May 29, 2020
Barb Green, Parish Nurse
Milton, WI
Inflammation is the process your body uses to provide the healing chemicals and nutrients needed to help repair damage due to injury or disease. There are two types: acute—a temporary helpful response to an injury or illness; and chronic—a slow, creeping condition caused by a misfiring of the immune system that keeps your body in a constant, long-term state of high alert. Over time, chronic inflammation damages healthy cells.
Symptoms of acute inflammation include pain, redness, immobility, swelling, and heat. Symptoms of chronic inflammation present in a different way and include fatigue, mouth sores, chest pain, abdominal pain, fever, rash and joint pain. Chronic inflammation can start attacking the linings of your arteries or intestines, cells in your liver and brain, or the tissue of muscles and joints. This cellular damage can trigger diabetes, cancer, dementia, heart disease, arthritis and/or depression. Its slow and secret nature makes it hard to diagnose. Chronic inflammation’s impact has been linked to dozens of health conditions. These include dementia, depression, Parkinson’s, chronic fatigue, asthma, heart disease, inflammatory bowel diseases, obesity, metabolic syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and allergies, to name a few.
Chronic inflammation happens when:
• Something triggers the immune system and puts your body in a state of stress and keeps it there.
• As a result, the immune system goes into attack mode with an inflammatory response and responds and responds and responds.
There are four main causes of chronic inflammation:
• Infection that’s hard to kill such as hepatitis C or Lyme disease
• Genetics: an inherited gene causes misfiring of the immune system or is turned on by inflammation
• Environment: toxins and pollutants which trigger and sustain inflammation
• Lifestyle: obesity, unregulated stress, tobacco use, drinking too much, lack of physical activity, poor sleep, poor diet. Belly fat, a highly inflammatory tissue, actively creates and releases inflammatory compounds.
Chronic stress causes an increase in hormones like cortisol and adrenaline which directly trigger a rise in inflammation.
Aging increases inflammation because the older we are, the more exposure we’ve had to all the above causes. Aging also make it more difficult for our bodies to properly manage our immune systems, to extract nutrients from food and to shed extra pounds. As we age all, of us have some degree of inflammation in our bodies. The key is to keep it at a flickering ember and not let it erupt into a forest fire.
Prevention is key to avoiding these chronic diseases. The ways to reduce your chance of chronic inflammation are to eat a healthy diet, reduce stress, get good sleep every night, exercise, stop smoking, and reduce alcohol use. Foods that spark inflammation include: white bread, deep fried foods, processed foods, bottled salad dressings. Foods that help reduce inflammation include: whole-grain bread, dark-colored fruits, vegetables and beans, yogurt, monosaturated fats (olive oil, avocado, nuts) polyunsaturated fats (fish, flax, oils) and big colorful salads. The vitamins and minerals found in fruits and vegetable are antioxidants and help fight inflammation.
Non-food reducers of chronic inflammation include yoga, improving your attitude, and attending church. Mindfulness, prayer, and meditation have been shown to help those who suffer from chronic inflammatory conditions.
These lifestyle changes are not easy, but isn’t attacking one enemy—inflammation—a lot easier than worrying about dozens of them? If you have to pick one area to improve, focus on sleep, both quantity and quality. It not only lowers your inflammation levels, it also helps you do everything else better. When people give their body time to rest and lower stress, they have an easier time making smart food choices and getting exercise the next day. Anything you can do to reduce inflammation is a step to better health.
—Adapted from AARP Bulletin 11/2019