Cycling, lung health and covid

[horizon]

AIUI these three things are true:

1. Covid-19 is a disease of the lungs (or at least respiratory system)
2. Cycling improves lung health (this is something I assumed we all agreed on in this forum, but please correct me if necessary)
3. There is a measure, if not of lung health then of lung capacity.

My question is this: is there a relationship between any two or three of the above? If so, what is the measured level that indicates lung health and is that indicative of a better or worse response to covid-19?

Given that the young are the best-off in terms of covid, the fact that they cycle a lot doesn't really tell us much; given that the worst-off in terms of covid are in their eighties and therefore don't whizz around much on bicycles therefore also doesn't tell us much.

But what about people in their fifties, sixties and seventies (and the odd person their eighties)?

[Jdsk]

It isn't only a disease of lungs, but it often affects lungs.

Cycling, like all exercise, can increase and preserve lung capacity and that's measurable, but "lung health" is a very vague term. It's multifactorial and I'd be very wary of trying to use any single measurement.

I'm not aware of "low exercise" as a particular risk factor for either catching the disease or it being more serious if you do, but I wouldn't be surprised by either.

And in observational studies it's hard to unpick "low exercise" causing ill-health from ill-health causing "low exercise".

Jonathan

[thirdcrank]

Accepting that "a lot" is hard to quantify, I'm not convinced that young people - especially school-age people - do cycle much, particularly in terms of distance. ie They may do some BMX/ dirt tracking type riding, but not so much cycling to school, going off an a weekend ride etc.

[Phileas]

Not specifically lung health but I thought there was a correlation between fitness and immune system function.

[Jdsk]

Wikipedia "Comorbidities":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus_disease_2019#Comorbidities
(That might be better broken out into subcategories such as risk of getting it, risk of serious disease, risk of death.)

CDC "People with Certain Medical Conditions":
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fneed-extra-precautions%2Fgroups-at-higher-risk.html

Jonathan

[horizon]

Thanks all for the replies.

Unless I have missed a discussion on another thread, I would have thought that people might have eagerly jumped in to enlighten me on this topic. I'm pretty sure that one member here has even reported having an enlarged lung due to cycling! I've never monitored any health aspect during my own cycling but others do: I wonder if cyclists aren't in prime position to assess their ability to respond positively to the current virus given its respiratory involvement. I have often thought that we are the lucky ones in all this!

My concern at the moment however is to avoid wading (unintentionally despite what others might think! ) into another covid controversy. I am going therefore to do some more Googling (building on replies above) and see what's out there (initial attempts weren't particularly rewarding) and take it from there.

[thirdcrank]

Without putting words in your mouth, I was wondering if you were looking for support for a theory that children cycle a lot -> children seem largely immune from this virus -> that must be because they cycle a lot -> I cycle a lot -> etc.

[horizon]

Without putting words in your mouth, I was wondering if you were looking for support for a theory that children cycle a lot -> children seem largely immune from this virus -> that must be because they cycle a lot -> I cycle a lot -> etc.

Thanks for that thirdcrank. No, not at all. More along the lines of regular (keen?) cyclists should have
"good lungs" (at least that is what I always thought) and thus perhaps a bit better prepared for a respiratory virus. Why I discounted young people is that it appears (from news reports) that they don't suffer from the virus anyway so the fact that they cycle wasn't relevant.

I don't doubt that cyclists have their fair share of colds and flu (I certainly do) but I wondered how they got on in terms of experiencing and surviving covid should they get it (or not get it?). Given that we can measure these things, I wondered if we could say cyclists develop healthy lungs, this is measured in such and such a way and those that score xyz seem to be less affected by covid (at various levels of the disease).

I have only glanced cursorily at these things in the past but here is a quick sample of what I mean:

https://www.active.com/running/articles ... nd-vo2-max.

I'm not making a case here BTW (it really isn't my field), I was asking for more information and Jdsk (thank you) has already pointed out that it might be more complex than that. This organisation seems to show a broader range of what might be involved:

https://www.blf.org.uk/support-for-you/ ... -breathing

Another BTW is that I am making a huge layperson's assumption here about the relationship between lung condition and covid so this general idea might not have legs at all (if you'll excuse the analogy!).

[thirdcrank]

.... this general idea might not have legs at all ....

That might be why nobody jumped in to enlighten you on this topic.

[horizon]

.... this general idea might not have legs at all ....

That might be why nobody jumped in to enlighten you on this topic.

Hmmm, interesting. To my mind it seems an obvious connection, but as I say, purely from a layperson's perspective. At this point in time though, even clutching at straws does seem reasonable.

[backnotes]

This study https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ful ... acel.12750 of lung health and immune response in older long-distance cyclists has been discussed somewhere on here before (but I can't immediately find where).

The study was also briefly summarised in this BBC report https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43308729

The study was obviously done before Covid-19 came on the scene, so it relates to the immune system in general rather than to any improved outcomes with Covid-19.

[backnotes]

PS it may have been this thread viewtopic.php?f=49&t=93180&hilit=lazarus

(sorry I don't know how to refer to the whole of a thread I have found using a search on a term in the thread so there are lots of highlights!)

[horizon]

Many thanks for that. Yes, I do know about the study and actually I think it would be great if they followed up the group (or set up a new one) and looked at their response to covid.

[Psamathe]

Maybe worth noting that the severe impacts of Covid-19 can be caused by the body immune system over-reacting - a cytokine storm. As to how the risk of such issues relate to "lung health" or even immune system "health" I'd be uncertain. One thought is that younger age groups are less affected by severe Covid-19 impacts because their immune systems are not as well developed and so there is less risk of the cytokine storm https://www.newscientist.com/term/cytokine-storm/.

Ian

[cyclop]

As an ex fellrunner with what was then,very high cardio,pulmonary and vascular levels,I can say,in all honesty,I,m HEALTHIER now,30yrs later,with decent cycling fitness.What I mean is,I would pick up two or three infections a year when training hard every day at a younger age whereas now,at 68,I never get any ,despite cycling at least 4-5times a week in all weathers.Draw whatever conclusions you fancy.