The Causes, Effects, and Management of Chronic Inflammation   

Chronic inflammation is a serious issue, often resulting in health complications including depression, weight gain, skin issues, and digestive problems. Inflammation is rampant; in fact, one in 12 women and one in 24 men are dealing with full-blown autoimmune mediated inflammation, and chronic inflammation contributes to many of the leading causes of death in the US.

What Is Inflammation?

Inflammation is the body’s response to being irritated or infected—it’s how the body repairs itself after an injury, wards off viruses and bacteria, and heals broken tissue. It’s a vital part of the body’s immune response and often causes redness, swelling, warmth, pain, and some immobility.

When we are wounded or get an infection, our white blood cells go to the area of damage and attack the bacteria that are contributing to the swelling. For instance, when you hit your knee on a table, your arteries dilate and blood flow increases, which makes capillaries more penetrable. This allows your internal biochemical process to send cytokines (or proteins) that deliver pressure-inducing fluid (which causes swelling), hormones (for blood clotting and cleaning up any leftover tissue when the wound/pain has healed), immune-building cells, and nutrients to repair the area of swelling.

But when the body’s response signals are not working properly, our natural inflammation-fighting process becomes misdirected, and we experience chronic inflammation. If not properly taken care of, chronic inflammation can contribute to very serious health problems.

There are two types of chronic inflammation:

1. Inflammation that occurs when the body repeatedly signals white blood cells to attack an internal area that is not inflamed. This causes the blood cells to circulate through the bloodstream looking for something to attack, until eventually they start attacking healthy areas of the body (organs, muscles, tissues, digestive system).

2. Inflammation that goes untreated because the body doesn’t recognize it. Typically symptomizing months or years after the initial inflammation, this type of chronic inflammation can be linked to many digestive and metabolic diseases and disorders, such as:

• • • Heart disease
    • Heart attack
    • Kidney failure
    • Gall bladder disease
    • Lupus
    • Pancreatitis
    • Congestive heart failure
    • Eczema
    • Psoriasis
    • Auto-immune diseases
    • Crohn’s disease
    • Arthritis

What Causes Chronic Inflammation?

Scientists are currently studying how things like vaccines, antibiotics, diet, and lifestyle habits impact the onset and management of chronic inflammation. Some of the top factors that have been shown to impact disease-related inflammation include:

• Lack of sleep: Lack of sleep affects our endocrine system. This includes our pineal gland, the gland responsible for producing the melatonin that regulates our internal clock for sleep. It also includes our thyroid, and fluctuations in this gland can weaken digestive enzymes and damage the cells that help break down our food effectively. This allows bacteria to enter our bloodstream, increasing toxicity and causing inflammation of the digestive walls, which forces our white blood cells to constantly work to stave off infection.

• Poor diet: Diets high in refined starches, sugar, and saturated/trans fatty acids, and low in natural antioxidants (found in fiber from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains) and omega-3 fatty acids contribute to inflammation. If eaten on a regular basis, foods lacking nutrients begin to be recognized by anti-inflammatory cells as invaders—something your cells don’t like to have around. This triggers an ongoing response by white blood cells, which begin to attack healthy cells and cause inflammation in your bloodstream.

• Dehydration: A large percentage of our blood is water. Without a continuous, safe, and reliable supply of water, our bodies become dehydrated and our lymphatic system—a vital part of our immune system—cannot remove waste products effectively, which leaves us susceptible to higher levels of toxicity. This perpetuates inflammation in the body and drastically reduces the body’s ability to heal.

Managing and Preventing Chronic Inflammation

There is hope for both managing and preventing chronic inflammation. Below are four simple tips that can make a big difference in how your body fights and copes with it:

• Measure your protein: The level of C-reactive protein in your blood rises when there is an inflammatory situation in your body. You can measure the level of this protein using an at-home test called a CRP, which is designed to test for an indication of heart disease that could cause a heart attack.
• Sleep 7-8 hours every night: Thich Nhat Hanh, the best-selling author, Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist, stated, “It’s very important that we re-learn the art of resting and relaxing. Not only does it help prevent the onset of many illnesses that develop through chronic tension and worrying; it allows us to clear our minds, focus, and find creative solutions to problems.”  Scheduling quality sleep within the same window of time every night as part of our daily routine is vital for the longevity of a healthy body. Sleep can help fight off low-grade inflammation and prevent it from becoming a more painful problem. When we give our body quality time to shut down, our immune system can work effectively, and we can restore and regenerate the essential proteins and hormones needed to help our immune system remain strong, helping to reverse the impact of inflammation.  
• Hydrate: Staying hydrated will enable your cells to flush toxins, bacteria and viruses out of the body; help currently inflamed skin, muscles, tissues, and organs repair and function properly; and keep inflammation throughout the entire body down. Drink at least 64 oz. of water a day; more if you are exercising and losing water through perspiration.
• Eat a healthful diet: Eating a healthier, more organic diet that includes anti-inflammatory foods can help ensure that your digestive and endocrine systems are getting what they need to deliver the right nutrients to cells and optimize functionality. Introduce more fruits, vegetables, omega-3 fatty acids, heart healthy fats, and herbs into your diet, and reduce the amount of potentially irritating and inflammation-causing foods such as gluten and sugar. The following foods are great anti-inflammatory aids, as well as delicious and healthy for your body in general:

• • • Cherries
    • Sweet potatoes
    • Ginger
    • Basil
    • Kale
    • Olive oils
    • Coconut oils
    • Almonds
    • Salmon
    • Tuna
    • Strawberries
    • Blueberries

Eating more of these organic, fresh, vitamin-rich, antioxidant foods and getting adequate amounts hydration and sleep work in conjunction with one another and with our body’s enzymes, hormones, and cell system to fight off inflammation before it happens, which leads to a healthier and happier quality of life!