Christine Michelle Metz also known as Chrissy Metz is an American actress and singer who gained immense popularity for her acting skills as Kate Pearson in NBC’s tv series “This Is Us”. Apart from this, she is also known for her side roles in movies such as Sierra Burgess is a Loser, Breakthrough, etc. She was nominated for various awards including the Primetime Emmy Award and the Golden Globe awards.
Almost everyone knows about Chrissy Metz’s achievements and her amazing acting skills but is very knowledgeable about her weight loss journey.
Indeed, Chrissy Metz lost a lot of weight. She went from 226kgs to 181kgs within a short time period of fewer than 5 months. In total, she lost about 100 pounds within that given frame of time.
Chrissy Metz’s weight loss journey
Chrissy Metz is now an inspiration for many who are trying to lose weight. Body shamers and haters who used to taunt her because of her weight now praise her because of her transformation.
But the path of losing weight was not that easy for Chrissy Metz. It required extreme mental and physical strength to achieve something like this within such a short time period.
Chrissy Metz’s weight loss story
Her traumatizing past never gives up attitude, and following a certain type of diet plan led to her weight loss.
According to Chrissy when she first read the script of “This is us” she found a lot of similarities between the character of Kate Pearson and herself. Chrissy Metz revealed, “Here was this woman who was actually dealing with weight”. In her interview with a Hollywood reporter she further said “She was a real woman who was really struggling, and all I could think was, Oh my god, I’m Kate”. And this character of Kate Pearson indirectly motivated her to lose weight. In the series, Kate had to go through a lot of hardships. Similarly, Chrissy herself had to go through a lot of hardships in the past.
Chrissy was born overweight and she was pretty sure of the fact she would gain even more weight later. According to an interview, Chrissy said, “My friends could eat whatever they wanted to but I knew that as a kid if I ate certain things I would totally gain weight“.
Chrissy also had to deal with poverty since childhood. In an interview, she said that her mother never used to eat enough food but rather used to save food for Chrissy and her siblings. The road to weight loss was very tough. She mentioned, “I remember attending Weight Watchers when I was like 11 years old.” It was uncomfortable for me because I was the youngest person in the damned room. My mother was attempting to work everything out, but it’s a process that takes some time.
From the very beginning, there were problems in the family according to Chrissy. Her father left the family when she was just 10 years old. Later her mother married another guy who was sort of triggering in nature. Chrissy wanted to lose weight from the very beginning. As a result, she started attending weight loss classes. But this did not help her enough. Moreover, her stepdad mocked her immense weight and put on physical and mental pressure on her. Her childhood was never easy and consisted of tremendous bearing of mental and physical pain.
Chrissy Metz talks about her past and how it inspired her to lose weight
Before moving to LA as directed by her manager she lost about 50 pounds but later gained back 100 pounds again. According to her, she was into emotional eating. In an interview, she said, “Oh, I’m happy- let’s celebrate and eat. I’m sad? Let me eat my feelings.”
Later on, she had to face immense body shaming by her fans. She never reacted to them but killed them off with kindness.
All these factors led to the new Chrissy Metz who prefers to eat healthily and stay fit for the rest of her life. She is an extreme source of inspiration for all of us.
How did Chrissy Metz lose 100 pounds (100 lbs)?
The weight loss journey of Chrissy Metz has never been easy. It took immense patience and killing off desires that come up in your journey. Although she wanted to lose weight right from the beginning, but according to her “your weight” should not define you. It’s your personality that matters more than how your look. Beauty is never associated with how fat or how thin you are. According to Chrissy Metz, she believed in 4 things that served as a motivation for her in order to shed 100 pounds.
Chrissy Metz has always mentioned the fact that she used to love herself more than anyone. If you cannot prioritize yourself over anyone then how could you love anyone else? Even though she faced severe body shaming, demotivation and hardships she never stopped loving herself and considering herself to be perfect. Her weight loss journey was a success as she wanted to show people that everything is possible if you really want to do it.
Meditation
On her 30th birthday, Chrissy was admitted to a hospital after an anxiety breakdown. This is the time she took up spirituality and meditation to break through this anxiety attack. Chrissy told in an interview “Meditation helped me to boost my confidence and motivated me to dive into my weight loss journey.”
Negative effects of being overweight
Chrissy Metz never wanted to lose weight rather she wanted to stay healthy by developing a certain fitness regime, eating healthy foods and staying focused. In an interview, Metz said, “Another thought crossed my mind, “What if I become so heavy that I am unable to move around or that I get stuck in the doorframe?” I said to myself, “I do not want this for myself.” She finally decided to lose weight when she learned about the various negative effects of being overweight. She went through various articles where she learned about how being overweight can cause high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, diabetes and stroke in the near future. This was enough for her to opt in for this weight loss journey.
Her past
Chrissy’s traumatizing past helped her to become strong mentally. This intense mental strength helped her to leave tempting junk foods, and concentrate on healthy foods that will help her in achieving her weight loss goals. Infact there was an incident where Metz was rushed to the hospital in 2010 on her 30th birthday because she was having a panic attack and was suffering from melancholy at the time. That event served as the defining moment in her life from that point forward. She was always called “fat” from the very beginning and in order to show everyone that anyone can lose weight if tried the right way, she did it.
Chrissy Metz diet plan for weight loss
Chrissy Metz talks about her weight loss
Chrissy Metz actually followed a specific calorie deficit diet for her weight loss journey. She used to follow a 2000 calorie deficit diet plan consisting of healthy foods that immensely helped her in achieving what she wants. In the beginning, before coming to LA, Chrissy lost about 50 pounds but later she gained about 100 pounds because of not following a proper diet plan.
Later, just like Doja cat, she understood this and hired a dietician that helped her in her weight loss journey. Both, her manager and dietician gave her enough confidence that she can leave junk foods and eat healthily. She concentrated on foods that are low in calories and carbs.
The main mantra for losing weight is spending double the amount of calories gained throughout the day. So the first thing she did was to limit the consumption of calories and carbs in her diet. She strictly started avoiding sugars, fast food, processed foods and sodas. According to several of her interviews, an assumption about her regular diet chart can be easily done.
Snacks – Cheese, raw vegetables, low carb and low-calorie fruits
Dinner – Baked chicken, green vegetables, soup (sometimes fish and seafood)
This is the type of diet plan that Chrissy Metz used to follow that helped her to lose weight. Yes, the diet plan can never be the same for the entire week. So some manipulations were made. For example, sometimes she used to drink black coffee in the evening or sometimes she used to have grilled chicken at the lunch. To achieve her weight loss goals, she started limiting her food intake just like Aashika Bhatia. In an interview, Chrissy said that when her heart was full she never felt hungry.
Chrissy Metz workout plan for weight loss
Chrissy Metz never discussed her weight loss workout plan in any of her interviews. So we can assume the fact that she was not into high-intensity workouts or exercises. Unlike, Kelly Doty, she never had a gym instructor. She used to concentrate more on keeping her calorie intake less so that her regular active life can shed off the excess amount of calories required to lose weight.
Chrissy Metz used to walk regularly for at least 20 minutes
She used to jog on a treadmill for at least 10 minutes
Her active lifestyle helped her to shed off extra calories
She used to drink a lot of water which kept her hydrated
Very low-intensity workouts were a part of her daily workout routine
Did Chrissy Metz have a contract on “This Is Us” that required her to lose weight?
No, Chrissy Metz did not have a contract on “This Is Us” that required her to lose weight. However, she has been very open about her struggles with weight and body image and has said that she would like to lose weight for her health. In an interview with People magazine, she said, “I don’t want to be morbidly obese on television. I want to be healthy.”
Did Chrissy Metz have any Side Effects from Keto Pills?
There is no evidence that Chrissy Metz took any keto pills. She followed a proper diet which helped her to lose weight. However, as with any diet or supplement, it is always best to speak with a healthcare professional before starting any new regimen.
What’s next for Chrissy Metz?
Chrissy Metz began her career in 2005 with guest appearances on such television shows as Strong Medicine, My Name Is Earl and Entourage. She made her film debut in the 2008 comedy-drama film titled Meet the Browns. In 2016, she was cast as a lead character in the NBC drama series This Is Us and has since received critical acclaim for her performance.
In 2018, Metz released her first book, a memoir titled “This Is Me: Loving the Person You Are Today”. She is currently working on her second book, which is set to be released in 2019.
Metz has said that she would like to continue acting and writing books. She is also interested in producing and directing.
Conclusion
Overall, Chrissy Metz proved herself when it came to burning off fat and shedding extra weight. Presently, she follows a healthy lifestyle and concentrates more on her diet. She never went through any certain surgeries to lose weight. Rather her never-give-up attitude, focused personality and perfect diet plan helped her to lose enough weight. Her haters now praise her and follow her. Chrissy’s strong mental power and cutting down on junk cravings led to her incredible weight loss journey.
Nov. 29, 2022 – Deaths from heart disease and stroke among adults living in the United States have been on the decline since 2010. But the COVID-19 pandemic reversed that downward trend in 2020, new research shows.
It was as if COVID had wiped out 5 years of progress, pushing rates back to levels seen in 2015, the researchers say.
Non-Hispanic Black people and those who were younger than 75 were affected more than others, with the pandemic reversing 10 years of progress in those groups.
Rebecca C. Woodruff, PhD, presented these study findings at the American Heart Association 2022 Scientific Sessions.
The rate of death from heart disease had been falling for decades in the United States due to better detection of risk factors, such as high blood pressure, and better treatments, such as statins for cholesterol, she said.
The reversal of this positive trend shows that it is important that people “work with a health care provider to prevent and manage existing heart disease, even in challenging conditions like the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.
Woodruff advised that “everyone can improve and maintain their cardiovascular health and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by following the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 – eating better, being more active, quitting tobacco, getting healthy sleep, managing weight, controlling cholesterol, managing blood sugar, and managing blood pressure.”
“COVID-19 vaccines can help everyone, especially those with underlying heart disease or other health conditions, and protect people from severe COVID-19,” she stressed.
Andrew J. Einstein, MD, PhD, from Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, who was not involved with this research, says the results show “very disturbing changes” to the decline in deaths from heart disease over the past decade.
The study findings underscore that “as a society, we need to take efforts to ensure that all people are engaged in the health care system, with one aim being improving heart health outcomes, which worsened significantly in 2020,” he says.
“If you don’t actively see a primary care provider, it’s important to find one with whom you can have a good relationship and can discuss with you heart-healthy living; check your blood pressure, sugar, and cholesterol; ask you about symptoms and examine you to detect disease early; and refer you for more specialized heart care as needed,” he says.
Some Study Findings
The researchers analyzed data from the CDC’s WONDER database.
They identified adults ages 35 and older with heart disease as cause of death.
They found that the number of people who died from heart disease in every 100,000 people (heart disease death rate) dropped each year from 2010 to 2019, but it increased in 2020, the first year of the pandemic.
This increase was seen in the total population, in men, in women, in all age groups, and in all race and Hispanic ethnicity groups.
In the total population, the heart disease death rate dropped by 9.8% from 2010 to 2019. But this rate increased by 4.1% in 2020, going back to the rate it had been in 2015.
Among non-Hispanic Black people, the heart disease death rate fell by 10.4% from 2010 to 2019, but it increased by 11.2% in 2020, going back to the rate it had been in 2010.
Similarly, among adults ages 35 to 54 and those ages 55 to 74, the rates of heart disease deaths decreased from 2010 to 2019 and increased in 2020 to rates higher than they had been in 2010.
In 2020, about 7 years of progress in declining heart death rates was lost among men and 3 years of progress was lost among women, the researchers said.
In this interview, repeat guest Dr. Andrew Saul, editor-in-chief of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, reviews what we currently know about vitamin C (ascorbic acid) for the prevention and treatment of novel coronavirus COVID-19.
As noted by Saul, much of the information about vitamin C for the coronavirus is currently coming out of China. Meanwhile, in the U.S., a lot of nutritional advice is being censored and tagged as “fake news.”
Mortality Rate Is Likely Vastly Overestimated
At the time of this interview, March 17, 2020, COVID-19 has triggered mass hysteria — in the United States at least. Countries around the world, including the U.S., are also quarantining, closing down borders, implementing curfews and generally recommending or enforcing isolation of the populace.
But this is all for the most part a preventive strategy. Are people infected? Yes. Are people dying? Yes. But we’re talking about deaths in the thousands, not hundreds of thousands or millions, as in pandemics of the past (think the 1918 flu pandemic, for example, which killed tens of millions around the world).
I’ve spent hours each day for the past few weeks reading articles and listening to podcasts about the pandemic, and what hardly is ever mentioned — other than a tiny blurb — is that a massive part of the equation is the need for testing. Testing is the central core of a strategy aimed at flattening the curve, i.e., preventing or slowing the spread of the virus.
Why? Because testing would give you a more accurate account of how many are actually infected. At present, mortality rates simply aren’t accurate, and may appear far more severe than they are. We’re being told what the mortality rate is based only on confirmed or suspected cases.
When I interviewed Francis Boyle — whose background includes an undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, a juris doctor (lawyer) degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. in political science — he said the mortality rate could be as high as 17%, whereas conventional estimates now say it’s between 2% and 3%.
I believe all of these are wrong, and probably wrong by two or three orders of magnitude. The reason I say this is because there are a limited number of tests and very few people have been tested.
Hundreds of millions of tests are needed to get a real idea of how many people are infected, which would then give us a better understanding of the mortality rate, meaning how many of those who get infected actually die. At present, they’re only testing those who present symptoms, which automatically skews the mortality statistics, giving us a falsely elevated mortality rate.
As noted by Saul, “We may have a very large number of people … that are carrying the COVID-19 virus and having no symptoms whatsoever. And I would argue that if they eat right and take their vitamins, that’s going to stop it from spreading.”
There is not even a micro doubt in my mind that, by the time everything is said and done, more people will have died from car accidents than will die from COVID-19 in the U.S. this year.
Natural Immunity Is Lifelong; Artificial Immunity Is Not
In my view, the media have presented a shockingly distorted view of this pandemic, creating unnecessary fear. The entire world is now rapidly heading toward economic collapse, and the question is why, seeing how the death toll doesn’t seem to warrant it.
More than likely, we’ll end up with a COVID-19 vaccine that will be added to the list of mandated annual inoculations. The problem with that is that even if the vaccine works well, it will only confer limited immunity to a virus that’s going to mutate anyway. Developing natural immunity is far more ideal. As noted by Saul:
“When you have natural exposure, whether you get sick or you don’t, you have not only immunity to that [viral strain], but you have an applicable broad immunity to more viruses in general. There’s nothing like being sick to keep you from getting sick, which sounds a little bit weird but that’s the way the human body works.
When we were children we got measles, mumps, chicken pox — you name it, we got it. We were home for two weeks, we watched daytime TV, we went back to school and we have lifetime immunity …
The fact of the matter is that natural immunity really does protect you very well, and your own immune system is the only way you fight any virus. And, the way to make your immune system strong is not, unfortunately, by vaccinating or taking a drug.”
The reason why recovering from infection confers lifelong immunity while vaccination does not has to do with the fact that your immune system has two branches — the cellular (T-cells) and the humoral (B-cells) — and both need to be activated for long-term immunity to be secured.
When you get a vaccine, you only stimulate your humoral immunity, the B-cells. The T-cells are not stimulated. So, scary as it may sound, the best thing is to have a strong immune system to defend against this virus so you have minimal symptoms or possibly be asymptomatic.
Even Dr. Fauci admitted this virus will not be eradicated and would require herd immunity to be controlled. Optimizing your metabolism and immune system is good general practice, and absolutely essential for the coronavirus as it is inevitable that we will all be exposed at some point. And, as we already learned, there were no guarantees the fast-tracked vaccine would be safe or successful.
Coronavirus vaccines have been attempted previously but never proven successful. While COVID-19 is a very nasty virus that can do a lot of damage, most people, probably more than 98% of infected people, will not die or suffer long-term damage from it.
“I agree with that,” Saul says, “because we’re automatically going to be exposed to it and a lot of people aren’t going to show symptoms. Some people will have a light case; in fact quite a few people who get it will have a very light case … The danger is the escalation to SARS and pneumonia, and this is the biggest threat for immune-compromised people and the elderly. This is where we have the fatalities; this is the biggest concern.”
A Simple Technique to Quell Fear
With everything that’s currently happening, and media increasing readership and profits by blowing things out of proportion, it’s very easy, even rational, to be afraid and anxious, which will dysregulate your autonomic nervous system.
A simple technique that can help activate your parasympathetic nervous system, thus calming you down, is the Neuro-Emotional Technique’s First Aid Stress Tool, or NET FAST, demonstrated in the video above. Firstaidstresstool.com also provides an excellent printable summary with visuals of the technique,1 which even a young child can do. Here is a summary of the FAST procedure:
While thinking about an issue that is bothering you, place your right wrist, palm up, into your left hand. Place three fingers of your left hand onto the area of your right wrist where you can feel your pulse.
Place your open right hand on your forehead. Gently breathe in and out several times while concentrating on feeling the issue that bothers you.
Switch hands and repeat Steps 1 and 2.
Saul offers another free and simple stress-reducing technique he learned from a Native American. Simply go out, sit on the ground and lean against a pine tree.
Vitamin C Boosts Immunity and Reverses Viral Pneumonia
For now, the only real defense against COVID-19 is your own immune system. There’s no vaccine, and even if one is fast-tracked, there would be cause for caution, as we’d have no proof of effectiveness or safety.
“Your immune system is infinitely adaptable. This is how nature made us,” Saul notes. “However, your immune system works better when it’s fed right.” While changing your diet is a more long-term solution, a rapid-response strategy would be to use vitamin C.
“Vitamin C is going to strengthen your immune system. This is in every nutrition textbook ever written, so we start with that,” Saul says. “The RDA in the United States is about 90 milligrams; in Korea and China it’s 100 mg; in the United Kingdom it’s a miserable 40 mg a day and we are sometimes not even getting that.
Studies have shown that even 200 mg of vitamin C a day will reduce the death rate in elderly people with severe pneumonia by 80%. Studies have shown babies with pneumonia, when they get 200 milligrams of vitamin C — the adult equivalent of about 2,000 to 3,000 mg — they have an improvement in their oxygen levels in less than a day. The mortality goes down and the duration and severity of the illness is less.
Now, it is not coronavirus per se that actually kills people, it is the pneumonia and the SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome, that can follow it. Most people that get coronavirus will have a mild case; some will have the virus and not have any symptoms at all. We don’t even know how many those people are because they have no symptoms.
Those who get COVID-19 that actually are sick are going to have the flu and it’s going to be a nasty flu — it’s going to be miserable. People will be sick for a week or two. The people at risk of dying tend to be the elderly and those that are immune-compromised.
The media sort of skirts around this but this is where we have to start because the fear is based on dying. And when we have even a small amount of vitamin C, our risk of dying — even in the most severe cases — goes down.
It is pneumonia and SARS that kills people and vitamin C has been known to be effective against viral pneumonia since the 1940s when Dr. Frederick Robert Klenner published a series of papers and was able to reverse viral pneumonia in 72 hours. Now, Klenner was a board-certified chest physician. He was a specialist and he published over 20 papers on this. The media has been silent on this therapy.”
On Vitamin C Dosing
More recently, Dr. Paul Marik has shown a protocol of intravenous (IV) vitamin C with hydrocortisone and thiamine (vitamin B1) dramatically improves survival rates in patients with sepsis. Since sepsis is one of the reasons people die from COVID-19 infection, Marik’s vitamin C protocol may go a long way toward saving people’s lives in this pandemic.
That protocol calls for 1,500 mg of ascorbic acid every six hours, and appears radically effective. However, I would recommend taking even higher doses using liposomal vitamin C if you’re taking it orally. Liposomal vitamin C will allow you to take much higher dosages without getting loose stools.
You can take up to 100 grams of liposomal vitamin C without problems and get really high blood levels, equivalent to or higher than intravenous vitamin C. I view that as an acute treatment, however.
I discourage people from taking mega doses of vitamin C on a regular basis if they’re not actually sick, because it is essentially a drug — or at least it works like one. Saul adds:
“What I suggest, and have for some 44 years of professional life, is to take enough vitamin C to be symptom free, and when you’re well, that isn’t very much. I knew one lady who would take 500 mg of vitamin C a day and she was just fine. [Another person] with multiple chemical sensitivity, she needed 35,000 mg a day. Any less and she wasn’t fine …
And, while we’re [on this topic], a nice little charitable uplifting note is that Dutch State Mines or DSM of the Netherlands has donated 50 tons of vitamin C to [the city of] Wuhan [in China] — 106 million vitamin C tablets. And in China they are running three studies on using high-dose vitamin C as therapy, focusing primarily on people in intensive care.
I’m in contact with Dr. Richard Cheng. Cheng is a Chinese American physician … He was in Shanghai for Chinese New Year visiting his family when all of this exploded.
So, Cheng has stayed in China and has been talking to hospitals and Chinese physicians who are showing tremendous interest in using vitamin C as prevention and cure. He’s been so effective that the government of Shanghai has issued official recommendations that vitamin C should be used for treating COVID-19.
They are testing up to 24,000 mg a day by IV. Some of us think that’s a little on the low side for people that are in the ICU. I would like to see 50,000 mg a day and there is a doctor … who has used 50,000 mg [on] quite a few people and we’re getting more reports as we go.
We can’t get this into the mainstream media quite yet, but it’s probably going to break and possibly by the time this report airs, it’ll be all over the U.S media. Editor’s note: The New York Post, the fourth-largest newspaper2in the U.S., broke this news March 24, 2020.3
I would like to see that, but real doctors are using vitamin C right now. They’re also doing it in Korea. Right in the center of the outbreak in Korea we’re in contact with a doctor who has a small hospital and he has given a single shot of vitamin D — a big shot of about 100,000 units to each patient and every staff member — and also about 20 to 24 grams (24,000 mg) of vitamin C by IV. And he’s reporting that these people are getting well in a matter of days.”
Valuable Research Resources
The Chinese researchers are also using other traditional Chinese medicines in addition to vitamin C, as well as conventional treatments you would expect to be done for anyone having breathing issues or pneumonia.
For more information, Saul suggests perusing the Shanghai government’s website using an online translator (as the website is in Chinese). You can find pertinent web links on the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service website,4 which has published 12 reports on various research findings in the past six weeks.
“We’re constantly updating and we have references to the literature and also links to the studies in China, and the names of the doctors doing this. If you go to my website, doctoryourself.com, you can click over and sign up for a free subscription to the peer-reviewed, noncommercial Orthomolecular Medicine News Service …
We even have the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service releases on this available now in French and Italian … and German, and some are now available in Korean and Chinese and Japanese. It’s also available in Spanish. So, this information is worldwide and it’s been everywhere except on the United States television set,” Saul says.
High-Dose Vitamin C Kills Viruses
According to Saul, vitamin C at extremely high doses is an antiviral, it actually kills viruses, but to get that amount, you typically need an IV. So, just how does it kill viruses? Some believe vitamin C’s antiviral potential is the result of its anti-inflammatory activity.
Inflammation contributes to the massive cytokine cascade that can ultimately be lethal. However, that’s not the whole story. Saul explains:
“Dr. Robert Fulton Cathcart, a physician in California, is much more knowledgeable about this than I ever will be, so I always go to him. And Cathcart wrote in his papers — a number of which I have at doctoryourself.com so people can read them — [that] vitamin C is a non-rate-limited free radical scavenger …
He and Dr. Thomas E. Levy also emphasize … that vitamin C is donating electrons and reducing free radicals, and this is primarily what’s going on. Now, there are exceptions to that. When vitamin C gets into a cancer cell, it actually acts as if it were a pro-oxidant and that’s because of the Fenton reaction. Checked; it is.
And vitamin C will kill a cancer cell because cancer cells are different. They absorb vitamin C because it’s very similar to glucose, it’s almost the same size … With viruses, it’s the same idea. Cathcart’s view is that you simply push in vitamin C to provide the electrons to reduce the free radicals, and this is the way Cathcart and Levy look at vitamin C’s function (at very high doses) as an antiviral.
At modest doses, normal supplemental doses … vitamin C strengthens the immune system because the white blood cells need it to work. White blood cells carry around in them a lot of vitamin C … So, vitamin C is very well-known to directly beef up the immune system through the white blood cells.”
Boosting NADPH Is Also Important
Personally, I don’t think this is the whole story, either, as vitamin C is a relatively weak electron donor. In my view, the top electron donor of the body is NADPH.
NOX is what the enzyme in your lysosomes inside your white blood cells use to generate chemicals that actually kill viruses and bacteria. In the process, NADPH is being used up, so while inhibiting NOX is useful, increasing NADPH is key.
If you have a genetic disorder known as G6PD deficiency, it means the pathway your body uses to make NADPH is impaired and, in this case, you have to be careful taking high-dose vitamin C.
“At the Riordan Clinic, founded by Dr. Hugh Riordan, one of my mentors some years ago, they do screen for this,” Saul says.
“And the Riordan clinic has actually said in their protocol — which I have in its entirely as a free download at doctoryourself.com, that People who have G6PD [deficiency syndrome] can take some vitamin C, and they have had safe success at around 15,000 mg a day. Dr. Suzanne Humphries, a nephrologist and internist, has also said that for short periods of time it’s not an issue.”
The Importance of Vitamin D
Another crucial nutrient that may be even more important than vitamin C is vitamin D. The required dosage will vary from person to person here as well, and largely has to do with how much sun exposure you get on a regular basis.
I’ve not taken oral vitamin D for over a decade, yet my level is right around 70 nanograms per milliliter, thanks to daily walks in the sun wearing nothing but a hat and shorts. So, the best way to determine your personal dosage is to get tested and to take whatever dosage you need to maintain a vitamin D level between 60 ng/mL and 80 ng/mL year-round.
In the video above, pulmonologist Dr. Roger Seheult discusses the importance of vitamin D for the prevention of COVID-19. While there are no clinical trials investigating vitamin D for coronavirus specifically, there’s plenty of data showing it’s an important component in the prevention and treatment of influenza5 and upper respiratory tract infections.6
As noted by Seheult, while vitamin D does not appear to have a direct effect on the virus itself, it strengthens immune function, thus allowing the host body to combat the virus more effectively.7 It also suppresses inflammatory processes. Taken together, this might make vitamin D quite useful against COVID-19.
As explained by Seheult, robust immune function is required for your body to combat the virus, but an overactivated immune system is also responsible for the cytokine storm we see in COVID-19 infection that can lead to death.
“What we want is a smart immune system — an immune system that takes care of the virus but doesn’t put us into an inflammatory condition that could put us on a ventilator,” Seheult says.
He goes on to cite research8 published in 2017 — a meta-analysis of 25 randomized controlled trials — which confirmed that vitamin D supplementation helps protect against acute respiratory infections.
Studies have also shown there’s an apparent association between low vitamin D levels and susceptibility to viral infections such as influenza. In one GrassrootsHealth analysis,9 those with a vitamin D level of at least 40 ng/mL reduced their risk of colds by 15% and flu by 41%, compared to those with a level below 20 ng/mL.
Magnesium Calms Nerves and Boosts Immune Function
Magnesium is another important immune booster. In addition to taking oral magnesium or eating lots of vegetables that contain it, another way to increase your magnesium level is to take Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) baths.
“This is a wonderful way to relax,” Saul says. “At the end of the day, have a nice hot Epsom salts bath. You do get absorption through the skin. Plus, it feels good, calms you down, it’s inexpensive, and no one can tell you that you’re going to overdose on Epsom salt [through bathing] … So, an Epsom salts bath is a very pleasant way to get some magnesium.”
Yet another little-known way to get magnesium is through molecular hydrogen tablets. The tablets contain metallic magnesium and when you put them in water, they dissociate into ionic elemental magnesium and form molecular hydrogen gas (which you then drink).
You can get about 80 mg of ionic elemental magnesium from each tablet, which is a considerable amount. For comparison, taking 400 mg of an oral magnesium supplement might only give you 40 mg due to their poor absorption. Magnesium oxide has the lowest absorption rate at only 5% or so, which is why Saul recommends avoiding this form of magnesium.
Zinc Lozenges to Treat Sore Throat and Colds
Chances are, you know zinc lozenges are recommended when you have a cold or sore throat.
“Just last night — again, this is the 17th of March — CBS Evening News in Chicago, Illinois, had a short segment on nutritional prevention of coronavirus, recommending you take vitamin D, vitamin C and zinc. So, we have finally, after seven weeks, gotten past the accusation of false information and fake news, and now it is on CBS.”
Remarkably, prominent physicians have been paraded in the media saying it’s impossible to strengthen your immune system to beat this virus. It’s hard to fathom this kind of ignorance still pervades our medical system — and that they can get away with criticizing people who offer proof to the contrary.
Simulating Fever Can Help Kill Viruses
Aside from nutrients, if you own a sauna, now’s the time to put it to regular use. By increasing your core body temperature, which is what happens when you have a fever, your body becomes more efficient at killing pathogens.
So, by taking a daily sauna, you can preventatively treat any lingering pathogens in your system. That’s a very useful strategy and something I do pretty much every day I am home. Saul agrees, saying:
“Nearly 100 years ago, Jethro Kloss, who wrote ‘Back to Eden,’ one of the early health nut books, recommended artificial fevers. They would bundle people up and put them in a hot bath … because fever can be that beneficial.
Or you can do what the native Americans did and do … a sweat lodge, kind of the genuine American version of a sauna. Just one suggestion. When you pick the rocks that you’re going to superheat, make sure they are all igneous rocks and not sedimentary rocks, because if they have the layered sediment, they will explode, and that is bad!
So, make sure you have volcanic rocks, igneous rocks … they glow a nice red. It takes a long time to get the glow going, but then it lasts a long time as well. And while they are heating, you can build the lodge. This is a group activity. You’re going to need help to build the lodge.”
If you’re in the market for an electric sauna, do your research, as many (if not most) emit very high electromagnetic fields (EMFs). Unfortunately, many advertised as low-EMF saunas still have high magnetic fields, which are just as bad.
More Information
I agree with Saul when he says “We have to get the word out to people that prevention is working; vitamin C is working and we haven’t heard about it.” For example, in Korea, where the death rate for the COVID-19 virus is below 1%, they’ve disseminated information about vitamin C.
So, part of your preventive measures is to educate yourself about simple measures you can take from the comfort of your own home. Resources where you can find more information include Saul’s website, doctoryourself.com, which is free, noncommercial and peer-reviewed.
“It’s been up for 21 years now,” Saul says. “Doctoryourself.com has a very good search engine and it is not a Google search engine. You can use it as a site search and find whatever you’re looking for. Without even scrolling down, the screen will show you a series of articles on COVID-19 — nutritional protocols with references to the doctors and the parts of the world where this is being used successfully right now.
You can also go to Andrewsaul.com which is my commercial site. That’s where I have my tuition-based courses that I offer, called the Megavitamin Formula Course. And you can go to the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service … and sign up free of charge.
This is peer-reviewed, and I’m happy to say that Dr. Mercola is a member of our 42-member editorial review board. So, when I say peer-reviewed, we really mean it and I love having association with doctors who use, recommend and live good nutrition.”
Your relationship with yourself is the most important one you’ll ever have. It wasn’t until I learnt to be kind to myself, and truly practised loving my body that I was able to find a healthy balance in life – for life.
From personal experience, it’s not easy to overcome years of negative self-talk or the pressures we may feel from external sources (such as magazines and social media) to look a certain way. Enough restriction and punishment, it’s time to love every part of you as you are, unconditionally, right now.
Be gentle with yourself, it’s always a work in progress. Here are my top practices that I used to fall in love with my body and truly take care of it, which I continue to use daily to remain in this state of body love….
Love Jess x
Exercising with kindness
I will ONLY move my body in ways that I love. I wake up each morning and tune into my body and workout according to its needs. I commit to at least 20 mins a day – mostly for my mental health too.
Today was a 15 min yoga flow from the JSHealth App and a light walk. Some days I wake up and have more energy for a HIIT session and weight training. Some days I also allow REST days where I do not exercise at all. Being in tune = body love.
Being kind to myself
The way we speak to ourselves matters. These days I am just kinder to myself and embrace flexibility and balance as much as I can. I used to put harsh rules and restrictions on my body and I have learnt to let that go. My body always feels better when I am kinder.
Throwing out the scales
I threw out the scale over a decade ago and I am certain divorcing my body from the number watching really freed me and helped heal my relationship with my body. This also allows space for you to rebuild body love, without comparison and negative self talk.
Eating mindfully
Sitting down at each meal without distraction, phones and chaos is key.
I sit down to each meal, take 3x breaths before eating and say a silent prayer of gratitude for the nutritious food in front of me. You will be amazed at how much this = body love.
Doing mirror work
Imagine looking in the mirror and being grateful – not hateful. This was impossible for me in my teens and early twenties. However, when I started body loving (not body hating), my physical body balanced out and my relationship with my body started to heal… which brought me so much mental peace. It truly is exhausting hating your body. When you switch to body love, it feels so good.
Next time you look in the mirror, choose to really feel grateful for just one thing about the beautiful, unique person looking back at you… it can be anything! Say something positive to yourself! Try it…even if it doesn’t feel real initially. Over time you will notice a huge improvement in the negative self talk which has a ripple effect on your whole state of wellbeing.
Time connecting with myself and my body
Finding space and time to reconnect to my body really fuels body love.
For example, this could mean carving out 10-20 minutes a day to exercise in ways that I love, a walk in nature or resting time. Then really being mindful of how my body feels. When you reconnect to your precious body, you build up respect and love for it.
Saying NO to comparison
When body comparison starts to sneak in, simply notice it and label it as that, instead of getting caught up with the narrative. Then come back to the appreciation for your body and it’s unique biochemistry and that it can ultimately never look like anyone else’s – that’s the beauty of it!
No ‘body’ is perfect. No shape is perfect. What you see on social media is often airbrushed and filtered. Also, most people have parts of their body they wish to improve on. When you accept the imperfection and then embrace it as you, deep body love can really start to happen.
Perimenopause is a time of transition that can last anywhere from two to 10 years. It begins when your ovaries produce less estrogen and progesterone, and you’ll experience various symptoms as a result.
A woman’s body goes through a lot of changes during perimenopause. The changes can be uncomfortable and even painful at times. But there are things you can do to ease the symptoms and manage your health during this time of your life.
While some women may not experience symptoms during perimenopause, others will have severe symptoms. Symptoms can include:
Hot flashes and night sweats
Sleep problems
Irritability and mood swings
Depression or anxiety
Vaginal dryness or thinning of vaginal walls (atrophic vaginitis)
Mood swings and depression
Breast tenderness
Headache
Bloating
Weight gain or loss
Joint pain.
The transition to perimenopause can be a challenging time for any woman. While perimenopause may not be a medical diagnosis, it is a natural process affecting women differently.
Several things can help ease the transition into menopause, so below are the health tips for perimenopause every woman at this stage should observe to allow for a smooth transition.
10 Health Tips For Perimenopause
Here are ten helpful things to do while undergoing perimenopause:
1. Exercise regularly
Exercise can help relieve hot flashes and other physical symptoms of perimenopause by increasing blood flow throughout your body.
It also may improve mood and sleep quality. Also, exercise helps to control your weight which is useful for regulating the hormone.
2. Eat healthy foods
Eating a balanced diet is essential at any age. Still, it’s imperative when you’re in perimenopause because certain nutrients can play a critical role in regulating hormones and maintaining fertility.
Foods rich in iron, such as lean red meat or tofu; leafy green vegetables such as spinach and kale; beans; nuts; seeds; fruits such as apples and oranges; whole grains such as brown rice or barley; and low-fat dairy products provide essential nutrients that help regulate the menstrual cycle.
3. Get enough calcium and vitamin D
Your bones need calcium to keep them strong — especially after menopause when hormone levels drop — so ensure you get enough calcium in your diet (foods like Greek yogurt).
Vitamin D is also important because it helps ensure the body properly absorbs calcium from food sources.
4. Get enough sleep
Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep each night — more if you can get it! Getting enough sleep will help lessen hot flashes, night sweats, and other symptoms of menopause.
5. Manage stress
Stress triggers hot flashes and night sweats. Try taking deep breaths when you feel upset or anxious; this will slow down your heart rate and helps reduce your stress levels which helps you to control some of the symptoms of menopause.
6. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco products
Consuming alcohol, caffeine, or tobacco products during the transition may reduce fertility and increase the risk of miscarriage or congenital disabilities. This is because, at this transition stage, your hormones can easily be altered.
7. Avoid smoking
Smoking intensifies the symptoms of menopause, such as difficulty sleeping and hot flashes. If you smoke, talk to your doctor about quitting before trying to conceive (and if you’re already pregnant). Typically, smoking is an unhealthy habit; its effects worsen during the transition stage.
8. Cool shower or bath
Take time to cool off when you feel hot, such as by taking a cool shower or bath or spritzing yourself with water from a spray bottle.
It is advised to take a cold bath before bedtime as it stabilizes and cools your system, which helps to control night sweats.
9. Talk to your doctor often
Talk to your doctor about medications. Birth control pills may help with symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats.
Some women also take estrogen therapy, which can reduce symptoms such as vaginal dryness, low libido, and depression.
10. Prioritize your mental health
Hormonal changes during perimenopause can affect your mental health.
Some women usually develop feelings of depression and anxiety that are severe and don’t go away during perimenopause.
Therefore, it is imperative that your prioritize your mental health during perimenopause.
You can do this by doing the things that make you happy, maintaining a great social life, learning new hobbies, making time for self-care, and talking about your feelings.
Conclusion
This is one of the most difficult stages for a woman. However, with these health tips for perimenopause listed above, the woman will surely have a smooth transition.
Updated Covid-19 boosters that carry instructions to arm the body against currently circulating Omicron subvariants offer some protection against infections, according to the first study to look at how the boosters are performing in the real world. However, the protection is not as high as that provided by the original vaccine against earlier coronavirus variants, the researchers say.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called the new data “really quite good.”
“Please, for your own safety, for that of your family, get your updated Covid-19 shot as soon as you’re eligible to protect yourself, your family and your community,” Fauci said at a White House briefing Tuesday.
Uptake of the bivalent boosters, which protect against the BA.4/5 subvariants as well as the original virus strain, has been remarkably slow. Only 11% of eligible Americans have gotten them since they became available in early September.
The new study found that the updated boosters work about like the original boosters. They protect against symptomatic infection in the range of 40% to 60%, meaning that even when vaccine protection is its most potent, about a month after getting the shot, people may still be vulnerable to breakthrough infections.
That’s in about the same range as typical efficacy for flu vaccines. Over the past 10 years, CDC data shows, the effectiveness of the seasonal flu vaccines has ranged from a low of 19% to a high of around 52% against needing to see a doctor because of the flu. The effectiveness varies depending on how similar the strains in the vaccine are to the strains that end up making people sick.
The authors of the new study say people should realize that the Covid-19 vaccines are no longer more than 90% protective against symptomatic infections, as they were when they were first introduced in 2020.
“Unfortunately, the 90% to 100% protection was what we saw during like pre-Delta time. And so with Delta, we saw it drop into the 70% range, and then for Omicron, we saw it drop even lower, to the 50% range. And so I think what we’re seeing here is that the bivalent vaccine really brings you back to that sort of effectiveness that we would have seen immediately after past boosters, which is great. That’s where we want it to get,” said Dr. Ruth Link-Gelles, an epidemiologist at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This protection is not 100%, but it is something,” Link-Gelles said. “Especially going into the holidays where you’re likely to be traveling, spending time with elderly relatives, with vulnerable people. I think having some protection from infection and therefore some protection from infecting your loved one is better than having no protection at all.”
Link-Gelles says it also means that people should continue to adopt a layered approach to protection, utilizing rapid tests, good-quality masks and ventilation as a comprehensive approach, rather than relying on vaccines alone.
“This should be sort of one of the things in your toolbox for protecting yourself and your family,” she said. “Personally, we’re my family is all vaccinated up to date, but I think if we go to the airport tomorrow, we’ll be wearing our N95 [masks] because we’re seeing elderly relatives this weekend. And while we of course trust the vaccines, and I’m not super worried about a mild infection in myself or my healthy husband, we certainly would not want to infect his grandmother.”
Link-Gelles added that she expects that vaccine protection against severe outcomes from Covid-19, like hospitalization and death, will be higher, but that data isn’t in yet.
The study, which was led by CDC scientists, relied on health records from more than 360,000 tests given at nearly 10,000 retail pharmacies between Sept. 14 and Nov. 11, a period when the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants were causing most Covid-19 infections in the US. The study included people ages 18 and up who had Covid-19 symptoms and were not immunocompromised.
The study looked at how effective the boosters were in two ways: Researchers calculated a value called absolute vaccine effectiveness, which compared the odds of symptomatic infection in people who received bivalent boosters with those who reported being unvaccinated. They also calculated relative vaccine effectiveness, which looked at the odds of symptomatic infection in people who received updated bivalent boosters compared with those who had two, three or four doses of the original single-strain vaccine.
Compared with people who were unvaccinated, adults 18 to 49 who had gotten bivalent boosters were 43% less likely to get sick with a Covid-19 infection. Older adults, who tend to have weaker immune function, got less protection. Those ages 50 to 64 were 28% less likely, and those ages 65 and up were 22% less likely to get sick with Covid-19 than the unvaccinated group.
The relative vaccine effectiveness showed the added protection people might expect on top of whatever protection they had left after previous vaccine doses. If a person was two to three months past their last vaccine dose, the bivalent boosters added an average of 30% protection for those who were ages 18 to 49, 31% more protection if they were 50 to 64, and 28% more protection if they were 65 or older. At 3 months after their last booster, people ages 50 and older still had about 20% protection from Covid-19 illness, CDC data show. So overall, the updated boosters got them to around 50% effectiveness against symptomatic infection.
If a person was more than eight months away from their last vaccine dose, they got more protection from the boosters. But Link-Gelles said that by eight months, there was little protection left from previous shots against Omicron and its variants, meaning the vaccine effectiveness for this group was probably close to their overall protection against infection.
Those ages 18 to 49 who were eight months or more past their last dose of a vaccine had 56% added protection against a Covid-19 infection with symptoms; adults 50 to 64 had 48% added protection, and adults over 65 had 43% added protection, on top of whatever was left from previous vaccinations.
John Moore, an immunologist and microbiologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, said it boils down to the fact that that boosters will probably cut your risk of getting sick by about 50%, and that protection probably won’t last.
“Having a booster will give you some additional protection against infection for a short term, which is always what we see with a booster, but it won’t last long. It’ll decline, and it will decline more as the more resistant variants spread,” said Moore, who was not involved in the new research.
The immunity landscape in the United States is more complex than ever. According to CDC data, roughly two-thirds of Americans have completed at least their primary series of Covid-19 vaccines. And data from blood tests shows that almost all Americans have some immunity against the virus, thanks to infection, vaccination or both.
A new preprint studyfrom researchers at Harvard and Yale estimates that 94% of Americans have been infected with the virus that causes Covid-19 at least once, and 97% have been infected or vaccinated, increasing protection against a new Omicron infection from an estimated 22% in December 2021 to 63% by November 10, 2022. Population protection against severe disease rose from an estimated 61% in December 2021 to around 89%, on average, this November.
All of this means the US is in a better spot, defensively at least, than it ever has been against the virus – which is not to say that the country couldn’t see another Covid-19 wave, especially if a new variant emerges that is very different from what we’ve seen, if immunity continues to wane or if behavior shifts dramatically.
Will comfort eating put you in a happy & contented mood this winter? Nutritionist Rob Hobson explains how and why comfort food can boost our mood
There is plenty of evidence to show that what we eat is linked to how we feel, but the relationship is sometimes complex.
It has also been shown that many health conditions such as depression, anxiety, insomnia and PMS are affected by mood and that, in some cases addressing what you eat can help manage them.
Mood and food can also be thought of as a two-way street, as either your mood dictates what you eat or what you eat (or don’t eat) influences your mood, which may be due to an insufficient intake of certain nutrients.
What about comfort eating?
Comfort eating is common in the winter as a way of people trying to boost their mood. A recent survey by wellness brand Healthspan found that 23 per cent of those surveyed said they turn to comfort eating in the winter months to help beat winter blues.
However, comfort eating can lead to weight gain, which may negatively impact mood. The short-term effects of eating typical comfort foods may also create a state of guilt in some people.
It therefore may be helpful to redefine the meaning of comfort foods.
Comfort foods should be comforting
‘Redefining what comfort means is important as certain foods can worsen matters,’ explains Rob Hobson, Head of Nutrition at Healthspan.
‘Forget sugary foods, burgers and takeaways, as this source of comfort is short-lived and often laced with guilt. Comfort foods should be comforting, which means nurturing and nourishing you with the key nutrients that will support your health and well-being.
‘Very savoury flavours and umami are perfect and can be found in bowl foods like soups, broths, casseroles, stews and curries’.
Evolution could have something to do with this. Before we had housing, heating and other comforts, humans needed to increase their weight to keep warm.
This survival mechanism may be innate to us and is why we crave foods high in sugar and fat during winter.
Habit can also play a role as we seek foods we are familiar with. Nostalgia in certain foods remind us of our childhood, creating happy feelings.
How do our hormones play a role?
Your gut may also have a role to play, especially as research has unveiled its close relationship with the brain. Around 95 per cent of the body’s serotonin and 50 per cent of dopamine are produced in the gut.
These neurotransmitters influence mood and feelings of happiness and well-being; during digestion, complex processes that involve the brain release these chemicals.
These chemicals are also released in response to exercise and sunlight, which decline during the winter. During the winter, we may seek out certain foods that give us more of a rush to help boost our mood.
To make serotonin, the body requires an amino acid called tryptophan
Low serotonin levels may also occur during the winter when there is a lack of sunlight. It is also thought that low serotonin levels occur during the menstrual cycle, which could cause cravings.
To make serotonin, the body requires an amino acid called tryptophan. Consuming carbohydrates can help with this as it triggers the release of insulin which draws other amino acids into the body’s cells, leaving tryptophan a clear path to the brain without any competition. This may be why we crave carbohydrate foods during the colder months.
Several nutrients in the diet directly link to mood, which may result in tiredness and fatigue or increase the risk of disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Vitamin D
The primary source of this vitamin is from the sun. Research has shown that many of us have deficient levels during winter.
Low levels of the ‘sunshine vitamin’ have been associated with seasonal depression, referred to as seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
You can glean vitamin D from foods such as eggs, oily fish and fortified foods
A recent study has also shown that supplementing with vitamin D can help to reduce symptoms associated with depression.
You can glean vitamin D from foods such as eggs, oily fish and fortified foods. Mushrooms can also synthesise vitamin D from the sun, and some supermarkets now stock varieties that are rich in this nutrient.
Both the B vitamin complex and magnesium are required for the body to convert food into energy. These nutrients are also depleted in times of stress which can lead to a decline in mood as tiredness and fatigue begin to set in.
Magnesium is essential if you are experiencing stress, as low levels can also lead to a deficiency, increasing anxiety risk. Together the depletion and deficiency create a vicious circle.
B vitamins are found in many different foods, so eating a varied diet can ensure your intake. Foods rich in magnesium include nuts, seeds, leafy greens, whole grains, beans and pulses.
Low blood sugar levels can leave you feeling irritable and unable to concentrate correctly, so ensuring you eat regularly and avoid skipping meals is advisable to protect your mood.
What you choose to eat is also essential, and to retain steady blood sugar levels, you should include plenty of fibre n your meals. Fibre helps to slow down the release of glucose from the food you eat.
The type of foods you choose to eat is also essential. Switch from processed grains (white) to wholemeal and wholegrain varieties of foods such as bread, pasta and rice.
Also, include beans and pulse as these are the richest source of dietary fibre.
Iron produces red blood cells responsible for carrying oxygen around the body. Low levels of iron can significantly impact your mood as it causes extreme tiredness and fatigue.
In the UK, 23 per cent of women have too little iron in their diets. You can boost your iron intake by eating red meat, oily fish, beans, nuts, dark green vegetables and dried fruit.
Planning your diet during the winter months can help you to beat the winter blues. There is nothing wrong with comfort eating but re-think the kinds of foods that are likely to bring you genuine comfort over those that are more likely to lead to weight gain and feelings of guilt.
Nov. 23, 2022 – You may not think that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, have a lot in common with older adults.
The kids struggle to sit still and focus on a task. The older adults are great at sitting still, but they often have a hard time following the conversation at a holiday dinner.
In both cases, the problem is one of attention.
Yes, that’s obvious for someone who’s been diagnosed with ADHD. It’s right there in the name. With ADHD, the brain is constantly searching for new and interesting ways to distract itself.
But older adults aren’t searching for distractions. They just can’t ignore the distractions that find them.
“Focusing attention has two sides: focusing and ignoring,” says Adam Gazzaley, MD, PhD, a professor of neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco. “It’s the act of filtering out irrelevant information that declines with aging.”
That’s why Gazzaley invented EndeavorRx, a therapeutic video game you may have heard of, especially if your child has ADHD. In 2020, the FDA approved EndeavorRx to treat kids with ADHD between the ages of 8 and 12, making it the first digital therapy to get the green light for any condition.
What you may not know is that the game was originally used to help seniors. Or that therapeutic games are now being developed and tested for a wide range of conditions and populations.
Gazzaley calls it “experiential medicine” and says it has one major advantage over traditional medicine: It adapts to you. While the patient is learning to play the game, the game is learning to work with the patient.
How Video Games Work Like Exercise for Your Brain
This adaptive quality is the key to EndeavorRx and what makes it different from commercial video games. Gazzaley calls it an “adaptive closed-loop algorithm.”
Put simply, the game adjusts to the player. Better players encounter tougher challenges, while those with less skill can still work through the game’s levels and unlock its rewards.
Your brain, in turn, adapts to the challenges with structural changes, not unlike the adaptations your body makes when you exercise.
Just as your muscles respond to strength training by getting bigger and stronger, your brain adapts to challenges by forming new connections between and within neural networks. It works the same for all ages, whether you’re an older adult who’s never played a video game or a young person who’s possibly played too many. (It’s worth noting that too much gaming can hurt your mental health.)
The brain’s ability to adapt to new information, circumstances, or demands is called neuroplasticity, and it’s the key advantage that experiential medicine has over drug treatments. Changes in the brain not only translate to real-life improvements in attention, but they also remain intact after the patient has finished their prescribed time with the game.
“It just sticks, which is incredibly different from how drugs work now,” Gazzaley says.
Treating kids with ADHD is just one of many potential applications.
“The game has no specificity toward a particular pathology or age group,” Gazzaley says. “It challenges the brain in such a way that it leads to this benefit in sustained attention in any population we’ve ever tested.”
Case in point: He and his colleagues at UCSF have now tested closed-loop games with people who have depression, multiple sclerosis, and lupus, all of which may affect the ability to focus.
But it all started with one very specific population.
How Video Games Became Therapy
In the early 2000s, Gazzaley worked with older patients who were having problems with their thinking skills for the first time.
“They would often tell me they were distracted,” he says. “They just couldn’t hold their attention.”
That led to a series of studies on the source of the problem. In a study published in 2005, for example, his research team found that older adults could focus on a task as well as 20-year-olds.
“What they were failing to do was ignore,” he explains. “There’s so much irrelevant information that needs to be filtered out. That’s what was causing the impairment.”
A subsequent study that was published in 2008 found that the impairment was worsened by a slowdown in the brain’s processing speed. It took older adults longer to decide if an interruption actually required their attention, which meant each distraction was more disruptive than it would’ve been to their younger selves.
For seniors, those challenges are especially apparent when they try to multitask, when you rapidly redirect your attention from one thing to another. The ability to multitask typically peaks around your 20th birthday and declines throughout life.
That was the focus for Gazzaley and his game development team at UCSF when they published their initial findings in a landmark study in 2013.
After playing a game called NeuroRacer (the forerunner to EndeavorRx), seniors got much better at multitasking – improvements they retained in a follow-up 6 months later.
And that wasn’t all. The people in the study also improved their thinking skills in areas that weren’t targeted: sustained attention and working memory. It was the first evidence of the potential for therapeutic video games to target and enhance those abilities. But it wouldn’t be the last.
Which brings us back to kids with ADHD.
Is There a Therapeutic Video Game in Your Future?
Working memory – the ability to retain information long enough to use it – is a key to success in school, work, and everyday life. Like the ability to focus attention, it’s a higher-level executive function, which means the two processes share some of the same neural networks in the same parts of the brain. Not coincidentally, working memory deficits are one of the hallmarks of ADHD.
But so does playing video games, according to a recently published study. Nine- and 10-year-olds who played commercial video games for several hours a day had better working memory and response inhibition – stopping themselves before allowing a distraction to pull them off task – than kids who never played.
Fortunately, kids don’t need to play multiple hours a day to achieve benefits.
“We saw linear effects in pretty much everything we looked at,” says Bader Chaarani, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont and the study’s lead author.
“Light gamers who played on average 1 hour per day showed the same improvements in cognition, response inhibition, and working memory, compared to those who never played video games,” he says. “These effects were intermediate between non-video gamers and the heavy video gamers.”
This helps explain why video games are getting so much attention in neurological, medical, and psychological research.
In addition to EndeavorRx, Gazzaley and his team have developed several others for different populations and preferences.
Rhythmicity, a musical game designed to help seniors improve short-term memory, also helps them remember faces. (Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart helped develop the game.)
Body-Brain Trainer, another game created for seniors, combines cognitive training with exercise, using the closed-loop algorithm to adjust both interventions to the user’s ability. Those who used the game for 8 weeks improved in two fitness measures (blood pressure and balance) as well as in their ability to sustain attention.
Gazzaley plans to explain in a future study how games with such different mechanics and tempos — from an obstacle-dodging run to drumming to slow-paced meditation — lead to similar improvements in attention.
Again, that’s similar to exercise, where almost any kind of training will lead to improvements in heart health, which in turn reduce the risk of premature death from any cause.
Because there are so many ways to get to the same destination, you can find effective exercise programs to fit just about any combination of abilities and preferences. You can also advance through a fitness program at your own pace.
That may be how we use therapeutic video games as the category develops.
“Now that we have so many types of games and so many populations, we’re getting a richer understanding of how you can push and pull these systems to get these outcomes,” Gazzaley says. “That’s what makes me so excited about the future.”
Games as medicine? Seems worth paying attention to.
