By Chris Collins on Friday, 23 April 2021
Category: Fitness

Anti-histamines and the Impact on Exercise


It's that time of year when golf courses are open and home owners are tending to their yards and gardens. And nothing could be worse for the allergy sufferers that have to deal with congested airways, itchy throats, watery eyes and constant sneezing.




Fortunately there are over-the-counter products that help deal with the histamines that cause many of these symptoms. But as with many medications there can be side effects beyond the relief of symptoms.




A recent study looked at how anti-histamines blunt the benefits of exercise. Histamine function is vital to the short and long term benefits of exercise. However when the body has a reaction to dust or pollen the immune system stimulates the release of anti-histamines to deal with this.




But when it comes to exercise histamines play an important role in circulation, capacity and glycemic control. The researchers wanted to know what impact anti-histamines would have on these areas of our health.




For the study healthy male participants were assigned to a control group that would receive a placebo or anti-histamines. The subjects then followed a six week exercise program to assess the impact of anti-histamines on circulation, exercise capacity and glycemic control. These areas are directly related to overall health, performance and disease i.e. diabetes.




The researchers noticed the following results:







The take home points:







Van der Stede, T., Blancquaert, L., Stassen, F., Everaert, I., Van Thienen, R., Vervaet, C., & Derave, W. (2021). Histamine H1 and H2 receptors are essential transducers of the integrative exercise training response in humans. Science Advances7(16), eabf2856.

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