Common "root causes" of inflammation
Want to know whether you are inadvertently causing inflammation in your body?
The top 20 “root causes” are:
Hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar)
Hyperinsulinaemia (high insulin)
Oxidative Stress
Chronic Stealth Infections ( lyme, EBV, herpes, mycotoxins etc)
Environmental Toxin exposure (toxic burden)
Sleep Deprivation
Circadian rhythm disruption
Alcohol consumption
inflammatory food consumption (food sensitivities/additives)
Gut dysbiosis (gut bug balance out of whack)
Increased intestinal permeability ( “leaky gut”)
Chronic stress
Obesity (adipocytokines)
Methylation abnormalities (MTHFR/Homocysteine)
Peridontitis (gum disease)
Social isolation
Endotoxemia (Lipopolysaccharides)
High Omega-6 fatty acid saturation levels
Micronutrient imbalances (low vitamin D/excessive iron)
High exercise trading volume , frequency and intensity
So why do we care about inflammation?
Chronic inflammation is at the core of all disease pathologies and is the immune systems way of signalling that something is wrong. A little bit of inflammation to deal with a stressor is good but all the time and this causes damage to our system, Think of inflammation like a fire raging in your body. A little bit can clear out unwanted toxins, bacteria, stimulate healing but too much and you will have pain and ongoing damage.
In today society it has become normal to suppress this SOS response with steroids and NSAIDs ( which are a common anti-inflammatory think nurofen) instead of addressing the underlying issue as to WHY the body is reacting.
Inflammation as I said, is a doubt edged sword, we don’t want too much or too little, but just the right amount. While much of chronic and autoimmune driven disease is due to hyper vigilant inflammatory responses, too little inflammation can cause a weakened immune system and leaves us susceptible to infections, certain cancers and poor wound healing.
So while there is a number of natural anti-inflammatories that you can use to help calm the inflammatory cascade such as: ginger, curcumin and boswellia to name a few. Using herbs to treat inflammation like people try to do with medication in isolation, is not addressing the underlying mechanism or “root cause” as to WHY there is inflammation in the first place.
INFLAMMATION IS NOT A DISEASE, IT IS A SYMPTOM.
The body is working hard to maintain a harmonious balance of natural health. Inflammation is an adaptive response that comes from disturbance to this normal balance. When the inflammation becomes chronic, something is bound to break- You can’t keep your hand in a fire and not expect it to burn and scar? A small insult and it would blister but if you don’t remove it serious damage will occur. Same principle applies in your body. If you are in a constant state of reactivity (fever, inflammation etc) then over time this will cause degeneration of the body and diagnosis of disease. And until those factors disturbing the body’s balance are removed the body will never fully heal.
Think it is just your body that suffers inflammation?
Think again, brain inflammation is a major cause of mental illness such as anxiety, depression and other neurological conditions. In alzheimers it is often referred to as the condition where the BRAIN is on FIRE. Especially inflammation caused from trans fats, foods that are highly processed, chronic pathogens such as herpes simplex 1 (HSV1) lyme disease, fungi/mound, p.gingervalis from gum disease- these drivers of inflammation typically cause memory loss first.
Sugar causes inflammation in the brain as well as trophic withdrawal leading to damage. Low omega 3 levels are also correlated with increased inflammation in the brain and linked to anxiety and depression. If you don’t have enough Omega 3 in your diet your Hippocampus will shrink! eek!
The Hippocampus is the one area of the brain that is constantly making new neurones/ brain cells from stem cells- Up to 700 a day.