COVID 2024 Surge: The most accessible defense

In this video from MedCram, Dr. Seheult provides a COVID-19 update.  Reviewing recent SARS-CoV-2 viral activity levels in wastewater, it can be seen that there has been an uptick in viral activity. Wastewater is more accurate because it doesn’t depend on the amount of testing you are doing amongst the public.  Even though levels in the wastewater are matching those seen in earlier spikes such as in winter of 2022 and January 2024, hospitalizations are not as high as they were at that time. 

Longevity is something that everyone is seeking–to live long and healthy, but the enemy of longevity is chronic disease. These diseases include heart disease, diabetes, obesity, dementia, inflammation, long COVID, cancer. These are also the risk factors that put patients into the hospital and have a more difficult time when they are infected with SARS-CoV-2. All of these diseases have something in common though. They all have mitochondrial dysfunction.

What are mitochondria?

The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. It burns fuel to make energy and carbon dioxide. The mitochondria also makes heat in the form of oxidative stress, and if the mitochondria can’t deal with this oxidative stress it makes it less efficient and will cause problems and disease.  Scientists are finding out that the mitochondria make melatonin on site to help deal with this reactive oxygen species. Melatonin is the cooling system of the mitochondria. 

How does red light and near infrared light help?

Red light and near infrared light are being shown now scientifically to have an effect on the mitochondria by causing the production of melatonin. Infrared light is something you can’t see. This type of light can penetrate solid objects better including bone because it is low frequency light. Infrared light is also reflected highly in grass and trees.  As the mitochondria get near infrared light, it causes production of melatonin which results in less oxidative stress, more ATP, increased CO2 production and decreased glucose production. This was seen in a study by Glen Jeffery in the Journal of Biophotonics in January 2024 and they found that after giving the subjects a 75 g glucose load and then exposing them to red light for 15 minutes, there was a 27% reduction in blood glucose compared to placebo and an increase in carbon dioxide production. In another study in July 2019 from the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism they found that being exposed to sunlight for 7 days prior to lab work improved insulin sensitivity and decreased triglycerides. Another study in March 2016 in the Journal of Internal Medicine by Lindquist et al. found that nonsmokers who avoided sun exposure had a life expectancy similar to smokers in the highest sun exposure group.  In Environment Research in Oct 2018 when they did an analysis of greenspace exposure and health outcomes they found that spending time in, or living close to natural green spaces was associated with diverse and significant health benefits. It reduced the risk of type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, premature death, and preterm birth and increased sleep duration.  The study went on to report  that people who lived closer to nature also had reduced diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and stress. They found that exposure to greenspace significantly reduced people’s levels of salivary cortisol which is a physiological marker of stress.  Even now the dermatologists in the August 2024 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology are calling for a rethink on sun exposure and have issued statements recognizing that sunlight has beneficial effects that should be considered when formulating policy on sunlight exposure.  

ACE2 receptor and COVID-19

The SARS-CoV-2 virus hits the ACE2 receptor which also is an enzyme that is responsible for balancing oxidative stress in the mitochondria. If you knock out this receptor with a SARS-CoV-2 virus molecule, this is the same effect as knocking out the cooling system in your mitochondria. It can no longer work and cool itself effectively. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic we saw patients with diabetes, heart disease, obesity, dementia, inflammation and cancer get hit the hardest and these are the same diseases that already have mitochondrial dysfunction. 

What about vitamin D?

We saw that patients with high Vit D levels in COVID-19 seemed to do better than those with less vitamin D; however when patients were supplemented with vitamin D in the hospital they would not necessarily fair better. This led Dr. Seheult to believe that vitamin D was possibly a marker for how much sunlight exposure a patient had.  In January 2021 in Scientific Reports they found that latitude was correlated to the Autumn COVID-19 surge dates in Europe and not to temperature or humidity. Another study in April 2021 in Epidemiology  found that as you went north to south in terms of latitude mortality went down. They felt that based on this study that optimizing sun exposure may be a possible public health intervention given that the effect appears to be independent of a vitamin D pathway. In Brazil Jan 2023 by Pereira et. al. they did a study where subjects with COVID-19 had a jacket with near infrared light placed on them for 15 minutes a day and those subjects had improved oxygen saturation improvement, increased tidal volume, improved white blood cells and decreased respiratory rate and heart rate compared to the control group. These subjects were also found to be discharged from the hospital 4 days earlier compared to the control group. 

What happens with sun exposure?

Dr. Seheult discusses a patient that he had admitted with COVID-19 that was worsening. He was getting worse and as a last ditch effort patient was taken outside into the sun. Dr. Seheult notes that patient after sun exposure slowly improved and eventually was able to be discharged home.  However, if you go back to the 1800’s it was noted by healthcare reformers that air and sunlight were important in the recovery of a patient’s illness was sun and fresh air. 

So what can individuals do to try and improve their longevity and immune system?  It is important to get out at least 20-30 minutes a day especially in the morning as it has been shows to have significant improvement in circadian and cognitive and mood stabilizing qualities.  Plus it helps with our mitochondrial which may in the long run help with chronic disease.

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