Regular physical activity may help protect you from severe COVID-19—and could even keep you from getting infected, according to a research review published Aug. 22 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

“It’s time to consider exercise as medicine,” says co-author Yasmin Ezzatvar, a doctor of physical therapy and a nursing instructor at Spain’s University of Valencia. “This is more evidence to really affirm that.”

The researchers analyzed 16 previously published studies that looked for associations between physical activity and COVID-19 outcomes. These studies included more than 1.8 million adults in all, and most relied on participants self-reporting their exercise habits. Most of the studies were conducted in 2020 and e…