Inflammation can actually be a good thing. When we have an illness or injury, our immune system responds by sending something called cytokines. These cytokines stimulate inflammatory cells. This is known as acute inflammation (good inflammation).
Acute inflammation may appear as a fever, or a hot swollen area. The purpose of inflammation is to trap viruses or other invaders, to stabilize injuries, slow blood loss, and initiate healing. Acute inflammation may cause:
Localized, minor pain
Discoloration
Swelling
Localized heat
Localized stiffness/reduced range of motion
Unfortunately, inflammation can often run out of control in our bodies. When there is no real threat in our bodies, but our immune system still triggers an inflammation response, it causes all sorts of problems. This is often referred to as chronic inflammation (bad inflammation).
Most diseases are linked to underlying inflammation as the cause. Some diseases caused by chronic inflammation include (but are not limited to):
Arthritis
Cardiovascular diseases
Certain Cancers
Crohn's disease
High blood pressure
Lupus
Psoriasis
Inflammatory bowel disease
Asthma
Parkinson's disease
COPD
Diabetes Type II
Alzheimer's disease
Eczema
Gout
Autoimmune diseases
Insomnia
Depression
Anxiety
Fibromyalgia
Low back, neck and joint pain
Studies show that reducing whole body inflammation can reduce, and in some cases, cure these diseases.
There are man factors that contribute to chronic inflammation, including (but not limited to):
Sedentary lifestyle
Chronic stress
Obesity
Gut microbe imbalance
Poorly healed injury
Poor diet
Poor sleep cycle
Toxins
Environmental chemicals
Electromagnetic frequency waves
Alcohol, tobacco, drug use
The good news is that there are many natural, non-invasive ways to reduce whole body inflammation, and many of these options are quite simple.
10 Ways to Holistically Reduce Chronic Inflammation:
Pulsed Electromagnetic Frequency (PEMF):
Also known as “magnetic therapy”, this type of treatment is non-invasive and works throughout the entire body. The treatment is simple, only requiring you to lay on a matt for 30 minutes. The specific frequency of magnetic waves sent into the body from these matts gently re-sets our cells when they are out of rhythm.
Our environment is filled with electronic devices that wreak havoc on our bodies every day. Harmful EMF waves from cell phones, microwaves, televisions, blue tooth devices, power lines, routers, computers, and the like, continually assault our bodies. These harmful EMF waves cause our cells to run at an improper rhythm, knocking our homeostasis off balance. Harmful EMF greatly contributes to chronic inflammation in our bodies.
PEMF therapy is a gentle, holistic way, to reduce whole body inflammation. As a result patients experience:
Pain reduction
Reduced anxiety
Better sleep
Symptom relief
Weight Loss
More information can be found in our PEMF article.
Grounding
Grounding is also known as “earthing”. This is another simple way to reduce chronic inflammation. Grounding works in a similar fashion to PEMF, but at a lower potency. Earthing is just what it sounds like. It is taking off your shoes and placing them in the grass, in the water, or on the earth. It sounds so simple, that it is easy to scoff and discount it. However, 20 years of research strongly supports the powerful effects of earthing (as well as PEMF).
The entire world runs on electromagnetic frequencies, just like our bodies. Every plant, bug, animal and person has a specific rhythm that they are meant to run at. When in balance, our bodies can effectively fight off invaders and disease. Due to our environment, our bodies are easily thrown out of balance though.
Just like an electrical ground wire in a home, when we place our bare feet on the earth, we ground our own electrical field. Imaging (ex. CAT scans) proves an almost immediate reduction in inflammation throughout the body.
Rubber soled shoes, homes, elevated beds, and cars all keep us from being grounded. As a matter of fact, we spend the majority of our lives un-grounded. Most people, weather they know it or not, have felt the effects of grounding. If you’ve ever walked barefoot on a beach, sat with your feet in the ocean, or laid back in fresh grass and just felt like your body gave a big sigh, then you have felt it.
While PEMF will produce quicker results, grounding is still very effective (and free). Simply sitting outside barefoot everyday can help reduce chronic inflammation. And for those in cold weather states, there are many grounding devices that can be used inside the home, such as grounding bed sheets, earthing mats, and wrist bands.
Gentle exercise
Another cause of chronic inflammation is a sedentary lifestyle. Modern conveniences just make it too easy to not move. Our bodies need movement though. The good news is, we aren’t asking you to start running marathons. Gentle movement, such as walking or yoga, offer amazing benefits.
Moving more will help reduce inflammation as well as increase endorphins. Endorphins are a hormone produced in our bodies.
This hormone:
Alleviates pain
Lowers stress
Improves and stabilizes mood
Enhances sense of well being
It is suggested to walk at least 115 minutes a week, which is just 15 minutes a day! You may also find that walking regularly might help you loose weight, which is also beneficial for reducing chronic inflammation.
Red Light Therapy
Red light is a phenomenal type of therapy that is both holistic and powerful. Red light has a spectrum. On one side of the spectrum is red light, which is a specific wavelength that can still be seen by the human eye. Near infrared and infrared light are at wavelengths at the other end of the spectrum, that can be seen by some animals, but not humans.
At specific wavelengths, red light can travel into the body up to nine inches. Anything that the red light passes through, it heals. It can heal bone, tissue, nerves, and it can help reduce whole body inflammation.
Since inflammation can be caused by environmental toxins, we suggest using a red light sauna. Red light saunas not only provide the healing benefits of the light, but the heat produced in the sauna will cause you to sweat, thus giving your body a healthy detox.
You can learn more about red light and it’s amazing healing properties in our red light article.
Whole Body Detox
Environmental toxins play such a large role in our health and are a large contributor to chronic inflammation, illness and disease.
Sitting in a red light sauna can provide a great way to detox via sweating, but there are many other options to consider as well.
Toxins enter our bodies through our food, but also through our skin, hair follicles, what we breath, through electromagnetic waves, our eyes, and more. Detoxing our bodies should be something we do regularly. A detox can include a modality, such as a sauna, but also might require a restriction.
Sweating is a great way to rid your body of inflammation causing toxins. This can be accomplished through exercise, sitting in the sun, or enjoying a sauna. Another way to detox is to use activated charcoal.
Activated charcoal is a very fine, black, odorless powder that is a gentle and natural way to remove toxins from your body.
Activated charcoal is what is used in the ER when someone is poisoned, weather it is food poisoning, alcohol poisoning, drug overdose or a substance they should not have ingested, activated charcoal will absorb it.
Activated charcoal has the ability to recognize and absorb anything that is not meant to be in the human body. It can absorb heavy metals, medicines, viruses, bacteria, chemicals, and more.
It is not only used in emergency rooms, but it is also in most over the counter digestive drugs, use for purifying water, and used in hair and facial products. It’s a natural medicine that is extremely helpful when experiencing belly and intestinal issues (diarrhea, vomiting, bloating, etc.) It is also helpful at the very first signs of a cold or illness as well.
Being a natural type of medicine, it only has one known side effect. If not taken with enough water it could cause some constipation.
Activated charcoal does such a good job at absorbing, it will actually absorb any medication you take with it as well. So if using it, just make sure you don’t take it at the same time as other medications that you need.
Taking activated charcoal from time to time will help to eliminate toxins in your body, which in turn will help reduce inflammation and increase immunity.
Additional, simple, ways to detox your body include:
Life Style Detox
Another type of detoxing, is a life style detox. It is a wonderful thing to detox your body from toxins, but if we keep exposing ourselves to these toxins we will continue a never ending cycle. If you are serious about reducing chronic inflammation in your body and restoring your health, you should consider cutting out as many toxins from your every day environment as possible.
Common ways to reduce inflammation causing toxins in your life include:
Quit smoking, drinking, and/or recreational drugs
Replacing plastic containers with glass
Discontinue use of pesticides and fertilizers in your yard/garden
Eat organic food
Wash produce well before eating
Reduce use of EMF emitting devices
Reduce sugar, salt, trans fat, fried foods, cured meats, carbs and gluten intake
Purchase green/organic cleaners (laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, hair products, make-up, etc)
Eliminate highly processed foods
Use natural fibers in your clothing, bedding and furniture (cotton, wool, bamboo, hemp, wood)
Replace non-stick cookware with cast iron, stainless steel, glass and ceramic
Diet (Intake)
Reducing things like sugar, salt and highly processed foods will help reduce inflammation in our bodies. While reducing and eliminating certain things is helpful, there are also things we can add into our diets that naturally help eliminate inflammation. Following the Mediterranean diet can extremely beneficial. Individual foods that are helpful include:
Fiber rich beans
Avocados
Citrus fruit
Leafy greens
Nuts
Sweet Potatos
Fatty Fish
Berries
Tomatos
Tea
Apples
Whole grains
Dark chocolate
Fermented foods
Extra virgin olive oil
Ginger
Turmeric
CBD Oil
CBD oil is extremely beneficial in reducing inflammation. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation, or misunderstanding, regarding CBD. It is important to know that this is NOT the same thing as medical marijuana. CBD is oil derived from the hemp plant, and does not alter your senses or get you high.
Our cells actually have receptors on them specifically for CBD. Our bodies actually produce it and need it! CBD not only reduces chronic inflammation, but reduces pain, decreases appetite, reduces anxiety, and elevates mood.
We have a very informative CBD article for anyone with questions.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber
Hyperbaric oxygen chamber therapy is incredibly beneficial. It is a powerful, non-invasive therapy that benefits the entire body. It reduces inflamation, detoxes the body, promotes healing, boosts immunity and more.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been around for a very long time and has an outstanding safety record. Recently it is gaining popularity though, as more and more people discover what a powerful tool this is.
This HBOT article explains exactly what hyperbaric oxygen therapy is and how it works with our bodies to produce shuch amazing results.
Weight Loss
Weight loss is one of those problems we all face, and weight loss is an important part of reducing chronic inflammation. The good news is, that if you follow the advice given in the prior steps you will already beging to loose weight.
Steps listed above, such as:
Reducing specific foods
Replacing them with healthier options
Walking or exercising at least 15 minutes a day
Earthing or using PEMF
Using red light
Using HBOT
All of the above reduce inflammaiton in our bodies, but they also all lead to a healthier lifetyle and help us to reduce the extra weight we carry.
If you are suffering from chroic inflammation, and/or from chonic inflammation related dieses, there is hope. You do not have to continue to suffer, and you don't have to resign to a lifetime of expensive medicaitons. Simply pick one item on this list of 10 and start there. Eventually pick another item. Starting can be as simple as putting your feet in the grass everyday for the next week.
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