It’s ALL About Reducing Inflammation

What is Inflammation?

Inflammation is the body’s biological response of attempting to protect itself. It aims to remove harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells and irritants; this is the first step of the healing process.

Inflammations triggers a response from the immune system, initially inflammation is beneficial for protection but a lot of the time inflammation can lead to further inflammation which is bad.

The five signs to look out for inflammation are pain, redness, heat, swelling and injured function!

Chronic Inflammation

Chronic inflammation is when the initial inflammation does not go away. It is no longer a healing response but more an indicator that something is wrong. One of the biggest causes of chronic disease comes from the presence of ‘chronic inflammatory status’. Chronic inflammation is long term and can last for months or even years!

It is vital to do everything you can to prevent inflammation so you don’t reach this stage.

The inflammatory process is responsible for the symptoms and long term damage and associated with oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress occurs when there are too many toxins for the body to deal with, the body then in response produces free radicals, and free radicals damage the membranes of the cells, destroying important proteins, fats and DNA.

Resolution of a chronic inflammatory condition lies at the heart of all attempts to treat and prevent these terrible diseases.

There are so many diseases and illnesses which are caused by chronic inflammatory conditions such as:
• Cardiovascular disease
• Diabetes type2
• Metabolic syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Chronic fatigue
• Depression
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Cancer
• Osteoarthritis
• Ibs
• obesity
• candida albicans
• helicobator
• atherosclerosis

Inflammatory conditions are often multifaceted

Cortisol - (testosterone is an anti-inflamatory) is the most powerful anti-inflamatory and is released in response to stress (dhea is also a endogenous anti inflammatory).

What causes the inflammation in the first place?
• Chronic infections
• Obesity
• Environmental toxins (food, water & air)
• Physiological stress
• Intensive /endurance training
• Physical trauma
• Age
• Autoimmune disease

Long term stress makes any inflammatory condition worse.

What are the solutions?

For people who suffer from chronic inflammation then it is vital to reduce stress levels. Chronic inflammation is also a lot more common in overweight individuals, so one way of reducing the chances of chronic inflammation is to follow the usual procedures to losing body fat (healthy eating and exercise).

People’s diet needs to be improved to ensure they are eating all of the vital vitamins and nutrients and avoiding trans-fats and saturated fats. Eating herbs and spices such as turmeric, garlic, onions and many more are linked with reducing levels of inflammation. The anti inflammatory compounds found in these herbs and spices provide health in many different ways.

Lastly ensure to get lots of sleep and take anti oxidants.

Many people who suffer from chronic inflammation do so as a result of their lifestyle, so in order to reduce their symptoms then the lifestyle needs to be changed. Obesity is a low grade state of chronic inflammation, so fighting the fat will fight inflammation at the same time!

Thanks for reading,

Richard Clarke