New research has linked regular exercise with a lowered risk of getting Covid-19, or at the very least, with greater protection against a severe bout.
Spain-based researchers have discovered that people who were physically active were about 11% less likely to get infected with the virus compared to their less active counterparts.
When physically active people did catch the infection, they were about 36% less likely to be hospitalised and 43% less likely to die compared to their more sedentary counterparts.
A weekly total of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity appears to afford the best protection, the study suggests.
The study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine analysed data from 16 studies covering 1.8 million people through March 2022 to look for links between physical activity and how well a person fared with Covid-19.
The average age of participants was 53 and just over half the sample size (54%) were women.
Most of the studies were observational and were carried out in South Korea, England, Iran, Canada, the UK, Spain, Brazil, Palestine, South Africa and Sweden.