Recognizing and Reducing Inflammation: A Comprehensive Guide
Wouldn’t it be nice if your body told you when it was getting sick? Perhaps it gave you a warning sign before developing a serious condition like cancer or diabetes. Or maybe sounded an alarm before your stress levels became a chronic health issue? With a warning of this kind, you might be able to take preventative measures by changing your lifestyle, thereby preventing the onset of a debilitating condition altogether. Guess what? This isn’t actually a hypothetical situation after all: your body DOES, in fact have a built in warning system! What is the warning system, you ask? Inflammation.
*Note: in this particular blog post, we are talking about chronic, systemic inflammation. While not all inflammation is dubious in nature, chronic inflammation is the culprit in diseases spanning from Rheumatoid Arthritis, to diabetes, and even to certain forms of cancer. At Huemn, we strive to help clients both mitigate high levels of inflammation (put out the fire), and prevent inflammatory levels from escalating in the future.
Inflammation is your body’s warning system to alert you when something is wrong. It could be something seemingly simple (and productive) like the body’s response to a common cold or a twisted ankle. But it could also be a warning sign for an impending chronic condition or even a severe illness. Why is this? Scientists and doctors alike have agreed that inflammation is the root cause of nearly every known health issue. While you may not understand why you have inflammation, one thing is clear: something is wrong.
If you didn’t realize the importance of inflammation prior to this blog post, you’re not alone. Our current medical system is based on a “sick care” model. That means, you’ve been taught to wait out your symptoms until they become worrisome enough to warrant medical intervention. Because of this model, many patients find that by the time that they see a doctor, they have full blown diagnoses that require invasive treatments and medications to control. This is a drastically different model than the “health optimization and prevention model” that we promote at Huemn.
At Huemn, we adopt a different approach to health. As stated above, instead of the “sick care” model, we follow the “health optimization and prevention” model. The key difference? We opt to be proactive versus reactive. We do this by listening to the body’s natural signals, and taking a holistic approach to encourage healing. Instead of waiting for a disease to occur to take action, we focus on trying to prevent the illness from occurring in the first place. That way, we can avoid harsh treatments when possible, and keep our bodies functioning optimally.
As you become in tune with your body, you can recognize inflammation. That means you can detect and correct imbalances early, before they lead to a more serious health crises. The “health optimization and prevention” model results in better health and a happier life. By working with your body’s natural systems, instead of against them, you’ll learn to understand the signs of your inflammation. At Huemn, we focus on three main things:
Biomarker Testing: In order to fully address inflammation, you have to have a complete picture. Where exactly are your inflammatory levels? With inflammation testing, we test the hs-CRP biomarker, which tells us exactly where your inflammation levels are. Testing and tracking this biomarker is immensely valuable to optimizing your overall health.
Putting out the fire: Everyone wants to know how to prevent inflammation, but before we get to prevention, we must put out the fire. Why? Think of your body as a building. If the building is on fire, are you focusing on preventing future fires? No. You’re extinguishing the current blaze first. We do this by opting for non-invasive, science-backed modalities that are shown to lower inflammation. Some examples include Whole Body Cryotherapy, Photobiomodulation (Light Therapy), and Lymphatic Drainage.
Address lifestyle: NOW it’s time to focus on lifestyle. Stress, diet, environmental toxins, and poor sleep are all factors that contribute to chronic inflammation. Making small, sustainable changes to your daily routine can substantially improve your inflammation levels (AND your health) over time! These changes can also help to prevent issues from occurring in the future—which is what we all want!
An Evolutionary Biomarker
Inflammation is a biomarker humans developed over thousands (maybe even millions) of years ago. It is a protection system to prevent further damage after injury or illness. You’re probably familiar with the signs of inflammation - redness, swelling and pain. When you have an injury like a twisted ankle or a sprained wrist, the inflammation is obvious. You know you’ve injured that joint and shouldn’t keep moving it. But sometimes, it isn’t so obvious.
Sometimes, you’re in pain and don’t know why. You can’t find an obvious injury, and can’t think of anything that triggered it. Your joints may become stiff, warm to the touch, and difficult to move. These are also signs of inflammation.
Inflammation isn’t always caused by a traumatic injury. Systemic (total body) inflammation can occur to warn you there is an issue on a cellular level. This type of inflammation is much more insidious in nature. Many illnesses, habits or conditions can trigger this systemic response. In addition of pain without obvious trauma, other signs of uncontrolled inflammation include: chronic fatigue, insomnia, depression, gastrointestinal complications (IBS, constipation, acid reflux), frequent infections or illnesses, and even weight gain.
How do we figure out how inflamed we actually are? Test, don’t guess. We can test the biomarker for inflammation, hs-CRP (C-Reactive Protein), with just a simple finger prick. Testing this biomarker is imperative to obtaining the “big picture”, and once we know your levels, we know how to respond. The other key advantage to testing? Tracking. Over time, we can literally track the changes in your inflammation levels, in order to see how your hs-CRP is responding to lifestyle changes, Huemn’s anti-inflammatory modalities, and supplementation. Find out more about testing here.
Lifestyle Factors
While inflammation should always be taken seriously, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a serious condition or injury. You may be triggering systemic inflammation with some of your lifestyle choices and the situations you find yourself in. Consider making some behavioral changes to experience renewed health and vitality.
First, your diet may be causing inflammation. Food is essential for fueling your body, but some foods trigger an immune response as if they were foreign invaders. This doesn’t pertain only to foods that you’re intolerant to. In fact, your body reacts in a similar when your diet contains lots of sugar. Simple carbohydrates, sugars, and refined and processed foods can do lots of damage to your body. Eating them regularly can lead to chronic inflammation. Eliminating or reducing these foods from your diet has a positive impact on inflammation and overall health.
Inflammation can also occur from structural problems. We are constantly on the move, and while movement is essential to good health, it can occasionally be problematic. Constant use of your limbs, joints, and muscles can cause strain and irritation. Repetitive motions put strain on vulnerable areas. Past injuries, poor posture, strain and misalignment initiate the release of inflammatory cytokines - causing systemic inflammation.
It is important to keep your muscular system balanced and aligned. That means improving your posture, being mindful of your movements during repetitive tasks and listening to your body. Visiting specialists like chiropractors and physical therapists can help. These natural interventions can reduce inflammation, and get you on a path to better health.
Stress also contributes to inflammation. When you have a lot of negative stressors, it throws your hormones off balance, and can negatively affect your health. You can’t control all of your stressors - work, family problems and other people’s drama will still be a part of your life. However, you can take agency and manage how much it affects you and your health.
Train your body to be resilient against stress. Homeostasis stressors and meditation go a long way. Exercise, meditation, and thermal stressors are natural treatments to manage stress and its corresponding inflammation. You can try cryotherapy (an example of cold stress) to increase the amount of stress your body is able to withstand and decrease inflammation as a result. Many studies have shown how both cryotherapy and exercise increase norepinephrine - a hormone that blocks inflammation precursors.
Toxins in the body can cause inflammation as well. Like all foreign invaders, your immune system attacks them for your protection. Unfortunately, constant immune system responses create long-term inflammation. This leads to the development of diseases. We all have what is known as a “toxin bucket”, where at some point, the toxic substances can spill over. Be mindful of the things that you are exposing your body to—start with your personal care products, as a recent study found that women put as many as 500 synthetic chemicals on their bodies per day. With that staggering statistic, we’ll chat a bit more about environmental factors below.
Environmental Factors
Between work, school, and home you spend 90% of your time indoors. We may be used to artificial lighting and air conditioning, but our bodies weren’t designed for it. Our bodies crave fresh air, sunlight and natural water sources. Industrialization and urbanization have made many changes to our day-to-day lives, and some of these conditions are negatively impacting your health.
Cardiac and pulmonary function are the two most important aspects of your health. Together they supply all of your cells and vital organs with the oxygen they need to function. Understandably, that means the quality of the air you breathe is very important to your health.
Your indoor air quality plays a big role in your health, simply because it’s where you do so much of your breathing. What is the air quality like at your office? In your home? Are you constantly being exposed to air pollutants in the recirculated air you breathe every day?
When able, you should consider using building supplies, furnishings and materials with low chemical emissions. This limits sources of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds that could make you sick, such as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, ozone, particulate matter (PM), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like formaldehyde, limonene, and benzene.
Breathing heavily polluted air can cause inflammation by overwhelming your lymphatic system. Your immune system combats toxins as they enter your body. They are often sent to the lymph fluid to be drained. When the levels in your lymph become too high, it can actually overwhelm the system and cause inflammation.
To prevent inflammation due to bad air quality, try:
● Reading the labels of paints, cleaning supplies, makeup, air fresheners, and personal care products to avoid toxic ingredients
● Limiting fire retardant exposure (often found in schools)
● Using an Eco-Friendly mattresses with low VOCs
● Installing additional air filtrations systems
● Choosing paints (for indoor walls) with low VOCs
● Monitoring and controlling mold spores and humidity
Ensuring you are breathing clean air will greatly improve your health. Without these toxins in your body, your immune system will be free to defend you against viruses, your inflammation levels will be reduced and you’ll experience greater vitality.
Once you’ve established your air quality is good, it’s time to talk about your water. The risks are similar, you could be exposing yourself to toxins and contaminants in your water source. Thankfully, we don’t have an overwhelming issue of bacterial or chemical contamination in the United States. However, the Flint water crisis proves that you can never be too careful. Contaminated wells, damaged pipes or industrial waste can potentially affect your water supply.
Drinking subpar water can also be attributed to higher levels of inflammation. Just like with polluted air, you could trigger inflammation if there are more toxins than the body can manage. Remember the toxin bucket analogy?
To prevent inflammation due to bad water quality, try:
● Testing your water for safety
● Installing and using a water filtration system
● Limiting fertilizer and insecticide use
● Eliminating use of glyphosate
● Buying water from a trusted source. Instead of plastic bottles, use reusable glass containers, mason jars, etc.
Many environmental factors can cause or exacerbate health issues. If you notice a change in your body systems—such as increased inflammation, for example, take it seriously. Start by considering what in your environment or routine has changed.
Behavioral Factors
Did you realize your behaviors have an impact on inflammation as well? Your body responds to how you fuel and move it, the environment you place it in, and even relationship and sleep patterns.
Your body needs sleep in order to operate properly. Without adequate sleep, none of your body’s systems can function as designed. Sleep deprivation, especially when it is long term, can contribute to stress, chronic illnesses, and a compromised immune system.
You heal best during sleep. After a tough exercise session, a hurt back, or something more serious, quality sleep is imperative for your healing. If you don’t get enough rest, inflammation will begin to take place.
If you struggle with getting a good night of rest, try these natural interventions to get more sleep:
● Keep your room cool, dark, and quiet
● Use your bed for sleep and only sleep. Don’t eat, study, or work from your bed
● Monitor your sleep with health trackers or apps
● Enjoy a hot bath or sauna session before bed
● Journal to wind down before sleeping
● Stick to a schedule
If you're still with us, thank you. After reading this comprehensive guide, you now know it's without question that there are factors well within our control to promote optimal health and wellness. Taking control of your health through proactive measures is one of the most empowering things that you can do, no matter your age, current health status, or goals. Whether you're hoping to age better, prevent the onset of chronic diseases, or even improve an existing health condition, recognizing and reducing chronic inflammation is the key to checking all of those boxes.