From the Desk of Dr. Karl R.O.S. Johnson, DC.....

As we bid farewell to the sunny days of summer and prepare for the bustling autumn season, we relish in the moments of sunshine, pool gatherings, and BBQs. However, with the increase in insect activity comes a heightened risk of exposure to harsh chemicals and heavy metals. These toxins can accumulate in our bodies, leading to a range of health issues such as hormonal imbalances, allergies, and even serious conditions like autoimmune disorders and cancers. It is vital to take proactive measures to evaluate individual risks and combat these harmful exposures to reduce our body's toxic burden and enhance overall wellness.

Here’s some tips to help avoid sizzling away your immune system this time of the year

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Exhaustive Research Endeavors Aim to Combat Long COVID

Scientists don’t know for sure what causes Long COVID, but the prevalence of the condition and the lack of answers has increased research studies looking for answers.

ClinicalTrials.gov currently lists 386 trials under the search term Long COVID and comments that there is a desperate need for effective long COVID treatments.

COVID 19 is a coronavirus. The coronavirus has one very important component – a spike protein.  It's the key player responsible for how the virus enters your body's cells.

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Intermittent Fasting (IF) is currently one of the world's most popular health and fitness trends.

Besides assisting with weight loss, IF has many additional health benefits I will share in this article.

By definition, intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that involves regular, short-term fasts — or periods of minimal or no food consumption. Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of eating and fasting.

Here is the most common way IF is performed:

You start your eating at noon and your last meal at 8 pm.

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COVID-19 can sometimes overwhelm young and old immune systems and in some cases can result in ‘Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome’ pneumonia and death (CDC (2020). The risk is greater for older people who may simultaneously be dealing with cancers, heart disease, diabetes, emphysema or other health issues.  As we age the immune system deteriorates  (immunosenescence) which reduces the response of the adaptive immune system that needs to respond to the virus infection (Aw, Silva & Palmer, 2007; Osttan, Monti, Gueresi, et al., 2016).

Severity of disease may depend upon initial dose of the virus

In a brilliant article, How does the coronavirus behave inside a patient? We’ve counted the viral spread across peoples; now we need to count it within people, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and cancer physician Siddhartha Mukherjee points out that severity of the disease may be related to the initial dose of the virus.  Namely, if you receive a very small dose (not too many virus particles), they will infect you; however, the body can activate its immune response to cope with the infection.  The low dose exposure act similar to vaccination.  If on the other hand you are exposed to a very high dose then your body is overwhelmed with the infection and is unable to respond effectively.  Think of a forest fire. A small fire can easily be suppressed since there is enough time to upgrade the fire-fighting resources; however, during a fire-storm with multiple fires occurring at the same time, the fire-fighting resources are overwhelmed and there is not enough time to recruit outside fire-fighting resources.

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One day you woke up, looked at the piled-up candy wrappers on your bedside table and the running shoes that haven’t seen the light of day since you bought them and decided today was the day. Today was the day you decided to turn your life around and start living a healthy lifestyle. Have you abandoned your goal yet? If there are so many barriers to healthy living, how can we possibly meet our goals? It turns out that we're not doomed to failure, we're just going about the pursuance of our goals all wrong. Here's how you can set a goal you can stick to no matter what time of year you set it.

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