Inflammation

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Introduction

We have inflammation in the body when our immune system gets over stimulated and releases too many white blood cells and other inflammatory substances into the blood.

What is Inflammation?

It good or bad whenever our body encounters an outside invader like a bacteria or a virus or toxins, our body suffers an injury. Our immune system gets activated and releases these substances into the blood called inflammatory markers. The job of these inflammatory markers is to trap the virus or bacteria or heal the injured tissue in case of an injury. This kind of inflammation is called acute inflammation.

Acute inflammation is usually short-lived and it lasts for a few hours to a few days. Symptoms of acute inflammation include tenderness or swelling, pain redness at the site of infection or injury.

Chronic Inflammation

There is another kind of inflammation where our body keeps triggering the immune system to release wbcs and other inflammatory markers even when there is no outside danger. This inflammation is called chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation usually long-lasting and it can go on from a few months to a few years. The symptoms of chronic inflammation are a little vague and they might include abdominal pain or discomfort joint pain, fatigue or fever chronic inflammation can be dangerous for the body.

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Causes of Inflammation

Inflammation was seen only in case of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis alzheimer's asthma etc but now a number of lifestyle factors have been associated with chronic inflammation one major factor associated with chronic inflammation is obesity and visceral fat that is presence of fat around the abdominal region.

Obesity and high visceral fat create an inflammatory response in the body and this high inflammation in obese people also makes them more prone to other chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes or even acute conditions like atherosclerosis where there is deposition of fat in the arteries.

Other factors of high inflammation include drinking alcohol in excess, smoking in excess, too much stress, diet rich in saturated fats and trans fats consumption of too many processed foods, sleep disorders and irregular sleep schedules.

Signs of Inflammation

Science and symptoms of chronic inflammation. These could be insulin resistance and high blood sugar gastrointestinal complications like ibs constipation or diarrhea pain and stiffness in the lower back particularly in the mornings.

Suddenly gaining body fat, dry eyes frequent infections in the body mental health issues like stress, depression, anxiety and mood disorders all these could be potential indications of chronic inflammation in the body.

Detection of Inflammation usually doctors and medical professionals recommend a test when inflammation is associated with some other medical condition two blood tests that are inexpensive and effective markers of inflammation in the body are measurement of c-reactive protein and fibrinogen.

How inflammation can be treated

Usually doctors treat inflammation by putting patients on a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug like ibuprofen or aspirin but there are anti-inflammatory measures and techniques that we can follow on a regular basis to reduce inflammation in the body.

Natural Anti-Inflammatory Remedies

Effective anti-inflammatory measure that we can follow is good food and nutrition. Let's take a look at some of the top anti-inflammatory foods and foods that you definitely should avoid consuming.

Top Anti-Inflammatory Foods

One of the top anti-inflammatory foods is turmeric the compound curcumin in turmeric has been studied a lot for combating inflammation in the body so turmeric in your curries or turmeric milk are a good option to include it in your diet.

Other compounds with effective anti-inflammatory properties are egcg in tea or lutein in green leafy vegetables, omega-3 fatty acids are also great in controlling inflammation. So including fatty fish in your diet or having fish oils is a great option. Omega-3 fatty acids are also found in walnuts and flax seeds, the green moong bean has been found to have excellent anti-inflammatory properties, also sesame seeds and sesame oil are great in combating inflammation in the body.

Foods that should be completely avoided to prevent inflammation or reduce existing inflammation are processed foods the refined carbohydrates pamela and oil and excess sugar and processed foods increases the risk of inflammation in the body especially when consumed on a regular basis.

Another food ingredient that must be avoided are trans fats. Trans fats are produced when liquid oil is converted to solid by addition of hydrogen. Vanaspati dalda is an example of trans fat in india. A lot of sweets are produced using vanaspati and these should be absolutely avoided.

industrial products like cakes, cookies, chips, potato fries, popcorns etc have trans fats in them and these should also be avoided.

The second anti-inflammatory strategy is to do physical exercise a part of your lifestyle many human clinical trials have shown that physical exercise actually helps in reducing the level of inflammatory markers in the blood and it also boosts our mental health.

Other than nutrition and exercise factors such as lowering the intake of alcohol smoking in limit and generally living a stress-free life are key to lowering the risk of inflammation and its risk factors in the body.

Before I conclude I would like to invite three fellow Steemians to participate in the contest
@crismenia
@eveetim
@georgitsachev

Thank you for reading my post.

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