Inflammation is part of our body’s natural immune response, helping us fight infection and injury. Too much is definitely not a good thing though, and chronic inflammation can damage long-term health. Here are five ways that inflammation can harm the body, and steps to take to prevent it.
Weight Gain
Chronic inflammation can influence and distort hunger signals, making you feel hungry when you’re actually not, prompting you to eat more. At the same time, it can slow down metabolism, so you burn calories at a slower rate.
Healthy Tissue Damage: Persistent inflammation can create an overreaction in your body, so your immune system eventually starts damaging healthy tissues. Over time, this can lead to internal scarring, tissue damage, and even DNA damage.
Lower Immunity
Once healthy cells and tissue become damaged, it’s harder for your body to fight off new infections or recover from new injuries. Those infections or injuries linger on, exacerbating the inflammation response, and you become caught in a vicious cycle.
Compromised Mental Health
Anxiety and depression are complicated conditions with numerous causes. Still, chronic inflammation has a direct link to anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns and mood disorders.
Trouble Sleeping
Inflammation can disrupt the sleep center in the brain, making it harder to fall or stay asleep. High quality sleep is vital to cell repair and renewal, and without it, your body has a more difficult time repairing cells that are already affected by inflammation - back to that vicious cycle again.
Phew - that’s a lot to take in. Now for some good news, there are steps you can take to prevent, mitigate, and even reverse inflammation in the body.
Manage Acute Inflammation
Since some forms of inflammation are obvious, such as swelling from a twisted ankle, we have the opportunity to tame it as soon as it starts. Rest, ice, and elevation can help the healing process and keep inflammation at a manageable level.
Breathe Well
A regular deep and/or regulated breathing practice can help improve lung capacity, calm the nervous system, and keep inflammation at bay. Polluted air is also one of the triggers for chronic inflammation, so an at-home air purifier may be a good investment.
Eat Anti-Inflammatory Foods
In general, unprocessed and pesticide-free fruits and vegetables can support a healthy inflammation response. Other foods particularly known for inflammation-fighting power include leafy greens like kale, spinach, and collards; healthy fats like olive oil and fatty fish; organic berries; and nuts in moderation.
Get Herbal
Herbs, roots, and spices like ginger, garlic, and turmeric have been used for centuries for their antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and immune-boosting abilities. Curcumin, the yellow pigment in turmeric, has been clinically shown to provide anti-inflammatory benefits to the body.
Revive and Thrive
To really go to bat against inflammation, try daily NextEvo Naturals Revive CBD Complex Curcumin & Hemp Extract. It has the dual powers of curcumin and CBD, with clinically proven bioavailability so your body absorbs it four times better than oil-based formulations. Take that, inflammation!
