4 weeks ago
An animal study published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity found that a COVID-19 infection may leave behind certain proteins, which can trigger the process that causes cortisol levels to drop. This results in increased inflammation and immune overreaction to stress. The effect on cortisol may underlie many changes associated with long COVID, which has many neurological and neuropsychological symptoms, such as brain fog, anxiety, sleep disturbances, fatigue, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. “Our study suggests that low cortisol could be playing a key role in driving many of these physiological changes that people are experiencing with long COVID,” lead author Matthew Frank, a senior research associate with the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said in a press release. The discovery brings science one step closer to understanding long COVID, which affects 10 to 35 percent of people after contracting an infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to the researchers. Lingering Proteins Link to Low Cortisol Researchers in the study noted several earlier experiments that led to their recent investigation. Prior findings included: Based on the above, the researchers theorized that spike proteins may produce physiological effects that prolong the duration or increase the magnitude of […]
