At-Home Exercises Can Help Older People Boost Their Immune Systems

Research suggests older people can significantly reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection by keeping active

Exercise can enhance overall health and improve immune system response, which is critical to surviving COVID-19. Rocketclips, Inc./Shutterstock

Older adults, especially those over 65, have five times the risk of hospitalization and 90 times the risk of death from COVID-19 compared with younger adults.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 78 percent of the more than 114,000 COVID-19 related deaths between May and August were people age 65 and older. Many of those individuals had compromised immune systems due, in part, to a variety of other health conditions that include obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, respiratory disease, and hypertension.