Stress Reduction is the Next Key to Getting Rid of Inflammation
The latest science is in, and though it is being used to promote a pharmaceutical solution (is it any surprise?), there are natural ways to stop chronic inflammation in the body – a problem that is now linked directly to the top five killers on our planet – heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and diseases of the gut, primarily.The latest evidence of inflammation’s contributory role in disease came just months ago, when a global clinical trial of 10,000 patients who had previous heart attacks showed that an anti-inflammatory drug from Novartis reduced their risk of further heart attacks or strokes. A surprise side effect: The drug also sharply cut the risk of lung cancer. While Big Pharma would like our take-away from this study to be: “Oh, I need this incredible drug!” there’s another obvious fact we can glean.
Inflammation, as has been suggested by ancient medicine from China to South America to India, is the source of almost all disease. Stopping it would therefore stop most diseases from developing or progressing.
Here’s why inflammation is so critical to understand:
The human being has a normal inflammatory response any time we are injured or a foreign pathogen enters our bodies. While modern medicine has been trying to throw medicine after medicine at the symptoms of disease, they rarely look at the underlying cause of it.
Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Ayurveda, along with other anciently wise medicinal traditions know better. They look at the root issue, and never prescribe an antidote without first trying to find the underlying cause of a disease.
For example, heart disease is caused by inflammation of the arteries. Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease are caused by the inflammation of the brain. Arthritis is caused by inflammation of the joints, and depression, chronic fatigue, and almost all ailments which start in the gut care caused by inflammation of the intestinal tract. Root cause? INFLAMMATION!
The body uses its natural defense, inflammation, when we need to repair damaged cells or fight against viruses and bacteria. This is how the body heals itself.
The problem is that chronic inflammation caused by a toxic diet, lack of sleep, stress, a lack of exercise, along with altered gut flora, etc. occurs. This is what happens when the body mistakes the inflammation itself for a disease, and starts to kill off its own tissue thinking that it is a foreign pathogen.
Then we start developing all kinds of weird symptoms, from brain fog to depression to irritable bowels, angry joints, and more.
Acute vs. Chronic
Acute inflammation and chronic inflammation are different. Acute inflammation starts the minute we drop a hammer on our toe or cut a finger, or even come into contact with a virus. It’s a good, natural thing.
Chronic inflammation can last for months or even years – meaning that our cells are constantly under attack. We age faster, we get sick more easily, and we can start to deteriorate because the body is fighting us instead of a real disease or injury.
The amazing reality is that we can stop chronic inflammation and allow the body to go about healing us from just about everything – from the cells to entire sets of muscle, neural tissue, and joints, by halting chronic inflammation.
Let’s start with herbal remedies:
You can heal inflammation with the following powerful, anti-inflammatory herbs:
- Turmeric (try this recipe for turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger tea)
- Ginger
- Manuka Honey
- Green tea (Especially Matcha)
- White Willow Bark
- Olive Leaf Extract
- Cloves (extract or the live plant)
- Chili Peppers (capsaicin)
- Black Pepper
- Frankincense (likely why it is anti-carcinogenic)
- Bark from Maritime Pine Tree
- Cat’s Claw
- Pepper
- Resveratrol
- Rosemary
- Ginger
- Cinnamon
Of course, there are hundreds more, but just adding a few from this list will start to reverse chronic inflammation in your body very quickly.
Next, let’s talk about your diet.
An anti-inflammatory diet would eliminate refined sugar, and processed oils, namely corn and canola oil, first and foremost. These two nasty things, all alone, cause chronic inflammation to sky-rocket.
Add things like fresh organic fruits and vegetables, seeds, beans, sprouts, whole grains (not refined ones), and healthy oils that contain high levels of Omega 3s like coconut oil, or hemp seed oil.
Stress reduction is the next key.
I’m lumping exercise right in with stress reduction even though it is anti-inflammatory in its own right, unless you injure yourself playing tennis or running on a bumpy road. Exercise is part of a greater need your body has to reduce stress, though. Stress also causes an imbalance in your intestinal tract so that the bad bacteria can take over the good, causing – you guessed it – inflammation!
Stress also raises cortisol levels which depletes the immune system and can lead to chronic inflammation of all tissues in the body. This means that too many stressful days can literally kill you. The good news is that by lowering your stress levels with quality sleep, good food, herbal supplements, meditation, exercise, yoga, and Tai Qi, mindful breathing, and other modalities, you can stop chronic inflammation ASAP.
In Summary
The real take-away from this study linking inflammation to chronic disease isn’t that we all need to start popping Big Pharma’s pills. The take-away is that we can address chronic inflammation all on our own, naturally, without medicines that cause side effects and likely ruin our gut flora – causing yet more chronic inflammation. By taking the steps outlined in this article, we can proactively stop the root cause of the top diseases plaguing the planet today.
This article (New Study Finds Inflammation is Cause of Almost Every Disease: Here’s What You Can Do About It) was originally created for The Mind Unleashed and is published here with permission. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution and author bio.
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