HBOT Conversations:
Dr. Jay Stevens
Optimizing Health & Longevity
Dr. James “Jay” Stevens is the Medical Director of Extivita-RTP. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Zoology from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Doctor of Medicine from East Carolina University School of Medicine. He completed a Family Practice Residency at the Fairfax Family Practice Program at the Medical College of Virginia and the first Sports Medicine Fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1991. He is Board Certified in both Family Practice and Anti-aging Medicine. He also holds a Certificate of Added Qualification in Sports Medicine. In 2003 he founded Carolina Family Practice & Sports Medicine with locations in Cary, Raleigh, and Holly Springs, NC. He has served as the Team Physician for the National Hockey League’s 2006 Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes since their arrival in 1997. He also serves as Company Physician for the Carolina Ballet.
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Dr. Jay Stevens, Medical Director at Extivta, returns to HBOT News Network to discuss ways to optimize your health & longevity. In addition to being the Medical Director at Extivita, Dr. Stevens is also the Medical Director & Provider for the Cary, NC location of Essential Health. Essential Health has many locations across the country.
We are lucky to have Dr. Stevens here to share the insightful data and information he has come across over the course of his career.
Dr. Stevens starts by explaining that there is in fact a difference between someone’s health span and life span. Health span can be defined or looked at by how long can someone live before they succumb to disease? While, life span is more along the lines of quality of life, and wanting to live as long as possible. With life span, a person wants to keep the body as young, disease-free and as healthy as possible. This is where longevity fits in, because it ultimately is the desire to achieve the longest life span possible. But, he reminds us that functional medicine can never exist without conventional medicine. They both play a part in someone’s longevity and keeping diseases away.
Yet, how exactly does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy play a part in a person’s longevity goals? Dr. Stevens states that he sees HBOT as elegant and simplistic; because to create energy, we require a nutrient and oxygen. It’s as simple as that. But, our environments keep mucking that process up — toxins, poor diet, too much sugar, etc. We must look at Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy as a mechanism to improve cellular energy production. He further explains that when we focus on optimizing everything about the cell lifestyle and then apply oxygen, we have a recipe to achieve the best outcome in energy production. But, why is energy production so important for longevity?! Because energy production in your immune system predicts how your immune system will function – more energy production and your immune system is boosted to preform better, thus optimizing the chances of keeping disease and illness away.
The topic of the immune system leads us into a discussion on immunosenescence and why it is so important. Dr. Stevens explains that ultimately, the longevity of our lives is predicted by our immune system. Thankfully Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is known to slow down the rate of decline in an aging immune system, and increase our body’s ability to regenerate stem cells.
Dr. Stevens again touches on the power of extended fasting, and why it plays such an important role in optimal health & longevity.
Dr. Stevens starts by explaining that there is in fact a difference between someone’s health span and life span. Health span can be defined or looked at by how long can someone live before they succumb to disease? While, life span is more along the lines of quality of life, and wanting to live as long as possible. With life span, a person wants to keep the body as young, disease-free and as healthy as possible. This is where longevity fits in, because it ultimately is the desire to achieve the longest life span possible. But, he reminds us that functional medicine can never exist without conventional medicine. They both play a part in someone’s longevity and keeping diseases away.
Yet, how exactly does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy play a part in a person’s longevity goals? Dr. Stevens states that he sees HBOT as elegant and simplistic; because to create energy, we require a nutrient and oxygen. It’s as simple as that. But, our environments keep mucking that process up — toxins, poor diet, too much sugar, etc. We must look at Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy as a mechanism to improve cellular energy production. He further explains that when we focus on optimizing everything about the cell lifestyle and then apply oxygen, we have a recipe to achieve the best outcome in energy production. But, why is energy production so important for longevity?! Because energy production in your immune system predicts how your immune system will function – more energy production and your immune system is boosted to preform better, thus optimizing the chances of keeping disease and illness away.
The topic of the immune system leads us into a discussion on immunosenescence and why it is so important. Dr. Stevens explains that ultimately, the longevity of our lives is predicted by our immune system. Thankfully Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is known to slow down the rate of decline in an aging immune system, and increase our body’s ability to regenerate stem cells.
Dr. Stevens again touches on the power of extended fasting, and why it plays such an important role in optimal health & longevity.
Guest
Dr. Jay Stevens
Dr. James “Jay” Stevens earned a Bachelor of Arts in Zoology from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Doctor of Medicine from East Carolina University School of Medicine. He completed a Family Practice Residency at the Fairfax Family Practice Program at the Medical College of Virginia and the first Sports Medicine Fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1991. He is Board Certified in both Family Practice and Anti-aging Medicine. He also has a Certificate of Added Qualification in Sports Medicine. In 2003 he founded Carolina Family Practice & Sports Medicine with locations in Cary, Raleigh, and Holly Springs, NC. He has served as the Team Physician for the National Hockey League’s 2006 Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes since their arrival in 1997. He serves as Company Physician for the Carolina Ballet as well.
In 2009, his commitment to helping his patients create healthy lifestyles for long-term wellness, along with his desire to provide the highest quality health care services, motivated Dr. Stevens to establish Essential Health & Wellness (EHW). EHW offers its patients a comprehensive health care service tailored around their busy schedules with the goal of optimizing their performance and longevity.
In 2018, he continued this commitment to long-term wellness of his patients by becoming the Medical Director at Extivita RTP, a hyperbaric oxygen therapy facility with two, twelve seat treatment chambers in the Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC.
Dr. Stevens is also a Fellow in both the American Academy of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine and the American Academy of Family Practice. He is a member of the American Medical Society of Sports Medicine and Hyperbaric Medicine International.
Dr. Stevens lives in Cary, NC with his wife, Dr. Patience Stevens. They have three sons Eric, James, and Timothy. He is passionate about surfing, triathlon and almost any form of exercise.
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Clinical Trial – Can Erythropoietin Protect the Cerebral Blood Flow and Oxygenation During Simulated Dive?
During facial cooling and especially during breath hold, can mammals – and also humans –
elicit a so called dive reflex, causing bradycardia, peripheral vasoconstriction and
centralization of blood flow to brain, lungs and heart but the reflex is suppressed by
physical activity. The dive reflex can be elicited by breath hold alone and will be more
pronounced during simultaneously facial cooling, but not by stimulation of other skin
receptors.
The dive reflex has an oxygen conserving effect, because of intense vasoconstriction in both
viscera and muscles, and simultaneously with reduction in cardiac output (CO). Therefore
plasma lactate will rise, to compensate for the lesser regional blood flow. If one
hyperventilates with 100 % oxygen, then the reflex can still be elicited, but it is more
pronounced during asphyxia. Experienced sports divers, who has been diving for more than 7-10
years have reduced post apnea acidosis and oxidational stress, but probably also less
sensitivity for progressive hypoxia and hypercapnia, because these individuals have a more
pronounced dive reflex.
Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD) gives a reproducibly value for brain perfusion by
continuously non-invasive real-time sampling. A single piezo-electrical transducer sends and
collects ultrasound through the temporal region of the scull, where it is the thinnest.
Hereby can the blood flow of arteria cerebri anterior, media (MCA) and posterior and
basilaris be estimated.
With TCD it can be shown that the cerebral blood flow rises in MCA in healthy subjects during
facial cooling, with normal ventilation, when resting in a supine position without affecting
the systemic blood pressure. Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography (SPECT)-scanning
during normo-baric and hyperbaric pressure of professional divers breathing 100 % oxygen has
shown to reduce the cerebral blood flow in several regions of the brain.
But it is yet unknown how brain blood flow and metabolism are affected by an "face immersion
dive" and simultaneously prolonged physical activity, and hence a rise in lactate under
hyperbaric pressure (3 meters), breathing atmospheric air, similar to the circumstances for
trained scuba divers work.
Presumably it will cause a fall in brain blood flow and in time cognitive deficits.
Erythropoietin (rhEPO) is a well known drug, used as doping in sports for about 15 years. So
far the only known enhancement in athletic achievement by rhEPO is caused by peripheral
improvements and especially blood capability to transport oxygen to the working muscles; this
has been documented by a rise in haematocrit. rhEPO has also a neuroprotective effect on
neurons in patients with neuron damage caused by cerebral hypoxic ischeamia.
rhEPO work also on a series of cerebral mechanisms, including enhanced motor and spatial
learning and more. Enhanced motor learning may improve the professional divers choices during
work and may be also physical performance and mechanical efficiency. Intravenous injection of
rhEPO will increase rhEPO in cerebrospinal fluids, since rhEPO is capable of crossing blood
brain. All together this may indicate that rhEPO, not only works on physical performance, but
also has effects on the brain. rhEPO has also an effect on the condition of cancer and
dialysis patients, not only explained by merely increased hematocrit.
This project will add new knowledge in the understanding of the mechanisms of clinical use of
rhEPO.
The purpose of this study is to investigate, how brain blood flow and metabolism are affected
by face immersion dive and simultaneously breath hold during normo-baric and hyperbaric
pressure (3 m depth) when breathing atmospheric air in trained sports divers. IL-6, HSP-72,
lactate, ammonium and body-temperature will be measured. Brain and muscle oxygenation will be
measured by near-infrared spectroscopi (NIRS). Furthermore we will investigate whether a
small dose of rhEPO affects mentioned parameters during simulated dive in pressure chamber
with facial cooling.
Hypothesis Brain blood flow in trained divers will be diminished during prolonged physical
activity during simultaneously face immersion dive and breath hold under hyperbaric pressure.
There will be a release of IL-6 and HSP-72. Pretreatment with a small amount of rhEPO before
prolonged physical activity during simulated dive has a protective effect on brain blood flow
and oxygenation.