Jayney's Blog

What is Inflammation?

Inflammation is an immune response that your body mounts in order to deal with anything that your body perceives as an “attack” that could result in harm.  Usually this rapid and short-duration or “acute” response is appropriate and results in no harm being done – for example, if you sprain your ankle, your body will produce a range of symptoms including pain, heat and swelling.

The heat and swelling happen as a result of your body mounting an appropriate immune response – after all, it is imperative that you don’t walk on the ankle and damage it further. 

Similarly, if you get a cold or ‘flu, your immune system will respond quickly by producing a variety of chemicals that will work to temporarily raise your temperature, make you feel ill and generally get you to lie down – thus protecting you by forcing you to rest you so that you can heal properly.  

Chronic inflammation however is a whole new ball-game – it is the process that underlies every chronic condition and has dire consequences for long term health. 

Chronic inflammation is an immune response that lasts for a long time and it is linked to depression, cancers, heart disease, asthma, the complications of diabetes (in both types 1 and 2), neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases, arthritis of all forms and it also increases our sensitivity to pain, accelerates free-radical damage and suppresses healthy immune function, rendering us more susceptible to both acute and chronic diseases.

Biological ageing is dramatically increased when we are producing a chronic inflammatory response.   Sadly, there is very little that conventional medicine has to offer to deal with chronic inflammation.  At best, a range of anti-inflammatory drugs are available which really only offer a suppressive ‘Band Aid’ approach and are not without their problems – depending upon the drug used, they can cause internal bleeding and dramatically increase our risks of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke, cancers, susceptibility to TB and other life-threatening side-effects.

Jayney’s Three Top Anti-Inflammatory Tips:

Holistic healthcare strategies that really work to combat inappropriate chronic inflammatory responses that are dangerous to health.

Diet

The encouraging news is that chronic inflammation responds rapidly and positively to a range of nutritional interventions such as following a plant-based whole-food diet.   There is very strong evidence that eating this way reduces chronic inflammation – thus reducing our susceptibility to premature ageing and chronic diseases. These data come from the Adventist Health Studies (AHS1 & 2) which began back in the 1960’s and have looked at the health of over 96,000 people (7^th Day Adventists were chosen as they live healthy lifestyles and are, in general, vegan). The data from the studies has been published only recently and showed conclusively that these people lived longer, were healthier in every way, were biologically ‘younger’ than their animal-protein consuming peers, and were largely protected from diseases that have chronic inflammation as their underlying ‘common-denominator’. 

To further reap the benefits of anti-inflammatory foods, add garlic, rosemary, ginger and turmeric to your meals. 

Earthing

One of the most exciting new approaches in natural healthcare is “Earthing”. This is all about being in contact directly with the Earth which provides us with an eternal, natural, and gentle energy. Think of it perhaps as “vitamin G” for “Ground”. You can’t see the Earth’s energy but some people can feel it as a warm, tingling, and pleasant sensation when they are out walking barefoot along the water’s edge at the beach or on a stretch of dew-moistened grass. The researchers who wrote the book “Earthing” really do believe – based on their observations of many patients – that spending time outdoors and connected to the Earth has numerous health benefits – including the reduction of inflammation. I have no idea how this actually works – and I don’t think that the proponents of ‘Earthing’ do either, however, I have several clients who swear it helps them – so give it a try – and it really can’t do any harm, provided you are careful about where you walk.

Exercise

Lifestyle changes too can have a profound effect on our inflammatory levels. Exercise – ranging from moderate approaches like tai chi and yoga to all out High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) all really help reduce chronic inflammation. 

Try Steady State Cardio too – walk for at least ½ hour each day – at least five days a week.  If you can do this one thing your inflammatory levels will drop dramatically.  If you can safely walk outside on grass or sand you’ll be combining Earthing with gentle exercise – a beneficial health bonus!

Jayney Goddard MSc, FCMA is President of The Complementary Medical Association and is one of the world’s leading complementary medicine and natural health experts.