Acute Inflammation vs. Chronic Inflammation

Short-tem, or acute, inflammation is one of your body’s most powerful defense mechanisms. Swelling from increased fluids protects injured areas from further harm while the body goes into overdrive to fend off bacteria, viruses, and even parasites. It not only kills off the invaders, but damaged tissue as well, until your body eventually wins the battle.

Once inflammation has served its purpose to eliminate the external nasties the healing process can begin. Sometimes though, the body fails to end the inflammatory cycle and systemic chronic inflammation results.

While acute inflammation can save your life, chronic inflammation may help end it. When chronic inflammation becomes systemic the body actually turns on itself. It leads to an increased risk of heart attack or stroke, magnifies the harmful effects of Alzheimer’s, and even promotes an internal environment favorable for cancer.

While many drugs will decrease inflammation in the body, they are not safe to consume for extended periods of time. These drugs themselves have been linked to heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots. They can also damage your kidneys and other vital organs, lead to internal bleeding, and even death.

What is needed is a safer approach to reducing both localized and systemic inflammation in the body. Fortunately there are several options. And they can be used interchangeably. The four most recommended natural methods for reducing inflammation are:

1. Ice & Heat Therapy — Ice and heat can relieve both pain and inflammation
2. Dietary Changes — Many foods increase your body’s inflammatory response (such as dairy, wheat, gluten, sugar, fried foods), while some other foods reduce inflammation
3. Natural Medicines — Herbs and other homeopathic remedies can be as effective at eliminating inflammation as drugs without the harmful side effects; systemic proteolytic enzymes are also important in treating chronic inflammation as they break down harmful fibrin (scar tissue) caused by the excess inflammation
4. Mind/Body Techniques — Stress related tension is directly or indirectly contributes to a significant number of disease states including inflammation; end the stress and help break the inflammatory cycle

This short video on fighting inflammation introduces these options.

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