People with long COVID are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in eClinicalMedicine. The results show that the risk of conditions such as cardiac arrhythmias and coronary artery disease is higher even among those who were not hospitalized during the acute infection.

Long COVID has become an increasingly significant health problem worldwide, and a growing number of studies suggest that the condition can lead to secondary cardiovascular diseases. To date, research has mainly focused on people who were hospitalized, while the risks for those who stayed at home or were treated at a GP are less well known. In the current study, the researchers investigated how often major cardiovascular events occur in these individuals compared with those without the diagnosis.

Of the just over 1.2 million people aged between 18 and 65 included in the study, around 9,000 had been diagnosed with long COVID, corresponding to 0.7%. Two-thirds of them were women. People who had previously had cardiovascular disease or been hospitalized for COVID-19 were excluded from this group.

‘Practices that reduce perceived threat – mindfulness, social support, time in nature, deliberate recovery periods – are not indulgences. They are forms of energetic repair.’

The energy systems in our brains are implicated in how clearly we think, how resilient we feel, and how well we adapt to uncertainty. Understanding them can help us better care for our bodies as we age.

In this sharp and insightful essay, Hannah Critchlow takes you through the many ways in which our brains generate and use energy, and offers some helpful recommendations for looking after your brain health. Read or listen now.

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In an era preoccupied with cognitive enhancement and artificial minds, it is worth remembering that intelligence depends on sustaining delicate energetic equilibria. To care for our bodies, our relationships and our environment is, in a literal sense, to care for the energy that makes thought possible.

The evolutionary merger that gave rise to mitochondria offers a final lesson. Complexity and intelligence did not emerge from domination but from partnership. Within us, ancient bacteria still labour – not as servants but as collaborators. Every thought we have, every spark of imagination, is powered by this quiet cooperation at the cellular level. Intelligence, in any form, is a partnership with energy itself.

One takeaway is that a brain fit for the 21st century may be one that understands – and respects – its bioenergetic foundations.

Now online! B cells regulate exercise capacity through immune-independent liver-muscle metabolic signaling, and B cell deficiency limits muscle performance. Mechanistically, B cell-secreted TGF-β1 increases hepatic glutamine-to-glutamate conversion, raising glutamate in blood and muscle. This promotes muscle calcium signaling and mitochondrial function, positively regulating exercise capacity.