Recent jevohealth items

Proceedings of the 4th International Evolutionary Health Conference, 2023

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The field of evolutionary health is relatively new, and over the last several decades, has come to signify the interest in the extent of mismatch between factors common in our modern world, and our evolutionary milieu, which is a combination of genetic and environmental interactions that have influenced our development over the course of many thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years.

We have covered a wide variety of topics during our conferences; this includes, brain function, sleep and light, various components of the diet, aging, cardiovascular disease, human brain development, exercise, bone health, obesity, vitamin levels, hormonal regulation, inflammation and cancer, with the emphasis on the degree of mismatch between our hominid ancestors and modern humans today. With this most recent conference, we have added topics such as psychological and physical stress, the gut microbiome and the potential role of biomimetics in environmental stressors.

We’d...

An Empty Slogan that Detracts from Collaboratively Combating COVID-19 in Hong Kong

Sat, 1 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic seems to be unending and is creating challenges all over the world. Confirmed cases in Hong Kong are comparatively low, but the four waves are caused by imported carriers from abroad. Thus, the government claims that its efforts have been effective in coping with this disease. However, the public observes other dimensions of this claim. The discussion in this paper argues that policy loopholes, violation of normal practices and government estrangement from the community all damage anti-pandemic outcomes. The root cause of this failure comes from distrust in the government. Such a fiction of power brings negative reactions. On the one hand, the community suffers from tight disease-control measures which are disproportionate to the infection risk, and people are fighting not only the coronavirus but also poor leadership, policy loopholes and hidden agenda in social control. On the other hand, people are already self-motivated and self-disciplined enough,...

Can the mammalian dive response override posttraumatic stress disorder?

Sun, 28 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a burdensome condition that has been made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic and that can lead to suicide, especially among childhood trauma victims, rape victims, military service members, and law enforcement. PTSD is thought to be an evolutionary mechanism that functions to promote survival by heightening the stress response in an anticipatory fashion, allowing the organism to react quickly to recurring stressors or threats, even when stressors or threats are not present in the immediate environment. Frequent and sudden activation of the stress response can be uncomfortable and deleterious to health. The mammalian dive response (MDR) is another evolutionary adaptation that functions to promote survival by conserving oxygen when submerged underwater, and like the stress response, it disrupts the homeostatic environment. However, the physiological reactions induced by the MDR include slowing of the heart rate, conservation of oxygen, and...

Paleo Then and Now: A Five-Year follow-up Survey of the Ancestral Health Community

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The Ancestral Health (or Paleo) movement is a collection of people who apply an evolutionary perspective to improve their health through lifestyle changes (e.g., diet, physical actively, sleep). In 2013, a survey of this population revealed that its participants did not align with media stereotypes; in contrast, survey participants were predominantly white, female, and middle aged. Since diet and health trends change over time, the goal of this survey study was to collect data on the members of the movement and compare the survey responses from five years earlier. In addition, we surveyed people who have left the movement to determine why they left and if they follow a particular diet now. Broadly, we hypothesized that participant demographics would remain the same while lifestyle characteristics (i.e., how they participate in the movement) would change. The survey was distributed online through various platforms (social media, blog posts, and mailing lists). A total of 1506...

The Role of Physical Activity in Breast Cancer Prevention

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The Role of Physical Activity in Breast Cancer Prevention

Proceedings of the 3rd International Evolutionary Health Conference

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Proceedings of the 3rd International Evolutionary Health Conference

Wed, 27 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Proceedings of the 3rd International Evolutionary Health Conference

Neanderthal medicine?