Dr. David Hanscom, an orthopedic surgeon whom I’ve previously interviewed about strategies for chronic back pain, quit his practice to focus on educating others on becoming pain-free without surgery. Most recently, after surviving COVID-19, he turned his attention to prevention and surviving it, which is an important part of this discussion. We've known for some time now that with diet, exercise and other interventions, you can radically reduce your risk of COVID-19. The focus of Hanscom’s COVID-19 prevention is on strengthening immune function through stress and anxiety reduction, and he has very specific and precise recommendations on how to do that. As explained by Hanscom, pain is largely a symptom of stress and anxiety, which in turn are predicated on inflammation more so than psychological factors.
Cytokines, Anxiety, Pain and Poor Immune FunctionCytokines are small proteins that serve to regulate different tissues. There are both proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Cytokines have specific relevance to COVID-19, as they modulate your immune system and its function. By reducing or resolving stress and anxiety, you lower levels of inflammatory cytokines, thereby allowing your immune system to function better. Hanscom has developed a working group that meets once a week to discuss and share information. Other members of the group include Stephen Porges, Ph.D., a behavioral neuroscientist who developed Polyvagal 30, and Dr. David Clawson, a podiatrist who is very knowledgeable about cytokines.
Anxiety Is a Symptom of InflammationWhen your autonomic nervous system becomes dysregulated, you can — as Hanscom did — go from feeling fine one day to having a panic attack out of the blue the next. He explains:
With regard to diet, there are several reasons for why processed foods cause inflammation. For starters, they tend to be very high in refined carbohydrates which, when consumed in excess, causes insulin resistance, thereby raising inflammatory cytokine production and massively increasing your risk of COVID-19. They’re also loaded with industrially processed omega-6 vegetable oils, which are proinflammatory. Lowering Inflammation Improves COVID-19 SurvivalAccording to Hanscom, removing the threat and creating a sense of safety not only lowers inflammatory markers and eliminates pain, it also improves your immune system’s ability to respond appropriately to fight off foreign invaders, be it SARS-CoV-2 or any other pathogen.
The Vagus NerveAs explained by Hanscom, your vagus nerve, the 10th cranial nerve which is the main part of your parasympathetic nervous system, acts as a brake on your sympathetic nervous system. Your sympathetic nervous system is activated in response to threats, whereas your parasympathetic nervous system is activated through the relaxation response.
How to Activate Relaxation Response and Lower InflammationSo, just how do you activate this vagal response to induce relaxation and lower your inflammatory markers? In the interview, Hanscom reviews several strategies known to do this, including the following: • Expressive writing -- According to Hanscom, there are more than 1,000 research papers showing expressive writing reduces viral load and inflammatory markers. How to do it: Simply write down your thoughts, then tear up the pages. As explained by Hanscom:
• Quality sleep -- For dozens of sleep hygiene tips, see “Sleep — Why You Need It and 50 Ways to Improve It.” • Forgiveness practice -- The antidote to anxiety is control. If you lose control, your body secretes more stress hormones, more cytokines, triggering anger and anxiety.
• Intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating -- There are several ways to do this. Some of the most common time-restricted eating schedules are summarized in “Intermittent Fasting May Prevent Diabetes.” One of the easiest is simply to restrict your eating to a six- to eight-hour window each day, making sure you eat your last meal at least three hours before bed. Research has shown time-restricted eating will significantly lower your inflammatory markers. • Exogenous ketones -- While time-restricted eating and intermittent fasting will boost your ketone production, you can also use a ketone supplement. Ketones catalyze metabolic pathways that reduce inflammation. For example, they inhibit NRLP3 inflammasome and activate NRF2. As explained by Hanscom, viruses also don’t like ketones: They like sugar, so they can help lower viral replication. His work group has developed a nutritional protocol they believe could help solve the pandemic, as it affects every step of the viral stage.
Other simple ways to activate your vagus nerve, thereby triggering the relaxation response and lowering inflammatory markers include the following. For more details about how these work, listen to the interview or read through the transcript.
More InformationTo learn more, be sure to peruse Hanscom’s “Thrive and Survive” manual, available on BackInControl.com.1 There, you can also find free guides2 explaining expressive writing and other pain-treatment guidelines. Hanscom is also the author of “Do You Really Need Spine Surgery?” available at your local bookstore, or online. Lastly, Hanscom is in the process of releasing a subscription-based app called DOCjourney,3,4 designed to help you resolve chronic pain without surgery. DOC stands for “direct your own care.” The subscription incudes virtual group coaching, live seminars, exclusive content and more.
In closing, I’d like to reiterate one of the key take-home messages Hanscom stressed in this interview, namely that “anxiety is a physiological response to a threat. If your body is inflamed, you’re going to feel anxious.” And, that the answer, not just for anxiety, stress and pain, but also for general immune system health, is to implement strategies that reduce your stress response, make you feel safe again and lower inflammation. from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/10/25/hanscom-covid-19-prevention.aspx
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