏃♀️
- Muscle Dysmorphia 💪🪞: preoccupation with not being muscular, compulsive weightlifting & diet
- Wrestlers Making Weight ⚖️🥊: rapid weight loss → dehydration 💧, hypoglycemia 🩸, cognitive decrements 🧠, mood disturbances 😔
Summary
This chapter examined the immune system, cancer, HIV and exercise noting that exercise is a two-edged sword where moderate exercise is beneficial but excess exercise has negative effects, describing exercise and cancer where moderate exercise lowers risk of colon and breast cancer with young women exercising regularly during reproductive years having reduced breast cancer risk and cancer patients exercising regularly experiencing improved psychological well-being, preservation of lean tissue, and enhanced immune system, explaining exercise and immune system where moderate exercise increases mood and immune function while chronic intense exercise causes mood disturbance and suppressed immune system with optimal level of exercise providing strongest resistance to illness, discussing exercise and HIV where HIV increases AIDS progression risk with anxiety and depression as risk factors and exercise decreasing anxiety and depression thereby slowing negative effects of HIV making moderate exercise a complementary therapy for HIV psychological effects, defining social physique anxiety (fear of negative evaluation by others), physical self-concept (self-perception of physical self), and body image (mental picture of one's body) where high anxiety plus low self-concept and poor body image lead to low exercise motivation while physically active people have better body image, describing exercise addiction as psychophysiological dependence on exercise where missing workouts causes mood disturbance/anxiety/depression with addicted exercisers called obligatory runners who exercise despite pain or injury, explaining clinically diagnosed eating disorders including Anorexia Nervosa (severe weight loss, refusal to maintain normal weight, intense fear of gaining weight, severe body image disturbance, requires professional help) and Bulimia Nervosa (binge eating plus purging at least 2 times per week for 3 months, loss of self-control, severe body image disturbance, treatment requires professional help), discussing subclinical eating disorders among athletes noting pressure to be thin for sports like gymnastics and dance with subclinical eating disorders more common than clinical and meta-analysis of 92 studies with 10,878 athletes finding athletes greater than non-athletes in eating disorder symptoms, aesthetic sports like gymnastics and dance greater than non-aesthetic sports, and drive for thinness approximately same in athletes and non-athletes, and explaining eating disorders and unhealthy exercise behavior through Anorexia Analogue Hypothesis where males (obligatory runners) and anorexic females share common drive for thinness through excessive exercise, Muscle Dysmorphia involving preoccupation with not being muscular with compulsive weightlifting and diet, and wrestlers making weight through rapid weight loss leading to dehydration/hypoglycemia/cognitive decrements/mood disturbances.