Metabolic and Hormonal Effects of COVID-19 and the Role of Exercise in Coping with It during Infection and Recovery

Infection with the COVID-19 virus has a wide range of adverse effects on the metabolic and endocrine systems, and in fact, one of the main ways of influencing this new virus has been through these systems. This is why people with chronic underlying diseases such as obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and hypertension show more severe symptoms and higher mortality rates. On the other hand, exercise can reduce the symptoms resulting from disease and reduce its lasting effects by improving metabolic health and modulating hormonal mechanisms. Due to the new and unknown nature of COVID-19, clinical trials and experimental studies have not been performed to investigate the effect of exercise on mortality or severity and persistence of symptoms in patients with COVID-19, but exercise with modifications can improve insulin resistance, reduce the amount of mass, improve fat and anti-inflammatory properties, and increase the expression of ACE2 receptors, intracellular metabolism and other pathways that all can play a positive role in combating the virus. Due to the unknown aspects of the mechanism of COVID-19 and exercise, more studies need to be done on the dose-response relationship of exercise before and after the infection in different age groups and specific groups.