Covid-19 & Health Update: It is Still About Inflammation & Comorbidities

RVAchironeuro • July 29, 2021

Hello Everyone:

You probably know that over 90% of the deaths related to Covid-19 are among those with the most comorbidities. You also probably know that we are having an ongoing pandemic of chronic disease as well as Covid-19. And furthermore, you probably also know that both of these pandemics are fueled by inflammation, i.e., chronic diseases such as heart disease, pre-diabetes, obesity, overweight, brain fog and dementia, fatigue and infectious disease are associated with chronic low-grade inflammation. Here is a great paper to help summarize this information along with what we can do about it. It is well written, and you do not need a science background to get this important information. Along with standard medical care, incorporating an anti-inflammatory lifestyle can significantly reduce the risks of these issues. Here are some selected quotes:

“Anti-inflammatory effects of exercise are well established. Data from observational studies indicate that increased physical activity and/or cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with lower risk of elevated inflammatory markers.

Comprehensive lifestyle interventions involving both exercise and diet have been shown to reduce markers of inflammation.

Postprandial (after we eat) hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) and hypertriglyceridemia (high blood fats) appear to be pro-inflammatory, with the peak postprandial inflammatory response occurring approximately 4 hours after ingestion of the meal.

  This postprandial pro-inflammatory response is added to the low-grade inflammation associated with obesity, poor diet, and a sedentary lifestyle. The quality of the meal, rather than the calorie content, appears to be the most important. A 900-kcal high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal…produced a significant inflammatory response, but a calorically equivalent American Heart Associate-recommended meal rich in fiber and fruit produced no postprandial inflammatory response.

Even modest changes in exercise and diet can produce favorable long-term changes in biomarkers of inflammation.”

Bottom Line:
A combination of lifestyle factors can reduce your burden of chronic low-grade inflammation and significantly lower your risk of developing poor health from almost any cause. Eat Right, Move Right, Think Right and help your body produce an optimally healthy state. The study shows that these upgrades do not have to be perfect as there are significant reductions in inflammation even without normalizing body mass index…thus it is critical to improve your chronic inflammatory burden to reduce risk and increase health resiliency no matter where you are at right now. As Nike says, ‘Just Do It!’

 

 

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Health News Update: Sleep Timing, Mood & Performance 4.6.26 Hello everyone: In taking a history at the start of a healthcare process, I often find people of all ages have sleep schedules that do not match optimal circadian rhythms and have un-knowingly contributed to degrading their health. Sleep is a significant component of leading an anti-inflammatory lifestyle as it fosters autophagy (an immune based essential self-cleaning function, hormonal regulation, stress reduction, immune resilience, optimal aging, and more. As it turns out, getting your sleep timing right lowers depression, reduces morning fatigue, improves physical functions, and can markedly increase your ability to think, recall things and overall cognitive functions. Proper sleep timing aligned with our natural circadian clocks may also decrease mortality risks. Background There is conflict between living according to our endogenous biological rhythms and our external environment, with disruptions resulting in negative consequences to health and performance. This is often documented in shift work and jet lag , but ‘societal norms’ (eg, typical working hours) can create profound issues for ‘night owls’, people whose internal biological timing predisposes them to follow an unusually late sleep-wake cycle. Night owls have also been associated with health issues, mood disturbances, poorer performance and increased mortality rates . Results Overall, participants demonstrated a significant advance of ∼2 h in sleep/wake timings as measured by actigraphy and circadian phase markers (dim light melatonin onset and peak time of the cortisol awakening response), whilst having no adverse effect on sleep duration. Notably, the phase advance was accompanied by significant improvements to self-reported depression and stress, as well as improved cognitive (reaction time) and physical (grip strength) performance measures during the typical ‘suboptimal’ morning hours. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1389945719301388?via%3Dihub resetting sleep timing improves brain function and overall health. Bottom Line: For long term health, assisting recovery, optimal aging, improving immune resilience, lowering your total inflammatory burden thus reducing your risk for developing chronic diseases…it looks like a very good idea to get your sleep cycles in line with your natural biological rhythms. The researchers aimed to accomplish this using only simple practical natural lifestyle methods…no medications. Here is some of what they did: · Avoid blue light after dark. · Get some early morning sunshine…even 5 minutes will help. · Exercise in the morning or early afternoon. · Adopt early time restricted feeding schedules (eTRF). · Fix a time to sleep and stick to it. If you have any chronic health issues, or just want to optimize the aging process, simply adopt a few simple lifestyle strategies. I have seen this clinically be one of the major keys to the success when it comes to overcoming fatigue, brain fog, digestive issues, and any chronic health problem. Best wishes to you for a healthy life!
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