Your body is like a shopping mall. The
outer wall is your skin, creating a barrier between the regulated, clean and
efficient internal environment and the changing external environment.
Around
every opening is a system of traps against unwanted elements. The security
guards of the body are the small hairs and the sticky membranes of the ears,
nose, mouth, and eyes, backed up by the saliva in the mouth, the salty tears in
the eyes, and the acid in the stomach.
If
the security guards let the body down and troublemakers start wreaking havoc,
they can be expelled by bringing in the reinforcements of coughing, sneezing,
and vomiting.
If
any undesirables get past these first layers of defence, the body has a veritable
army of professionals to call on. The defensive force of the body is called the
immune system, which is linked together by a specialized transport system
called the lymphatic system.
The
main professional security guards in the inner sanctum of your body are called
lymphocytes, which manufacture missiles called antibodies to fire at intruders.
After a while white cells come along to clean up after the battle and swallow
what is left of the invader.
The
lymphatic system, like the shopping mall, has a system of sanitary workers
(lymphocytes and macrophages) scouring your body for foreign particles,
microbes, cells, bacteria, and viruses.
These
antibodies are made in the spleen, the bone marrow or the thymus. The spleen
sits up under your heart, and also works to break down and destroy old red
blood cells as they are pumped through it by the heart.
Regular
exercise increases the amount of blood in the cardiovascular system, which
means more blood will be pumping through the spleen, increasing its efficiency
in producing antibodies and filtering out old red blood cells.
The
sewerage system of the lymphatic system has a series of flexible pipes called
lymphatic vessels. The main reservoir of lymph is called a cistern, the
cisterna chyli, located on your right side near your liver.
This
sewerage system has lots of sanitation bays, called lymph nodes. These are
about the size of a kidney bean, and are found in clusters at strategic points
around the body. You may be able to feel some of these lymph nodes under your
jaw, or under your armpit, or either side of your groin. Your tonsils are the
only visible part of the lymphatic system.
Lurking
in these lymph nodes are the macrophages, which are like jelly fish that can
engulf and destroy any unwanted matter in the lymphatic system. There are lots
of these located around the digestive system to stop invasions across the
intestinal wall. Regular exercise keeps the muscles of the digestion system
performing efficiently, and reduces the chance of invaders breaching your
intestinal walls.
The
lymphatic "sewerage system" has lots of watery fluid to keep the body
regularly rinsed. Regular low-intensity, long-duration exercise will increase
the volume of blood in the body by as much as 20 percent. This also means more
fluid available to the lymphatic system to flush through and clean the body.
Higher-intensity
activities, such as sports, circuit training or running, will increase your
body's temperature and rate of metabolism. This is like giving yourself a regular,
healthy fever, which inhibits microbe growth and speeds up body reactions that
aid repair of damage done by troublemakers.
The ends
of the lymph vessels are open and shaped like the head of a vacuum cleaner.
These open ends are constantly sucking up the fluids between the cells of the
body for cleaning, sanitizing and filtering.
The
lymphatic system is similar to the veins in that it is dependant on the
movement of muscles to force lymphatic fluid around the body. As the muscles
contract to move, they also constrict the lymphatic tissues. As these tissues
are squeezed, lymphatic fluid is pushed along the lymphatic vessels.
Exercise
can assist this process by using the large skeletal muscles to rhythmically
contract to force lymph through the lymphatic system. Once in the system,
foreign bodies can be filtered through the lymph nodes, where the macrophages
and the lymphocytes can destroy any foreign bodies. These destroyed bodies end
up in the kidneys for filtering into the urinary system.
A little
exercise is enough for good health of the lymphatic system. Research has shown
that too much high intensity exercise can suppress the ability of the body to
produce white cells in the blood stream. This lack of white blood cells reduces
the effectiveness of the immune system, making some athletes more susceptible
to infection.
Every
exercise session is like encouraging your lymphatic system to have a spring
cleaning of your body. Exercise makes you feel good, and research has shown
that your thoughts, feelings and moods can influence your level of health. Exercise
makes you feel positive, relaxed, strong, and fit. If you feel good this
will have a positive effect on your health.
