Microbiomes? What are those?

I came across an interesting article about microbiomes in athletes. That seems pretty esoteric, doesn't it? We all have our own microbiomes, microbes in our guts that protect against germs and break down food. It turns out, negative impacts to our microbiomes can make our lives quite difficult.

It turns out research has shown "athletes had more diverse microbiomes than healthy nonathletes." It's not clear yet why that's so, but it does raise a couple of questions Nordic walkers should find interesting.

• Do athletes get that way because of exercise or other reasons?
• If by exercise, how much or how intense is the exercise that leads to this quality?
• If by exercise, would regular Nordic walking contribute to a healthy microbiome?

Perhaps research will quickly yield some answers. Until then, happy walking!