It is well known that in the spring and autumn, chronic patients have acerbated diseases of the quite diverse etiology and pathogenesis - from ulcers stomach to diiferent kinds of psychosis. As an
"explanation" of this fact, in various guides feature general phrases about stress, which in the spring
due mainly to hypovitaminosis and the beginning of flowering of plants with allergenic pollen, and in the autumn - to cooling and a decrease in light day.
However, there are many stresses in each person's life, including having an annual frequency, but arising not in spring and autumn, but in mid summer or winter. For example, July heat and January frost, waiting for vacation annually and then acclimatization in places of rest (southern seas or
northern ski resorts), the annual flu epidemic, etc. However, seasonal exacerbations for some reason occur precisely in autumn and spring.
Therefore, I assume that seasonal exacerbations are not simply caused by stress itself, but by evolutionarily ancient seasonal modulations of expression a certain group of the most important regulatory proteins.
Does anyone have specific information in line with this assumption?
As regards depression the sunshine is the important factor
It seems that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is the most common of the seasonal related disorders. This article gives a good resume of the reasons in the abstract:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267740662_The_causes_and_consequences_of_seasonal_variation_in_COPD_exacerbations
To quote:
"The precise causes of the seasonality are unknown, but thought to be partly due to the increased prevalence of respiratory viral infections circulating in cold, damp conditions. Increased susceptibility to viral infection may also be a mechanism mediated through increased airway inflammation or possibly reduced vitamin D levels."
After reading Prof Dr Béatrice Marianne Ewalds-Kvist's response, I remembered about seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and looked it up to refresh my memory:
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad/overview/
Dear Alexey,
Dear colleagues,
I expect many researchers will be involved in this discussion. I also expect that there will be attempts to propose a simple explanation of this complex problem. I think the real and the biggest problem here is that our current vision of how the human organism works is still not adequate to the real integrative physiology of our 220 types of self-adaptive cells. I also think the question cannot be correctly answered in form of any unambiguous simple answer (as you liked to hear the name of the protein). To clarify this problem, there is the only way: to look at the human organism as a community of self-adaptive dynamic cells of different types and to understand how they interact and provide the specific state, which is commonly called “health”.
I agreed with you that the traditional stress theory is not the theory capable of answering your question. But I have to stress that this particular question about seasonal diseases is only a little part of the problem of individual reversible adaptation of the organism to exogenous and endogenous changes. As I have already published many articles and eight monographs (two of them in USA), I can definitively state that the adaptation on the scale of an organism is always a compromise between the organism’s powerful and less powered (weak) cells. Most often, the metabolism of weak cells is inhibited. In this state, the weak cell releases specific intermediate substances (in particular, HIFs). Some of these substances work exclusively within the weak and increase its biosynthesis of ATP. Under moderate energy lack, the cell finally can provide its energy balance at the current level of ATP expenditures. In cases of extreme energy lack, some of these intermediate substances (namely, that have low molecular weight) go out of the membrane of the weak cell and enter the general circulation of lymph and blood. Reaching the target cells of those physiological systems that materially provide cells metabolism, these intermediate substances involve these systems in the general adaptation process aimed at minimizing the number of weak cells. If there are enough internal resources, the body copes with this problem successfully. But at the same time, some of the cells are always weaker than others. In organisms with chronic diseases, weak cells belong to functionally weak organs.
The success of adaptation largely depends on the prevailing circumstances. Among them, the main ones are the number of primary resources (nutrients) and the body's general need for them. With seasonal exogenous changes, the problem is exacerbated because too many factors act simultaneously, destroying the energy balance of the cell. Since weakened cells (remember, they are concentrated in chronically weak organs) suffer most from a lack of nutrients, chronic diseases are exacerbated. This schematic explanation will have multiple nuances depending on adaptation prehistory.
I would like to especially note that this theory is supported by the well-known fact that healthy organisms, in which a multilevel system, providing the proper rates of ATP synthesis, is working properly and tolerates seasonal challenges without any particular problems.
This is my short presentation of the current adaptation theory. If you are interested in a deeper understanding of adaptation rules I would like to recommend the article Grygoryan R.D. The Optimal Coexistence of Cells: How Could Human Cells Create The Integrative Physiology. June 2019, DOI: 10.30564/jhp.v1i1.1386. (PDF is added)
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