Want to Revitalize Your Immune Health? Dial Down Your Inflammation!

Do you feel chronically tired, mentally dull, or suffer from aches and pains? If so, you’re suffering from chronic inflammation.

Chronic inflammation causes your immune system be in a continual state of combat, endlessly putting out small fires as cytokines, special proteins that control your immune response, get stuck in overdrive. The result: an immune system that’s out of balance. The good news is that you can start dialing down your inflammation today regardless of your age or level of health.

Chronic Inflammation Affects

• Your Whole Body
• Your Brain: Fatigue, Brain fog, anxiety, depression
• Your Heart & Blood Vessels: Hypertension, cardiovascular disease
• Your Liver & Kidneys: Fatty liver disease
• Your Gut: Digestive issues, weight gain
• Your Skin: Dermatitis, psoriasis, rashes
• Your Joints: Stiffness and pain

Chronic inflammation begins to take hold as you add a few extra pounds around the waist, experience a chronic lack of sleep, eat a poor diet, or live in a state of chronic stress. It can also occur if you have inflammation in the gut (a leaky gut), exposure to toxins – including mold, have had a concussion or chronic viral infections. If left unchecked, chronic inflammation causes a deregulatory response which leads to tissue damage as seen in autoimmune conditions or altered liver or kidney function.

Chronic inflammation also negatively impacts your immune system’s ability to fully respond to infection or injury. That’s because it keeps your immune system tied up. In light of the Covid 19 pandemic, it’s never been more important to dial down your inflammation. Metabolic Syndrome is a condition driven by chronic inflammation. If you have 3 or more of the following factors: elevated blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, elevated cholesterol or triglycerides, and excess body fat around your waist), you have Metabolic Syndrome and are at high risk of suffering severe complications from a Covid-19 infection. Other chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, hypertension also place you at serious risk of Covid-19 complications.

Aging – or Inflammaging – is a chronic state of low-level inflammation. As you age, your immune system produces fewer immune cells called B cells and T helper cells. These immune cells are an extremely important part of your first line of defense against viral infections. Combine Inflammaging with Metabolic Syndrome, or any of the chronic conditions listed above, and you have the makings of a perfect and, potentially, deadly storm if infected with Covid-19.

Start dialing down your inflammation with the functional medicine approach and rediscover how good you can feel! By uncovering the root cause of your inflammation, functional medicine is able to effectively extinguish it. Contact us today for more information.

For steps you can take today to dial down your inflammation, check out our blog.

References:

https://www.ifm.org/news-insights/lifestyle-practices-for-strengthening-host-defense/
Sostress, G. et al. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and upper and lower gastrointestinal mucosal damage. Arthritis Res Ther. 2013; 15(Suppl 3): S3.
Yanuck SF et al. Evidence supporting a phased immuno-physiological approach to COVID-19 from prevention through recovery. Integrative Medicine. 2020; 19 (S1).

The contents of this newsletter are intended for educational purposes only. The information presented here is not a substitute for proper medical attention, diagnosis, or treatment by a qualified healthcare professional. Always seek the advice of your healthcare provider before starting or making any changes to an existing treatment plan, exercise program or dietary regimen, and before using nutritional supplements.