Immunity

Social distancing and austere sanitation can have serious implications for the immune system. In the attempt to protect ourselves from SARS-CoV-2, we may be jeopardizing our bodies’ natural protective abilities against invaders, increasing the risk of developing asthma, allergies, and infections.

Lockdowns create an environment conducive to immune suppression. By minimizing the contact we have with others, we have less contact with new microbes, thus less opportunity to develop immunity to them. Staying at home excessively can reduce exposure to beneficial intestinal flora, lower vitamin D, disturb sleep, and prevent exercise — all important factors for a strong immune system. Psychological factors also have a major impact on immunity. The stress and lonesomeness that come with social distancing have been shown to cause significant disease-promoting inflammation and lower resistance to infection.

By spending an inordinate amount of time at home and having less interaction with other people, we come into contact with fewer pathogens. Both good and bad health effects can stem from this. In the short-term, it means we will have fewer infections. However, over a longer period of time, perhaps a year or more, it can cause infections to be more frequent or more severe. We actually need to have contact with pathogens for our immune system to build up a resistance to them. Research indicates that there is an optimal balance of contact with pathogens to minimize infections and prevent the immune overreaction that causes allergies and asthma.

Lack of travel can have major consequences on immunity. Oxford University infectious disease expert, Sunetra Gupta, postulates that the intensive international travel of the modern world is a protective factor against pandemics. Regular international movement of people exposes each society to microorganisms found all over the globe, allowing resistance to build up. If travel becomes less common, a pathogen could do a great deal of damage when brought to foreign shores.

Gupta theorizes that the 1918 Spanish flu killed tens of millions of Europeans, including healthy young people, because there hadn’t been a flu virus on the continent in the preceding 30 years. There was no pre-existing immunity. One can also look at the widespread fatalities among North American indigenous populations when Europeans first arrived. The aboriginal peoples had no defenses against pathogens from Europe due to lack of prior contact.

A report by the Academy of Medical Sciences in July 2021 warned that England could see 60,000 deaths from the flu in the winter due to lockdown-induced suppression of their immune systems. England usually has 10,000 to 30,000 flu deaths per year.

An unhealthy lack of social interaction is sure to put the breaks on your immune system. Social isolation has been revealed to increase inflammation in the body and negatively affect the immune system. UCLA’s Social Genomics Core Laboratory discovered that lonely people had acutely suppressed Type 1 interferon molecules, leaving them more vulnerable to infection. The lab also found that lonely people have much higher levels of inflammation than more socially connected individuals. Increased inflammation exacerbates the disease process for many diseases such as cancer and atherosclerosis, and explains in large part why lonely people have a 50% greater death rate. Scientists believe that a large part of why lonely individuals have depressed immune systems is because they have higher levels of stress.

Stress is a significant risk factor for the immune system. People who report higher levels of stress are more likely to have an under-functioning immune system. One of the major reasons that social isolation depresses the immune system is believed to be through elevating stress. People who are lonely or unemployed display higher levels of stress. Stress increases hormones cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine, each of which inhibit the function of immune cells.

A 10-year study of medical students at Ohio State University found that immunity took a dive every year during a 3-day exam. In a 2004 analysis of almost 300 studies, researchers at University of British Columbia and University of Kentucky concluded that all aspects of immunity are suppressed when someone is under stress for a period of a few days or more. Stress control is an important part of preventive medicine. Doctors routinely recommend stress-reduction to protect the immune system.

A number of studies have found that unemployed individuals have poorer immune functioning than people who have jobs. There is much support for the theory that the unemployed have higher levels of stress and that stress results in depressed immunity. Increased alcohol intake is another possible reason why the unemployed have less immune strength.

A 2007 study at the University of California San Francisco followed 100 employed and 100 unemployed subjects for four months. Through monthly blood tests, researchers discovered that the unemployed group had fewer ‘natural killer’ cells, indicating a weakened immune system. The UCSF study controlled for other factors that could affect the immune system such as age and education level. In the unemployed participants who found work during the study, blood work indicated a return to a healthy level of immune cells.

Staying inside will decrease exposure to sunlight for most people. Some homes are well-served with natural light while others, such as basement suites, or homes shaded by other buildings, have very little. Unless your apartment has floor to ceiling windows, however, you won’t receive anywhere near the amount of light that you would if you were outside. Vitamin D deficiency is a common consequence of inadequate sunlight exposure.

Vitamin D has a few functions in the body. It strengthens bones and teeth, and it is important in the prevention of respiratory infections. The vitamin helps macrophages in the lungs to secret a peptide which directly kills viruses and bacteria. It also helps immune cells, including B and T cells, provide longer term protection against pathogens. Vitamin D can be supplemented, and should be if very little time is spent outside. 

It has long been established that low vitamin D levels increase risk for respiratory infections, but what about for COVID-19 in particular? There have been a few studies looking at this question. Findings so far indicate that vitamin D decreases the incidence and severity of COVID. One study discovered that 80% of people with COVID-19 had a vitamin D deficiency. In the general population, about 40% are vitamin D deficient. 

A Filipino study discovered that COVID-infected individuals with low levels of vitamin D had a significantly higher fatality rate than ones with adequate vitamin D. In another study, hospitalized COVID patients who were given a large dose of vitamin D had a 2% rate of being transferred to intensive care compared to 50% of patients not given vitamin D. 

A systemic review of vitamin D’s relation to COVID was published in Frontiers of Public Health in March 2021. It concluded that having a low level of vitamin D increased the odds of getting COVID by 80%. Vitamin D deficiency is easy to prevent. Most experts recommend supplementing vitamin D in the range of 1,000 to 4,000 IU per day. Megadoses of ‘D’ (ie. over 50,000 IU/day) should be avoided because they can raise calcium to unhealthy levels, which can cause many medical problems, such as kidney stones, nausea, and bone pain. 

Alcohol harms intestinal epithelial cells, which perform a number of actions of the immune system, such as regulating T and B cells and producing antimicrobial proteins. It also suppresses antibodies in your saliva and intestines called immunoglobulins. Alcohol usually only has a noticeable effect on the immune system for frequent drinkers.

Smoking has increased in many countries due to lockdowns as people are working less and have more stress. Smoking suppresses immune function in many ways. It decreases your white blood cell count. Respiratory illnesses are more common, in part due to affecting the macrophages in the lungs. Many types of immune cells are affected by cigarette smoke including T cells, B cells, lymphocytes, NK, and macrophage cells. Inflammation also is increased by smoking, resulting in a worsening of many diseases.

One would hope that at least one good thing that would come out of lockdowns is that you can sleep more if you are put out of work and not out late partying. An international study based in Louisiana found the contrary — only 10% of people were sleeping better during the lockdown. 43% had developed sleep issues. Quality sleep is beneficial to many aspects of health, including immunity.

Lack of sleep depresses the immune system, making one more susceptible to viral infection and slowing recovery once infected. According to the Mayo Clinic, poor sleep decreases production of immune cells and antibodies required to fight infections. It also suppresses cytokine production. Cytokines are proteins involved in fighting infections.

Research indicates that sleep is important for your immune memory. Adequate sleep helps your immune system recognize and respond to pathogens. Proper regulation of defenses against allergens is impaired when circadian rhythms are disrupted. Lack of sleep can also affect people with allergies. In a study of people with peanut allergies, the threshold for having an allergic attack to peanuts was 45% lower for individuals deprived of sleep.

Doctors routinely recommend regular exercise for many reasons, one of which is the beneficial effects on the immune system. During exercise, flow of blood and lymph in your body increase which improves the circulation of immune cells and makes it easier to fight infection. Physical exercise also reduces the production of stress hormones which suppress the immune system.

Research consistently demonstrates that people who exercise regularly are less susceptible to infection. A study of a thousand people over a 12-week period found that subjects who exercised 5 days a week or more for at least 20 minutes per session had a 43% lower rate of upper respiratory tract infections than those who exercised one day or less per week. The study controlled for other factors such as age and stress. In another study on upper respiratory tract infections, healthy individuals were observed for a year. Those who practised moderate to vigorous physical activity had a 29% lower incidence of infection.

It is vital that we spend time away from home, interact with others in-person, and maintain employment so we can keep our immune systems functioning well. The media likes to perpetuate a myth that everyone who inhales coronavirus-laden air becomes infected. According to WebMD, however, people regularly have the SARS-CoV-2 virus in their bodies without becoming infected because they have a strong immune system.

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, may Lockdown Resistance suggest to public health authorities that they replace their oppressive advice of social distancing and face-covering with a healthy diet, vitamin C & D supplementation, more time out-of-doors, alcohol moderation, frequent exercise, smoking cessation, and for children, social interaction.