Inflammation is one of the major factors in the rise of chronic illness. Our bodies are under attack from our lifestyle, our food, the toxins we are exposed to, and it is damaging us. Diabetes, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune diseases, mental disorders, and cancers have all been on the rise in the last few decades. Our bodies are not changing and evolving fast enough to handle life we lead now in America. Our immune systems are in overdrive trying to heal us and it is leading to a chronic inflammatory response. Inflammation is a good thing when it is in response to a sudden trigger such as an injury or infection. It helps to mount an attack response to a bacteria or to heal an injury. This response is designed to start when needed and stop when the threat is over. The problem is for most of us, the threat is never gone. Our bodies are never finding a state of balance and are constantly trying to fight against our poor lifestyle. This constant fight mode is causing the body to break down and leading to chronic illness.
Lets go through what the basic inflammation response is and then how that response can lead to many of the chronic symptoms people experience. The body is exposed to a trigger for inflammation. According to Dr. Charles Sefcik, a functional medicine chiropractor, these triggers can best be abbreviated as STAMP.
(S) sleep quality, sedentary lifestyle, stress, sugar
(T) toxins
(A) allergens
(M) microbes
(P) poor posture, pain from injury
This trigger (or usually multiple triggers) will start the inflammation cascade in the body. This process is complex and involves multiple mediators, enzymes, and cells in the body. The cells involved in the initial response to a trigger send out signals causing the blood vessels to dilate. This results in a more open membrane to allow other cells and fluid to flow to the area of concern in the body. These cells produce mediators which cause the inflammation reaction of swelling, redness and pain. The problem is when exposed to triggers over and over again these mediators are always in the body and start to do damage by causing the inflammatory response to areas that are not injured or infected. When inflammation becomes widespread throughout the body, affecting many systems, it can lead to symptoms such as:
– brain fog
– high/low blood pressure
– inability to handle stress
– fatigue
– muscle and joint pain
– digestive problems
– unable to sleep
– headaches
– depression
– anxiety
– inability to lose weight
– difficulty regulating body temperature
These are all symptoms experienced by a body that is being overly exposed to triggers of inflammation and leading to a continual decline in health. It is so important for the long-term health of our bodies to decrease the number of triggers to inflammation we expose ourselves to. Our “normal” lifestyle is full of the causes of inflammation. Investing in yourself and your health now will lead to big payoffs as you age. Think of the ability of your body to handle all the inflammation like a bucket. You keep filling the bucket with things that are causing inflammation and you feel fine… until the bucket overflows. We all have a an overflow point when our body can no longer handle all of the stress we are putting on it. It is much harder to fix and repair all the damage the overflow causes throughout the body than to make changes now to ensure the bucket doesn’t overflow and cause chronic illness.
I have learned so many valuable lessons in living a healthy lifestyle through my own healing journey I wish had been taught to me as preventative measures. Some of it seems so obvious now, and some of it I instinctively knew I should be doing, but ignored because I was so “busy” and “felt fine” so why make changes. Had I taken better care of myself it likely would have helped prevent my body from getting to a crashing point. I will walk you through the STAMP causes of inflammation on how you can tackle each one to reduce your exposure to inflammation triggers and improve your overall health.
(S): Get more sleep. I am not talking getting a solid 9 hours every night because that is pretty unachievable. Do focus on getting better sleep, and try for 6-7 hours. Get better sleep by having a relaxing bedtime routine that does not involve staring at your phone until the moment you close your eyes. Give your body some time to unwind by doing some light stretches, have a cup of herbal tea, read a book- or whatever works for you to start shutting down your brain for the night. Have a room with no distractions like TV or other light/noise to sleep in (I always liked the concept of the bedroom should be for sleep and sex only). Best sleep is said to be before midnight so try to get to bed around 10 and wake up earlier to get things done. Have a consistent sleep schedule if you can. It is better to sleep and wake at the same times throughout the week and weekend to keep your body in a good rhythm.
Now on to sugar. Seriously this stuff is addictive and unless it is a natural sugar like from fruit it is not providing you with any health benefit. Avoid it like the plague. You need to read food labels, they put sugar in everything. Sugar causes your body to have spikes and crashes in energy, which leaves you feeling awful and causes stress on your body and triggers an inflammatory response. I know it tastes amazing, but trust me on this, if you scale back the amount of processed sugar you take in, you will enjoy natural sugar and healthy food more. Dried fruit like dates and apricots are delicious and you will appreciate their sweetness so much more when you are not constantly intaking sugar. Sugar consumption is a huge piece of the American health crisis and you need to stop eating so much of it now to protect your health.
You need to move your body. I am not saying start your full marathon training today, but start moving your body every day to strengthen it. Sitting still and remaining sedentary all the time is not good for your muscles, including your heart. Go for a walk, play tag with your kids, lift some weights, jump rope, do some push-ups, stretch when you get up in the morning and before bed. Start moving your body every day to get your heart beating a little faster and prevent injury and decline in strength. It will get easier and improve your physical and mental health.
Stress is a real thing. Sometimes (if you are like me) you can create stress that is unnecessary, but even then it is still real and has real impacts on the health of your body. I am still always trying to retrain my thought process to one of less stress and anxiety. This is not easy, but it is working. I am a different person now than I was in college and through pharmacy school. I may have enjoyed the learning process more and not have wrecked my body had I been more able to process and handle stress. Things that have worked for me now to manage my stress are yoga, meditation, light jogging/walking, and listening to some self-help audiobooks (usually while walking or driving) teaching how to retrain your thoughts. The one that really helped me the most was The Confidence Gap by Russ Harris. It helps you understand fundamentally why all the negative thoughts develop from your brain and how to manage and deal with them. Find what works for you and start managing your stress. Stress can be good for the body in times of crisis (ex. injury, need to get out of a dangerous situation, need to help someone in trouble) but mostly our bodies do not need to be in a constant state of stress as this wears it down, leads to inflammation, and wreaks havoc on your overall health.
(T): The toxic burden on our bodies is an increasing problem. Chemical exposure is getting impossible to avoid even if you are very conscious about it, and most of us are not. Chemicals are used on our food supply, in our cleaning products, in our skincare, makeup, shampoos, in our environment. From the moment we wake up and get in the shower to the evening routine of washing our face we are exposing ourselves to various chemicals. All I can say is try to clean up your environment and lessen your chemical exposure. Use natural products (coconut oil makes for an amazing all over body moisturizer), find makeup that is mineral based and uses natural and organic materials in it, read the labels on your body wash and shampoo and find ones with words you can understand and read, buy “green” cleaning products, and try to buy organic food when you have access to it. You will greatly help your body have less inflammation and prevent your “stress” bucket from overflowing if you decrease your exposure to chemicals. I have a link on the website to a toxicity assessment you can complete and I will help you assess your possible toxicity burden. I am able to help guide you through a detox if necessary.
(A): Allergens are something most of us do not take very seriously. I know many people who are allergic to their pets but keep them anyway because they love them. Many people also stay in environments they know contain dust mites or mold they react to without making changes to improve their air quality or situation. The other allergen avenue most people do not even want to think about is food allergies. Antihistamine tablets do work to stop the symptoms you are experiencing to the allergen, but they are a band-aid and do not fix the reaction your body is having to the allergen which can cause inflammation in the body. The best way to manage the allergens is to try to reduce your exposure to them. This may mean some clean air machines throughout your home, dust mite mattress and pillow covers, extra cleaning, perhaps not owning a cat, and avoiding being outside during pollen season when the pollen count is at the peak. To determine if you are experiencing food allergies it is recommended that every person at least once complete a 4-week food elimination diet. This eliminates the most common allergic foods (corn, wheat, soy, dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts) from your diet for 4 weeks and then you gradually 1 food at a time test your body by eating it for a few days. If you feel no different (tired, headache, joint pain, brain fog, stomach issues) then that food is likely fine for you to keep eating. If you have a reaction to it though, you know it causes damage to your body when eating it and you should avoid it. This is tedious, and for sure a challenge to complete with our American Diet and lifestyle, but so worth it to feel good and not be exposing your body to food causing you damage.
(M): Microbes is the catch-all phrase for the bacteria and yeast that may be out of balance causing problems in your body. The microbiome of bacterial colonies present in our bodies is so important for overall health. The probiotic colonies in our gut help with proper digestion of food and play a large role in the function of our immune system. Signs that your bacteria are out of balance are bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, depression, brain fog, and poor immune system. Yeast is also present normally in our body but can become out of balance and have overgrowth causing mouth, vaginal, and gut yeast infections. The way to keep the balance in the body of the good so they do not overgrow and become bad is limiting sugar we intake (the bad ones like to eat sugar and grow), ensure we replace the good colonies with probiotic containing food or supplements when taking an antibiotic, and make sure we eat a balanced diet full of fruit, veggies, and fiber to give the good bacteria the right nutrients to thrive and work properly. The other avenue to consider with microbes is an infection. Long-term chronic infections that go untreated can cause damage to your body in many ways, one being the inflammatory response your body generates trying to battle the infection. An important issue for medicine currently with chronic infection is Lyme Disease. It can go undetected for a long time and mimics many other conditions making it hard to diagnose (along with the inaccurate testing currently available). Lyme disease is present now in most areas of America but is endemic in the upper North East and Upper Midwest. If living in one of these areas and you have deteriorating health with symptoms such as joint pain, fatigue, brain fog, depression, rashes, and anxiety make sure to see a doctor who is educated in Lyme Disease to rule out that infection.
(P): The position of your body is very important when it comes to your overall health. When your muscles, bones, and joints are not in alignment it draws inflammation to that area in an attempt to fix the problem. This is exactly what you want with a sudden injury, but not daily because your neck or spine is being pulled out of place due to muscle tension or misalignment. Ways to make sure your body position is not causing you inflammation is to see a chiropractor, massage therapist, or physical therapist for the pain you are having in your body. They will help make sure your bones and muscles are where they need to be and adjust you or teach you exercises to increase the strength and flexibility where you need it. Do not just ignore pain or try to alleviate with pain medications, try to figure out why you have it and fix it. Yoga stretches and weight lifting and ways you can improve your strength and flexibility at home to prevent injuries and keep your body in proper alignment.
This has been a crash course on inflammation, what causes it, and what you can do about it. I am available to answer questions and provide guidance on improving your health anytime. Message me from the website- would love to help you with your health journey.
Your Health Matters
Tiffany Herring
PharmD
**THIS AUTHOR AND SITE INTENDS ONLY TO SHARE INFORMATION AND NOT TO DIAGNOSE OR TREAT DISEASE.