This article originally appeared on VICE US.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. At least thats what many of us were brought up to believe. But a growing body of research is seriously undermining that idea. Fasting, in one form or another, is all the rage as evidenced by the volume of ripped bros on YouTube who are itching to share the fasting secrets that have finally gotten them over that thing that happened in high school.

For most people, a fast amounts to missing breakfast. They break their fast later in the day. Others chose to skip dinner instead. Either tactic will will result in a 16/8 fast. This means that in every 24-hour period, you fast for 16 hours and do all of your eating in an eight-hour window. Another popular variant is alternate day fasting, in which adherents typically eat no calories one day and whatever they want the next.

Some of the reported benefits of fasting regimens include a reduction in inflammation, decreased blood sugar levels and even a prolonged life spanalthough that last one has only been proven in rats so far. It wasnt long before people started wondering if longer fasts would yield more pronounced results. I should remind you, if youre considering doing this, to examine your intentions since any extended period of voluntarily skipping meals can be a sign of disordered eating.

Ive tried to reconcile all the anecdotal fasting with conversations Ive had with with doctors and dieticians to figure out what might happen to my body if I commit to this increasingly popular fad-within-a-fad and eat nothing for 72-hours straight. Oddly, I havent tried this personally, but based on the below, I just might.

For many of us, skipping breakfast is NBD, particularly when youre sufficiently distracted and quaffing black coffee all morning. Skip lunch, however, and by mid-afternoon your brain is screaming at you to refuel. Its not literally screaming, of course. It just makes you behave like an irritable and petulant toddler until someone else recognizes the tell-tale signs of hanger and shoves a donut in your face.

A recent study looked into why hanger is a thing and concluded that a disruption in homeostasis of the brain can provoke complicated emotional response involving an interplay of biology, personality, and environmental cues. This, perfect shitstorm along with flagging energy levels, and a talkative abdomen can and do make getting through the first part of a 72-hour fast extremely challenging.

But if you can ride it out, things tend to greatly improve at day two or three. The gradual decrease in hunger is well documented in physiological studies showing gradual decrease in ghrelin over multiple days of fasting, says Jason Fung, Toronto-based nephrologist and co-author of The Complete Guide to Fasting. Ghrelin, he explains, is a hormone that makes you feel hungry. Its secreted in greater amounts when your stomach is in a non-stretched state. Fung goes on to explain that an abatement of hunger happens more often than not during an extended fast.

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I should probably mention here that 72 hours is a much shorter duration than it would take a healthy person to starve to death. In an editorial published in the British Medical Journal, a review of the pertinent literature on the subject found that humans can survive without any food for 30-40 days provided they are adequately hydrated.

As Alan D. Lieberson told Scientific American, how long a person survives without food really depends on factors such as body weight, genetic variation, other health considerations and, most importantly, the presence or absence of dehydration. Dying of thirst, however, can happen within mere hours. In another Scientific American article, professor of biology at George Washington University Randall K. Packer, said that an adult in comfortable surroundings could potentially last a week sans-liquid.

When Fung talks about your body using your fat for fuel, hes talking about ketosis. To get into ketosis, you dont give your body any of its preferred grabn go fuelglucoseand force it to look for alternatives. When theres nothing coming into your piehole, the body will start shaking down fat cells for energy. Thats why all those ripped bros are so into fasting and the ketogenic state it puts them in. Theyll tell you that fasting and ketosis is whats gotten their body fat percentage down into the single digits and studies have shown that they may be right about that. What they dont talk too much about is that those abs may have come at a high price.

A byproduct of that conversion of paunch into available energy are ketone bodies. One way the body releases ketone bodies is through exhalation therefore making the breath sweet and fruity, says New York-based dietician Amy Shapiro, putting somewhat of a positive spin on the odor. Research has shown that breath acetone is reliable indication that you have gone into fat burning mode. You release ketone bodies through your breathand the smell is often unpleasant enough that the people you hangrily scared away by threatening to flay the next person you find pilfering your yogurt will stay away in fear of having their faces melted by your hellacious mouth farts.

Keep in mind, Shapiro doesnt consider the 72-hour fast as a way to achieve meaningful weight loss. You will likely lose more water weight than actually fat as your body uses its glycogen stores for fuel before dipping into actual fat, she says. As you release glycogen, you lose water and that is usually the reason for the rapid weight loss. Losing fat takes more time. Fasting proponent Fung, however, disagrees and maintains that you could lose 1.5 pounds of fat over a 72-hour period. For that reason, he recommends that people with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 20 could put themselves at risk of malnutrition. Most people have much more fat than that, he says.

Traditionally, not eating for three days would be seen by most as a not smart move. In fact, in times and places of food scarcity, it would likely be viewed at the last word in stupidity. Provided you can get something to eat on Thursday however, padlocking your pantry on Monday may actually improve brain functionaccording to rodent studies, at least.

Researchers at Yale started injecting ghrelin into mice and found that their performance in learning and memory tests was increased by 30 percent. Another study at Swansea University in Wales added the hormone to mouse brain cells grown in a dish. The infusion it switched on a gene known to trigger neurogenesis, a process in which brain cells divide and multiply.

As mentioned, ghrelin production tapers off after a few days of not eating. In the interim, the stomach is secreting plenty of it. Shapiro says that this could be an adaptation from a time when food was often scarce and getting at it had as much to do with your cognitive ability as it did with how well you could throw a spear. During times of starvation, the body preserves two organs and then shrinks the rest, she explainsthe preserved organs are the brain and, in men, the testicles. Biologically, this is likely linked to the necessity of mental clarity to get out of starvation times or to survive long periods without food and to continue to grow the species.

Fasting is said to be a mental, physical, and spiritual reset, says Virginia Beach-based dietitian Jim White. He explains that people who have fasted for three days often report that it causes them to face their bottled-up emotions so that they are more mentally stable after fasting is completed. Additionally, those who fast learn to appreciate the little things that they may take for granted in everyday life, such as having a cold glass of water to drink or a bed to sleep in at night. By focusing on spiritual and mental connections during fasting instead of food and life inconveniences, mental clarity can be achieved.

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This Is What Happens to Your Body if You Don't Eat For Three Days - VICE

Want to know how to lose belly fat fast? Well you can't. But there are ways to torch fat, shed the dreaded visceral fat and maybe even reveal your abs. During lockdown it's a problem a lot of us are facing but then again, its a problem a lot of us were facing before lockdown.

Contrary to what a lot of websites will tell you, directly targeting 'belly fat' is largely impossible outside of surgical procedures. It's more of a matter of knowing how to lose weight in general some of which will be around your belly. It can also be useful to work on your abdominal muscles, so that when the fat is finally gone, your stomach will be properly flat, not fat. Although there's no magic bullet to slay belly fat, there are ways to burn visceral fat or belly fat that are tried, trusted and true.

And, as you have probably guessed, we have a list of them. So if you want to burn belly fat and get fit, this is our 'six-pack' of tips, cheats, technologies and strategies. Oh and if you want to round it up to a lucky 7 tips, try this one blindingly obvious way to avoid lockdown weight gain.

Important note here, everyone: Belly fat these days is often referred to as visceral fat because that sounds scarier. If you really need to shed visceral fat because it's endangering your life, that is an area where you should probably be seeking medical advice, if that is at all possible. But while this guide is more about slimming down a bit, or avoiding ballooning during lockdown, belly fat loss also has an element of visceral fat loss.

Our lose belly fat tips aren't necessarily quick, and this is not about telling you how to get six pack abs although we have plenty of guides to that, too. No, this is just a 'six pack' do you see what we did, there? of tips to getting a healthier life and feeling comfortable with the girth of your mid-riff. We're not looking to fat shame anyone here or totally bro out, we're just offering advice.

We've got some great tips, a few cheeky shortcuts and key strategies to lose belly fat quickly, healthily and sustainably. As we just said, there are no quick fixes here; we want you to develop habits that ensure you'll stay trim for good.Weve also got the lowdown on the best exercises to lose belly fat, and all the gear youll need to get started although, of course, the most important 'gear' is the bit between your ears.

There's no hard-and-fast rule for slim-down success: the best way to lose belly fat is the way that works around your lifestyle. If you follow an unsustainable plan, you won't last: it's as simple as that. In this article we lay out six principles that are applicable to everyone, whether you're a total beginner starting your weight-loss journey or a seasoned pro who fell off the wagon over Christmas.

These guiding lights will keep you on the straight and narrow, even during a lockdown situation. Dont try to take on more than you can reasonably fit into one day. And, despite the name of this feature, don't fixate on 'belly fat'. It's important to reduce visceral fat, which does tend to lurk around the belly area, but that is best achieved by trying to slim down and tune up overall.

Here are six strategies to help you start losing weight.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The short answer to the question of how to lose belly fat is to burn more calories than you consume on a regular basis. In the fitness world, this is known as achieving a "calorie deficit".

If this sounds like a waking nightmare, there's a trick to it: what you need to do is ensure youre eating the correct kind of food to make sure you feel full and sated, even when consuming fewer calories than you're burning off.

Certain foods are "empty calories" while others release energy slowly, keeping you fuller for longer. This is a big danger, especially while you're at home, with all your food within easy reach.

But before that, you'll need to find a good way to track your calories burned and calories taken in. The free MyFitnessPal app is one of the best ways to record your calorie intake, but to track your calories burned, you'll need a dedicated fitness tracker. If you already own a smartwatch, most will offer calorie tracking as standard, but for those yet to make the plunge, the Fitbit Versa Lite is the best activity tracker you can buy right now. Check out the deal below.

Oh, and staying hydrated is crucial, as well

Fitbit Versa 2 | was 199.99 | now 159 at AmazonThe Fitbit Versa 2 is getting regular price cuts in 2020 and is currently 22 off at Amazon and various other fine online retailers. The Versa 2 features advanced cardio tracking as well as the usual steps and sleep stuff, and has Alexa built in. It's also unusually stylish for a Fitbit.View Deal

Fitbit Versa Lite | was 149.99 | now 128.89 at AmazonThe Fitbit Versa Lite is the best affordable fitness tracker or smartwatch you can buy.It tracks deep and light sleep, steps, distance and calories, but that is barely scraping the surface of its capabilities. Via Fitbit's excellently presented app and sprawling ecosystem, you can use it as the basis of a complete fitness and diet programme. You can also enter your meals to log calories consumed, so you can have all your dietary data in one place.View Deal

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S'Well Marble Drinking Water Bottle | now 17.50 at John LewisIn this case beauty is more than skin deep. This bottle is vacuum sealed, which means it should be able to keep liquids warm for 12 hours and cold for 24 hours. Its stainless steel, has a capacity of 500ml and requires handwashing, and its definitely one for one-upping your co-workers boring flasks and supermarket specials.View Deal

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Intermittent fasting is becoming more and more popular. It involves significantly cutting calories or abstaining from food altogether for a portion of the day or week, and then cramming all your calories into a much shorter time window.

The best-known intermittent fasting plan is the 5:2 diet, where you eat as you normally would (although hopefully a bit healthier) for five days a week, then scoff no more than 600 calories two days a week.There are also variants of this diet where you consume almost no calories, two days per week. This is much more doable than it sounds, so long as you are in good general health, but it's not exactly fun.

However, for trainees who are serious but not that serious, there's the 16:8 diet. With this diet you have only 8 hours a day to fit all your meals in, but can only drink water (and maybe some black coffee, if you're feeling naughty) within a 16 hour fasting period outside of those 8 hours. Most choose to eat from 10am to 6pm, but as long as you stay within an eight hour window, you can start and finish at any time of the day. This isHugh Jackman's strategy, so if you have ever wanted to be in Wolverine shape

Why try fasting, though? Well, during the fasting period the body will run out of sugar to run on, and so will start eating up the bodys fat stores. The big negative is the adjustment period: if you're used to a big breakfast or an early dinner, a 16-hour fast feels tough at first, especially if you're exercising. You're going to get seriously cranky.

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Dead set on having chips? An air fryer can deliver a lot of the delicious taste with less of the not-quite-so-delicious oil

(Image credit: Future)

If you eat fried food all the time, switching to an air fryer will definitely cause you to lose weight unless buying one causes you to start eating loads of chocolate because you've reduced your fat intake. No, it doesn't taste as delicious as proper fried food of course not but it turns out meals with a good fried/roasted taste, but with up to 80% lower fat content.

If you don't eat fried food all the time but like to treat yourself now and then, switching to an air fryer could still help with you to lose weight. Even with a solid balanced diet and a good workout ethic, there will come a time when your willpower will falter and you'll want to fall back on your old favourites, like fried chicken, fish, chips and all the other foods you love normally dripping with grease. If you schedule in cheat days and do this in a controlled way, it's good to know you're cooking these foods in a way that still helps you hit your goals.

Enter the air fryer. The best air fryers are revolutionary pieces of kit that use hot air combined with a teaspoon of oil (as opposed to the gallons of oil found in the deep-fat variety) to cook your crispy favourites. If kitchen space and budget is no object, you can cook a whole chicken in the Philips Airfryer XXL, but if you're after something a little more economical, Pro Breeze Airfryer 1400W is lightweight, versatile and cheaper, perfect for portion control. It also seems to usually be sold out all the time at present, so perhaps everyone has already taken our advice, here.

This is just one way to have your (fried) cake and eat it too. Swapping high-calorie pints of ice cream to the low-calorie versions like Halo Top or Oppo, or switching out cholesterol-laden butter for a healthier olive spread, are other easy ways you can make relatively simple lifestyle choices and still keep weight off.

Weight training is a great way to tip your muscle-fat ratio the right way

(Image credit: Getty Images)

There are two main types of exercise: cardio training and weights, otherwise known as resistance training.Although cardio burns a lot of calories while you do it, weight training builds muscle which burns more than fat as you go about your day. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you'll burn even when not working out.

Resistance training may seem scary if you're doing it for the first time, especially in the gym when the area's dominated by serious lifters, but you dont have to start adding big plates to the bar right now. There's plenty of ways to get started at home with smaller weights such as dumbbells, kettlebells and even medicine balls.

Were not going to list every single lifting exercise, so why not pick the body part you want to start toning up and check out some of our muscle-building how-tos. One you've done that, grab one of the best dumbbell sets on the market. They're not just for arms: you can use a dumbbell to work your core, shoulders, and even your legs with combination movements.

The only issue you will find right now is that most of them are sold out, but this store still has home gym equipment for online delivery. By the time this lockdown ends, you'll be ready for the gym.

If everything for the home gym has sold out which happens a lot lately consider doing bodyweight exercises. If that idea makes you think of muscular men working out in prison, try our guide to the best bodyweight exercises for beginners and ease into it gently. Before you know it you'll be ready for the Navy SEAL workout. None of these require any specialist equipment.

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All of this aside, dont neglect cardio, as regular cardio workouts are important for fitness and stamina.

Electric Muscle Stimulation can help your muscles recover faster

(Image credit: PowerDot)

It may seem gimmicky when you unwrap your new six-pack vibrating belt, complete with a picture of Ronaldo on the box, but don't roll your eyes just yet. While you can't just sit there eating crisps and expect to get ripped, Electric Muscle Stimulators can help as part of a controlled dietary and exercise plan.

EMS can cause the muscles to contract, essentially tensing and untensing rapidly. During downtime post-workout, you can continue to encourage muscle growth with EMS, while the right bit of kit can also encourage faster recovery, allowing you to get back in the gym all the quicker. According to the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, EMS stimulates the muscle in the same way as a massage, prepping it for the next go-round.

It's not a bona fide shortcut to a six-pack, but it can speed up the muscle-building process with regular use.

(Image credit: Sixpad)

Our top choice is always SIXPAD as used by Cristiano Ronaldo, a man who takes great pride in his body. Perhaps a little too much pride, the unkind or jealous might say. Amazon also sells all manner of abs belts by brands we have never heard of, for about 20. Needless to say we dont recommend these.

PowerDot 2.0 - Smart Electric Muscle Stimulator | now 185 at AmazonAlternatively, the PowerDot 2.0 is a smartphone-controlled muscle stimulating monster.This neat muscle stimulator works from your phone, allowing you to control intensity, stimulation and goal. Reduce your recovery time and increase muscular performance, as the PowerDot working to support your gym schedule. This model has two stimulators, but you can scale up to four for 325View Deal

Planks are a tough abs workout and a great end-of-workout finisher

(Image credit: Taco Fleur from Pixabay)

As well doing both muscle-building and cardio exercises, if you want to lose belly fat its also important to switch up the pace of your workout.

Every time you workout, you should exercise using both steady state (working hard but not at max capacity, such as during brisk jog) and high intensity (going flat out, like sprinting) to torch your abdominal fat.

Steady state or aerobic exercises include cycling, running or uphill hiking.Its a crucial part of losing belly fat because it burns through your fat stores. However, it also uses your sugar stores for energy first, so you need to do steady-state for long enough to use up all that sugar before it eats into your fat reserves.

High intensity workouts use mainly sugar for fuel, so they don't hit the fat right away, but it does help in building muscle, which will help you torch fat even on days you're not exercising. Explosive weight lifting, sprinting and HIIT-friendly exercises like mountain climbers are all great high-intensity exercises.

A good fitness tracker will help you to gauge the intensity of your workout by monitoring your heart rate. For overall fitness trackers, check out the Fitbit Versa Lite above, but for a dedicated running watch, you can't beat the Garmin Forerunner 645, the best on the market right now.

Find out more about heart rate zone training

Garmin Forerunner 645 | now 342.37 at AmazonGarmin dominates the running/fitness watch category so totally, it's almost embarrassing for the competition. The most recent addition to their premium line, the Garmin 645, incorporates GPS and wrist heart-rate tracking, which is good for monitoring your resting and all-day rates. The 645 crunches a lot of data to suggest recovery times, make a decent stab at estimating your VO2 Max, tell you how optimal your training load and lots, lots more.View Deal

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The most important thing to bear in mind is this: losing weight takes time. You'll have setbacks and slip-ups, but if you stay committed to your goal, you'll be fitter and healthier in 2020, building up great habits for many years ahead.

Need some help to get started? Check out all the latest deals on the kit you'll need to get fit in 2020.To start with, you'll need a killer playlist and a good set of workout headphones to listen to it on:

Beats By Dre Powerbeats Pro | now 194 on AmazonPowerbeats Pro are a 'game changer' for Beats; the quality of them is over and above anything the brand has produced before. Designed for workouts and running, the clever design of these true wireless buds means they stay still in your ears during even the most arduous physical jerks. Battery life is way better than most true wireless buds at 8-9 hours and they recharge incredibly fast.View Deal

Originally posted here:
How to lose belly fat fast in lockdown: try this six pack of tips - T3

There's also a good reason why many fitness experts keep saying that "abs are made in the kitchen." Even if you do circuit training, resistance training, aerobic and anaerobic exercises, you might fall short of expectations if you fail to eat the right types of food.

April 22, 2020 by Jim Bevin Leave a Comment

If youre just starting with your weight loss or muscle building journey, you might feel tempted to focus on exercises that target the specific body parts. For most people who want to lose weight, these body parts often include the abdomen and the arms. After all, doing crunches and bicep curls should help you achieve your goals, right? This concept is called spot training, also referred to as spot reduction. While it might seem to make sense, the truth is that spot training is anatomically impossible.

When you want to have bulging biceps, you perform isolation exercises involving your arms such as pull-ups and bicep curls. When you want to build huge pecs, it follows that you need to bench press or do push-ups. This is one of the reasons why most people feel inclined to do sit-ups when trying to lose their belly fat. While its possible to see some improvements over time, the reason for those improvements isnt what you think.

Fat forms a layer between your muscles and the skin. You probably know that the body converts fat into energy, but do you think the body cares where exactly it burns fat? The human body just doesnt work that way. Even if you burn enough calories by doing crunches exclusively, it doesnt mean the body only burns fat in the area immediately surrounding your abdomen.

Theres also the fact that humans are genetically predisposed to store fat in certain areas of the body. This explains why when most people accumulate fat, they develop larger bellies and arms. These two body parts are the most common problem areas, but targeting them with isolation exercises wouldnt help you reach your fitness goals any quicker.

Ever wondered why people who do nothing but run or jog experience noticeable weight loss? Its all a matter of understanding how the body works. Running and jogging are just two examples of aerobic exercises, which are known to aid weight loss as they help the body burn a lot of calories in a short period. As long as you stay consistent with your exercise routine and make healthy eating choices, you should be able to reduce your weight over time. According to doktorfit.edu.pl, this can even help people who want to build muscles since the layer of fat that hides the muscles is removed, thus enhancing muscle definition.

Theres also a good reason why many fitness experts keep saying that abs are made in the kitchen. Even if you do circuit training, resistance training, aerobic and anaerobic exercises, you might fall short of expectations if you fail to eat the right types of food. Its also vital that you stop depriving yourself of food in an attempt to lose weight quickly. Instead, make it a habit to eat whole foods, fruits, vegetables, and lean protein. Foods rich in carbohydrates and sugar arent helpful in your journey, so its best to keep them to a minimum.

Photo: Shutterstock

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Why the Perpetual Idea of Spot Training Needs to Stop - The Good Men Project

Photo (c) SIphotography - Getty ImagesRecent studies have highlighted how both obesity and not getting enough sleep can lead to any number of negative health consequences. Now, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine say that one can cause the other.

Sleep is intricately connected with metabolism, the researchers said. Acute disruption of human sleep results in elevated appetite and insulin resistance, and chronically short-sleeping humans are more likely to be obese and diabetic.

The researchers conducted their study on the C. elegans worm to determine the link between obesity and sleep. They began by manipulating the neuron responsible for sleep. They observed that the worms energy levels dropped quickly and drastically without sleep. However, they also noticed an increase in fat storage.

We think that sleep is a function of the body trying to conserve energy in a setting where energetic levels are going down, said researcher Dr. David Raizen. Our findings suggest that if you were to fast for a day, we would predict you might get sleepy because your energetic stores would be depleted...That suggests that sleep is an attempt to conserve energy; its not actually causing the loss of energy.

In the second part of the experiment, the researchers modified the worms genetic expression again. Because a lack of sleep was associated with increased fat, they manipulated the way fat was stored throughout the worms'bodiesand allowed them to rest as they typically would. With a more direct expression of where to store the fat, the worms returned to their normal sleeping habits.

Ultimately, the researchers think there is a communication issue between the storage of fat cells and the bodys ability to sleep that can be translated to humans struggling with both sleep and obesity.

There is a common, overarching sentiment in the sleep field that sleep is all about the brain, or the nerve cells, and our work suggests that this isnt necessarily true, said Dr. Raizen. There is some complex interaction between the brain and the rest of the body that connects to sleep regulation.

Read the rest here:
Study finds another link between excess weight and sleeping issues - ConsumerAffairs

Strokes, seizures, loss of smell and taste and other neurological deficits are showing up in patients critically ill with the coronavirus.

Although the virus is classified as a respiratory disorder and primarily damages the lungs, clinicians are seeing patients with a wide array of symptoms, from seizures to hallucinations, brain inflammation, disorientation, delirium and loss of smell and taste.

I had a patient, a young guy, 48, who attended a party in New Rochelle two weeks before and came in with hallucinations and confusion, said Dr. Pooia Fattahi, regional chair of neurology for Trinity Health Of New England. The patient had no fever and only a slight cough. Still, aware some COVID-19 patients show up at hospitals with seizures, strokes and confusion, Fattahi suspected, correctly, that the patient had COVID-19. Three of those who attended the same New Rochelle party ultimately died of the virus.

A third of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Wuhan, China, suffered neurological symptoms, according to a Chinese study published April 10. Moreover, many of the patients developed these symptoms early; in some cases, the brain abnormalities were their only symptom. Because of that, study authors encouraged front-line clinicians treating patients with brain deficits to consider COVID-19 to avoid delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis and prevention of transmission.

Precisely why and how the virus attacks the brain penetrating the protective blood-brain barrier is complex and not well understood, said Dr. Jennifer Moliterno, chief of neurosurgical oncology at Yale Department of Neurosurgery and Yale School of Medicine. Other viruses can similarly affect the brain, so its not completely surprising but it is somewhat surprising, she said.

Moliterno speculates that the brain dysfunction seen in COVID-19 patients could originate in two different responses. First, the hyperactive immune system response that physicians have observed in COVID-19-positive patients known as a cytokine storm could trigger an inflammatory response that could cause widespread clotting throughout the body_ That would explain why hospitals are seeing so many patients who manifest with stroke and later test positive for COVID-19.

Second, experts believe COVID-19 infects cells through ACE2 receptors, which are also present in the specialized endothelial cells that make up a critical part of the neurological netting that comprises the blood-brain barrier.

That can allow the virus to leak into the brain, Moliterno explained.

It is also possible that COVID-19 enters the body through the olfactory system, close to the frontal lobes in the brain, which controls cognitive skills, Fattahi and Moliterno said. Inflammation of those lobes is known as encephalitis, whose symptoms include memory loss, behavioral changes, confusion and irritation.

Fattahi noted that anywhere from 5 to 24 percent of COVID-19 patients experienced a difficulty with smell. We dont know but we suspect there are ACE2 receptors that attach the olfactory nerves, which pass through those nerves into the brain, he said.

Those who present with brain disorders, Moltinero said, have a particularly dangerous infection. These patients are really sick, she said. A lot of the patients with the neurological symptoms have the more severe COVID-19 cases.

In Italy, the neurological damage has been so severe among affected patients that a neurologist at the university of Brescia has opened an 18-bed neuro-COVID-19 unit to treat these patients exclusively. Dr. Alessandro Pezzini, associate professor of neurology at the University of Brescia, has advised U.S. doctors to consider the possibility that these brain events are another effect of the virus.

So is a pronounced loss of smell. In South Korea, China, and Italy, about a third of patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 have reported a loss of smell known as anosmia often as their only symptom. That has led some experts to speculate that those who experience a loss of smell might be unsuspecting carriers of the virus who have unwittingly transmitted it to others.

British researchers recently advised doctors to consider loss of smell among the first symptoms of the virus.

There is potential that if any adult with anosmia but no other symptoms was asked to self-isolate for seven days we might be able to reduce the number of otherwise asymptomatic individuals who continue to act as vectors, not realizing the need to self-isolate, Professor Claire Hopkins, president of British Rhinological Society, said in a joint statement released late last month with the British Association of Otorhinolaryngology. Hopkins noted that because these patients do not have the dry cough, fever or shortness of breath that are hallmarks of the virus, they may not meet criteria for testing or self-isolation, though they could be spreading Covid-19.

Dr. R. Peter Manes, a rhinologist at Yale New Haven Hospital, said it was possible that people who lost their sense of smell in the absence of anything else, it can be one of the first signs of COVID-19.

At Saint Marys, Fattahi said he was perplexed to see a seizure in a relatively young patient. I thought, This is a guy who is not a drinker, has no personal history of seizure, so why is he having seizures?' Fattahi said of his 48-year-old patient. I was worried he was maybe exposed to COVID-19 at a party. Unwilling to wait for lab results, Fattahi said he ordered a CT scan, which confirmed his COVID-19 diagnosis. The patient was treated with a battery of antibiotics, anti-seizure medications and hydroxychloroquine and released.

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WATERBURY Brain malfunction is also a feature of many young, obese patients who are rapidly emerging as at high-risk to contract COVID-19, said Dr. Juan Diego Holguin of Alliance Medical Group.

Once they become infected with the virus, it seems to make their neurological effects more pronounced, Holguin said.

He points to the propensity for the obese to have abnormal pressure of the cerebral spinal fluid. He noted those with a body mass index more than 50 who contract the coronavirus also tend to deteriorate more rapidly.

The progression is unusually fast, Holguin said. We dont know why it progresses so quickly.

Because of the rapid deterioration, he recommends that those younger than 60 with a BMI over 40 should be tested as soon as they develop symptoms: You run the risk of progressing too quickly.

A 6-foot male with a BMI of 50 would weigh 370 pounds. A 54 woman with a BMI of 50 would weigh 290 pounds, Holguin said.

They already have restriction of their thorax from the excess weight. They already have problems getting air to their lungs, he said.

A series of new studies have found obesity may be among the most important predictors in severe COVID-19, particularly among young people. A study from NYU Langone study of patients under age 60 found that those with obesity were twice as likely to be hospitalized. was the second-highest reason why patients were hospitalized with COVID-19. Tracey OShaughnessy

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Not just the lungs: Some COVID-19 patients show signs of neurological ailments - Waterbury Republican American