Keeping Cool

Inflammation is a health buzzword we hear all the time, but what causes it and what does it do to your body? Our quick guide will help explain.

 

- Cathy Struthers

LIVING A LONG, HEALTHY life is something we all aspire to. With our increasing awareness of good nutrition, environmental factors and knowing what our bodies truly need to stay well, we can do a lot to look after our optimum well-being. And yet despite our best efforts, sometimes our bodies can develop low-grade chronic internal inflammation that goes undetected – or it can manifest itself more obviously and externally.

One example of acute inflammation is the redness you get on your skin from an insect bite, plant sting or sunburn. Chronic inflammation, however, develops inside your body over time. And this is the one we need to be more careful about.

Essentially, chronic inflammation – whether it's in your gut, joints or organs – is caused by an immune system that’s on alert, meaning your body is in defence mode. It’s a fire that can be stoked by a season of lounging in the sun, sipping sangria and slurping ice creams, as all these things contribute to the body’s toxic levels if done to excess. But it’s surprisingly simple to cool the heat and bring your body back into balance.

A NORMAL RESPONSE

For the most part, everyday, acute inflammatory responses are a normal and essential part of your body’s defence mechanism, which helps protect and heal you. If you cut yourself, for example, the area will become red and swollen thanks to special hormones in the blood that make sure immune cells rush to the site and stop any infection. When the fight is over, the army of inflammation-triggering hormones usually retreats, but sometimes it doesn’t, and instead levels stay elevated. This is what can lead to problems.

Unlike a bout of acute inflammation, such as from sunburn, most signs of chronic inflammation can stay hidden for a while. When they appear, some of the symptoms can be gut issues, such as bloating, constipation or pain.