By Louise Richardson, Reflexologist
Considering all the focus these days on anti-inflammatory foods, herbs, medicine, and habits, you’d think inflammation is a bad thing in the body.
Which is why it’s important to understand that inflammation is the body’s first line of defense to protect you from injuries and invaders to the body, such as viruses, bacteria, and toxins. It’s a process triggered by your body’s white blood cells to increase the blood flow to the area that’s injured or infected, which in turn can cause tissue swelling and pain.
There are also quite a few diseases whose name ends in “-itis” which is a suffix used in medical terminology to denote inflammation of a certain part of the body. For example:
- Cystitis is an inflammation of the bladder
- Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchi
- Dermatitis is a disease where the skin is inflamed
- Tendinitis is inflammation of a tendon
So, before addressing areas of inflammation, it’s important to know what has triggered it so you can address the root issues. By design, inflammation should be a short-term thing your body creates to facilitate healing itself, and then return to its normal state. Chronic inflammation on the other hand, where the inflammation builds more slowly and lasts for months or years, is when we think of inflammation as a bad thing.
Chronic inflammation can occur when the initial trigger isn’t fully treated or removed, if you have an autoimmune disease, or from long-term exposure to a trigger which could be polluted air, exposure to certain chemicals, etc. If left untreated, chronic inflammation can damage the body and is linked to most major diseases including cancer, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, and more.
Chronic inflammation risk factors that promote low-level inflammatory responses include:
- Stress
- Irregular sleep
- Obesity
- Smoking
- Aging
- Certain foods
- Low levels of testosterone and estrogen
If you think you might be dealing with chronic inflammation, then the first step is to figure out what is causing it, and to try and get the body back in balance.
In the meantime, you can also take steps to reduce the inflammation:
- Reduce your stress: while removing the source of your stress is always the most effective, but not completely feasible and you can use reflexology, massage therapy, meditation, prayer, and other stress-reducing practices to help.
- Exercise more: God designed our bodies to move!
- Make healthy dietary choices: include more anti-inflammatory foods (and fewer inflammatory foods, aka most processed food) in your diet.
- Lose weight if needed: hopefully, this one comes naturally by exercising more, eating more whole, anti-inflammatory foods, and reducing stress, though you may need to look at other causes and get your body back in a balanced healing state if those aren’t enough to reach your goals.
- Focus on reducing exposure to known or suspected triggers.
Let’s not forget the power of prayer. Talk to God, ask with sincerity, and always, always be grateful!
Here’s to your health!
To read more articles by Louise Richardson, click here. https://dunndealpublications.com/louise-richardsons-articles/
