Data Shows That Obese Individuals More Likely to Get COVID-19

Many months have gone by with the world and the United States dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Much has been learned as more data has been compiled to determine patterns of who has been infected. This data is of utmost importance in finding solutions to contain and diminish this severe contagion. In order to produce effective prophylactic and therapeutic strategies, future research needs to understand the sources of severity and complications.What has been determined is that specific demographics of people seem to have been affected much more than other groups. Certain factors such as individuals with comorbidities (multiple chronic illnesses), specific ethnic backgrounds and older aged people have had a greater risk of contracting the disease. Being obese puts someone more at risk for many serious chronic diseases. Over the last 3 years, obesity is one of the issues that has trended towards making an individual most susceptible to becoming affected by COVID-19 (Mal, et al., 2022).

https://immunityageing.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12979-020-00212-x

There is much scientific data that supports why biological and physiological mechanisms that fight off disease and illness become compromised due to the various health issues associated with obesity. COVID-19 and its relevance to adiposity are major predictors of severe disease and illness. Hypercytokinemia, immunological, endothelial dysfunction, dysregulation, and cardiovascular impairments are all possible mechanisms, where excess adipose tissue can increase an acute hyper-inflammatory state. This condition is typical of major SARSCoV-2 infections and relative negative symptoms. Increased levels of the pro-inflammatory adipokine leptin, in combination with the anti-inflammatory-acting ACE2 receptors in the lung epithelium of infected individuals, inhibit the innate immune response from being cleared, resulting in a ripple effect of tragic consequences for patients. When adipose tissue and associated immune cells increased cytokine secretion, the immune system can potentially overcompensate as a side-effect of pro-inflammatory “priming,” resulting in a cytokine storm. As a consequence of the immune system’s inability to produce a sufficient immunological response, virus clearance is compromised. High-risk patients that are at an advance age and/or those with obesity, may be more affected from a less robust immune system response and a lower lasting immunological memory, resulting in limited vaccine effectiveness (Mal, et al., 2022).

The CDC has stated “Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and Native American adults have a higher prevalence of obesity and are more likely to suffer worse outcomes from COVID-19. Racial and ethnic minority groups have historically not had broad opportunities for economic, physical, and emotional health, and these inequities have increased the risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19 for some groups. Many of these same factors are contributing to the higher level of obesity in some racial and ethnic minority groups.”

The pursuit of a healthy lifestyle that can impact the trajectory of COVID-19 disease, has been one of the most important insights reaped from this catastrophe. Hopefully, this insight will not be squandered until the next public health crisis. Government and political leaders stress that everyone should take action to slow the spread of COVID-19, for the benefit of all. We seem to have major public health issues occurring every few years. Personal accountability for ones own health, is indeed a way to change our current “sickcare” system to more of a “selfcare” system where people don’t wait to become sick before adopting a healthy lifestyle.

Systemic change does not happen overnight. Long-term weight loss is a work in progress. Some immediate steps that individuals can do to help protect themselves as well as their families during a pandemic are:

Eat a healthy diet
Use supplements as necessary and not as a substitute
Become more active
Execute regular physical activity
Get adequate sleep
Learn how to cope better with stress
Get adequate sun exposure to promote vitamin D production and natural immunity

These actions can help most individuals with obesity by improving their overall health. These actions can help to lower blood pressure, lower blood cholesterol, and lower blood sugars. With a lower body mass index or BMI, the risk of severe illnesses contributing to contracting COVID-19, as well as many other common diseases and illness can be reduced.

References:

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/obesity-and-covid-19.html

Mal, P., Mukherjee, T., Upadhyay, A. K., Mohanty, S., & Pattnaik, A. K. (2022). Connecting the dots between inflammatory cascades of obesity and COVID-19 in light of mortal consequences-a review. Environmental science and pollution research international, 29(38), 57040–57053. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21461-x

Mohammad, S., Aziz, R., Al Mahri, S. et al. Obesity and COVID-19: what makes obese host so vulnerable?. Immun Ageing 18, 1 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12979-020-00212-x

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Be more active, eat healthier, sleep better, stress less these are the key components to maintaining a strong immune system.

I am currently offering lectures and classes for group, small group & private instruction in Wekiva, Longwood and Winter Park.Mind and Body Exercises on Google: https://posts.gle/aD47Qo

I also have hundreds of FREE education video classes, lectures and seminars available on my YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/c/MindandBodyExercises

Mind and Body Exercises on Google: https://posts.gle/aD47Qo

Jim Moltzan

407-234-0119

www.MindAndBodyExercises.com

www.Amazon.com/author/jimmoltzan

Learn How Stress Affects Our Bodies, to Better Manage Our Well-being

How do you deal with stress?

take a few deep breaths
drink a few alcoholic beverages
take pharmaceuticals
consume some form of Marijuana, hallucinogen, or psychedelic
physical exercise
listen to soothing music
do nothing

In order to better manage stress, wouldn’t it help to better understand what stress is, and how it affects our bodies physiologically? Do we truly manage our stressors or just go with the “band-aid” approach of treating symptoms rather than addressing root causes?

Life and the experiences that it offers, is constantly changing and evolving for all that exist. Our senses are continuously receiving and interpreting stimulus to determine what is good or bad for our survival. Consequently, this input often manifests into what we call stress. We deal with stress through our thoughts and emotions. Our emotions directly affect how our brain processes information that affects all of our physiological mechanism and organ functions through the autonomic nervous and endocrine systems. Basically, thoughts and emotions affect our health and well-being whether with positive or negative outcomes.

The HPA-Axis is the physiological mechanism for how the mind and body respond to stress.

1 – Receptors sense stress stimuli and send chemical signals to the hypothalamus, which releases corticotropic (CRH) to the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland then releases adrenocorticotropic (ACTH) to the adrenal glands.

2 – The adrenal glands respond with the secretion of cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline to be released into the bloodstream.

3 – Immediate physiological changes are induced, including acceleration of heart and lung activity, elevated blood pressure, inhibition of digestive activity, tunnel vision, and sweating. Cortisol levels are then reported back to the hypothalamus completing a negative feedback loop to repeat the whole process as necessary.

Why is this important to understand? Because when cortisol levels are too high for prolonged periods of time, other physiological mechanisms become impaired. When levels are balanced cortisol plays in important role in regulating blood chemistry:

Increases gluconeogenesis

Mobilizes fatty acids from adipose

Breaks down stored proteins

Enhances SNS response

Puts brakes on inf‌lammation/immune response

Negative effects would include:

Increased insulin resistance

Altered perception & emotion in the central nervous system

Suppressed GH release

Suppressed TSH and inhibits peripheral activation of T4 into T3

Inhibited bone remodeling

Suppressed reproductive function

We do have the ability to consciously control and manage our stress whether through lifestyle choices, diet & nutrition, physical activity and attitude. A key component of managing stress is managing the parasympathetic (rest & digest) and sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system through consistent regulation of our breathing frequency and relative volume of each breath. This is a topic addressed in many of my other posts. Yoga, tai chi, qigong, meditation, martial arts and other methods have been proven to help to proactively manage stress and relative cortisol levels.

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I write often about topics that affect our health and well-being. Additionally, I teach and offer lecture about qigong, tai chi, baguazhang, and yoga.

For more info, contact Jim Moltzan at info@mindandbodyexercises.com, 407-234-0119 or through my site at http://www.mindandbodyexercises.com

www.Amazon.com/author/jimmoltzan

What is Qi?

Qi is pronounced as “chee” and means “breath” in Chinese. Other definitions are vitality, energy, force, air, vapor. Qi is the life energy that all living creatures require in order to exist. Different cultures call this energy Chi (English), Ki (from Japanese), Gi (Korean) or Prana (Indian).

Qi is a type of energy in the human body and circulates within the blood, cells, and tissues throughout. “When qi moves, blood follows” is a root concept with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Qi flows in a specific pattern, at specific times from one organ to the next through meridians within the body. These meridians or channels might best be described as something similar to the electrical lines on a printed circuit board. There are 12 main meridians, with 2 for each organ (situated bilaterally from head to toe) for 12 organs. Zang Fu Zhi qi, is that which circulates through the organs. Jing Luo Zhi qi is that which circulates through the meridians.

Qi has mass the same way smoke or vapor has mass; both are transitional states of form. Qi (energy) is regarded as one of the 3 Treasures (San Jiao) or essential components of life, with essence (Jing) and spirit (Shen) being the other two. When energy, essence and spirit are in harmony with one another, the person finds themselves alert, healthy, and vibrant. Or the opposite if their treasures are in imbalance. If this harmonious flow is disrupted, illness occurs.

• Physically (jing): energetically manifesting as the body’s cells and tissues into form, bone marrow, blood and bodily fluids.

• Energetically (qi): as resonant vibration, heat, sound, light and electromagnetic fields.

• Spiritually (shen): energetically manifesting through subtle vibrations which extend through space or Wu Ji.

The following graphic shows how qi can be conceptualized into the Chinese ideogram of rice cooking atop a heat source and producing the wisps of vapor (energy) that we see rising above the cooking rice.

The amount of qi in one’s body and the quality of it determines whether an individual is generally healthy or prone to illness. There is a finite amount in our bodies and is gradually exhausted due to age and possible abuses. When it decreases so does the lifespan of the individual.

A proper balance of nutrition, exercise and a healthy lifestyle directly affect the quality and abundance of qi. Emotions and their balance or lack thereof, affects the quality of an individual’s qi. The emotions of joy, anger, sadness, grief and fear affect our qi within specific organs.

I write often about topics that affect our health and well-being. Additionally, I teach and offer lecture about qigong, tai chi, baguazhang, and yoga. I also have hundreds of FREE education video classes, lectures and seminars available on my YouTube channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/c/MindandBodyExercises

Mind and Body Exercises on Google: https://posts.gle/aD47Qo

Jim Moltzan

407-234-0119

www.MindAndBodyExercises.com

www.Amazon.com/author/jimmoltzan