Miraculously, our body can heal itself and the healing process is still going on while you are sitting and reading this.
If you are affected by a cut or infection or even a disease, the virus or allergen finds a way to enter your body.
To this action, your immune system reacts by sending specialized white blood cells directly to the affected area.
These white blood cells help in repairing the damage caused by the infection and even stop the spread of infection and illness.
Whereas, in some cases, it even eradicated the intruder. This whole process and response are called inflammation.
Valter Longo, who is a professor of biological science at the University of Southern California states that inflammation is the activation of cell and cell-derived components that has the sole job to fight against intruders.
In some cases, it even helps in getting rid of the damaged cells. Valter Longo is even the author of the book The Longevity Diet which explores the major role of inflammation in gut diseases.
It is a common fact that your body transports its immune cells primarily through the blood. However, when the blood rushes to the affected or injured site accumulation of blood caused heating, swelling, and redness. These are the basic signs of inflammation.
Without inflammation, your body would have been helpless and you would have been lying on the hospital bed every other day due to injuries or sickness.
But there is a point that you should keep in mind not all inflammation is helpful. There are times when you should be concerned.
What Causes Inflammation
It is a general notion that when inflammation helps in keeping your body protected from foreign infected agents and this can be very beneficial to us.
But think twice about this general notion. To put it simply, inflammation is the way for your body to keep yourself protected from injuries and infection.
It is done when troops of white blood cells rush to the affected site and produce healing chemicals and cells.
Sometimes too many healing troops in the affected site can cause irritation and swelling, which gradually causes inflammation.
Before moving on to the causes, it is crucial to have a sheer idea about different types of inflammation.
There are basically two types of inflammation namely Acute Inflammation and Chronic Inflammation. So, let us first explore Acute Inflammation.
Acute Inflammation
This is usually what we see at the site of the damage. This is short-term and occurs within minutes and hours.
The basic signs of this inflammation are pain, redness, swelling as well as heat. Here is a simple example of acute inflammation:
Imagine that you have scrapped your knee while you were playing basketball.
Eventually, after that, there are some annoying symptoms such as redness, pain, and swelling which are there for a good reason.
It is due to an increase in blood flow and the movement of immune cells to the affected area to promote healing. On the other hand, these can sometimes be annoying as well.
Symptoms of Acute Inflammation
If you observe these changes or symptoms after an injury then be certain that inflammation is taking place in your body. Here are the signs:
- Redness: small blood cells or capillaries are filled with blood to facilitate healing chemicals and cells.
- Limited movement: this helps you to slow down so that the white blood cells can effectively do their work.
- Pain: the area that is affected becomes sensitive as nerve endings are stimulated.
- Swelling: it is because the healing cells and fluids accumulate in the damaged site.
- Heat: the affected area becomes warmer due to an increase in the blood flow.
Chronic Inflammation
Now you should have a clear idea by the name that chronic inflammation is more intense or serious than the previous type. Chronic inflammation occurs when your body makes regular attempts to repair a certain injury for a long period. It can be weeks or even months as well. Chronic inflammation is followed by acute inflammation, and sometimes, the reason behind it is an autoimmune disorder.
But what is Autoimmune Disorder? It is when your body acts in a completely different manner.
To be more precise, your body’s immunity starts to work against it, and instead of healing it gradually starts to damage the body tissues. Some disorders are related to chronic inflammation and they are Rheumatoid Arthritis, Celiac Disease, Crohn’s Disease, Lupus, and Asthma.
Amongst the two types of inflammation, chronic inflammation is more dangerous.
It is highly associated with Heart Diseases, Allergies, Stroke, Type 2 Diabetes, and even Alzheimer’s. These diseases get a hold of you when the body’s protective agents do not work correctly or work overtime.
Causes of Chronic Inflammation
- Allergies, Sensitivities, And Intolerance
- Continual Infections
- Nutrient Deficiency
- Low Or Autoimmune
- Long Exposure To Toxins
- Excess Amount Of Fat Tissues
You will have to first identify inflammation to manage it. Knowing the causes of the inflammation can help you in the long run to lead a life where you do not need to worry about inflammation.
Diets and workouts even have a major role to play when it comes to managing chronic inflammation.
Inflammation helps the body to be to fight against foreign intruders but sometimes the effects can be harmful if you do not take care of yourself. Always remember that a healthy leading lifestyle is always important to keep the body fit as well as fine.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, inflammation is simply our body’s response to infection or disease.
If we are generally in good condition, our body will respond and effectively fight off minor infections and illnesses on its own. This is the case with acute inflammation.
Chronic inflammation is more serious and tends to develop over time. Our body has a difficult time handling this on its own and usually requires help. Help can be in the form of prescription medications, specific exercises, or changes in our diet.
By eating the right foods, we may be able to cut down on the long-term damage that we do to our bodies.
I always recommend that before starting any diet, especially one that will change your eating habits or if you have a medical condition, consult your doctor first.
They may say sure try this or they may give you reasons not to.
Please leave your comments and questions below and thank you for reading.
I read this article primarily because I was interested in helping out my mom, she’s had chronic inflammation in her knees and was interested if there is something that you could do to point her in the right direction. Didn’t really see a link between eating healthy and inflammation before this but it makes sense what we put into our bodies is going to help our body heal so definitely since I am going the direction of eating healthy and changing our lifestyle want to help my mom with that as well so we can talk to her doctor about the medication and be able to help her knee paired with how she can use some of that healthy eating habits and recipes that we have been using in our family to better her health as well.
Inflammation is just one of the many things that we can help ourselves with by simply eating better.
I was not a big fan of Dr Oz before, but he does have a simple approach at how food effects us. He covers a lot in Food Can Fix It and some of his other books. You may want to have your mom check this one out.
Jim
I actually had the pleasure of meeting Valter Longo myself and I must say he is a wonderful man! Thanks for the article, it gave me a good general understanding of inflammation which i actually didn’t know too much about
I had a general idea of what inflammation was, but wanted to learn more about it. From doing some research, I feel I understand it better and wanted to share what I have learned.
That must have been a very interesting day, meeting Valter Longo. His book, Longevity Diet is available in a few different languages and offers some very helpful advice.