Hormesis

Hormesis is the dynamic where exposure to a low-dose or short-term exposure induces a beneficial physiological response. Examples of hormetic stressors include exercise, fasting, oxidative stress, caloric restriction, cold, radiation, and heat. Hormetic stressors exert different effects but many activate common or similar pathways. For example, exercise, fasting, and cold and heat exposure all induce the expression of heat shock proteins.

Benefits
When the human body is activated by environmental stressors, it enters a state of hormesis. A 2008 study found that hormesis causes mitochondrial biogenesis. Patients with ME/CFS have been show to have reduced mitochondrial function, so this is why thermotherapy or cryotherapy may be beneficial.

ME/CFS
Robert Naviaux found subjects with ME/CFS exhibited the opposite metabolic and phospholipid profile to that found in acute cell danger response, perhaps in response to a chronic cell danger signaling, such as a chronic infection. It is unclear what role, then, hormesis might play in patients with ME/CFS. Many patients as a function of the disease have a diminished ability to respond to hormetic challenges such as exercise, cold or heat. At the same time, some patients report improvement with intermittent fasting or sauna therapy.

Jamie Deckoff-Jones, MD has found success with normobaric oxygen therapy in patients with ME/CFS. She observed that periodic treatment was significantly more effective than continuous. This observation can be attributed to the benefit of allowing cells to repair via hormesis.