Is inflammation behind all your health issues?

 Do you often feel tired and achy for no reason? Almost like you have a flu coming on but it never develops? Or perhaps you frequently have an upset stomach or symptoms of IBS? These are common ailments that most people suffer from but never really know the source of. If you're someone who frequently feels unwell without any clear reason, you may be a victim of inflammation.

We normally expect inflammation to occur only when the body's defense system is triggered by some sort of infection or allergen, but in reality stress or poor diet are enough to get it going. Understanding inflammation may be the first step to improving your quality of life tenfold. Click through this gallery to learn more.

Inflammation

Inflammation is one of your body's defense mechanisms when it comes under attack.

The body's defense

We see this in action when the skin around a wound turns red. This is the body's inflammatory response attempting to isolate and destroy any invading elements!

Symptoms of inflammation

The body responds with inflammation in a wide variety of ways. You can experience it through joint pain or gastric distress.

Causes

It can be caused by both physical and mental factors such as infections or stress.

Inflammation response

When the body senses one of these triggers it releases protein cells called cytokines to cause the inflammation response. These cells can be measured to assess the level of inflammation in the body.

Effects of inflammation

There is growing evidence that inflammation has an acute effect on how we feel, mentally and physically.

Effects of inflammation

While there is much still to be learned, there is a clear link between inflammation and the immune system, metabolism, sleep, stress responses, cognitive thinking, memory, expression, impulse control, mood, clarity, and more.

Inflammation research

Luckily there's a great deal of research on inflammation underway. Interesting results have already been discovered in relation to several mental illnesses.

Depression and bipolar disorder

Inflammation has been found to trigger depression in the same way that an allergen can trigger an allergic reaction.

Depression and bipolar disorder

Research even suggests that immunotherapy could potentially treat depression!

Depression and bipolar disorder

Immunotherapy is a treatment against disease where the immune system is either activated or suppressed. It's commonly used to treat cancer or allergies.

Anxiety and trauma

Childhood trauma has been linked to the development of inflammatory issues later in life.

Anxiety and trauma

Stress at a young age is linked to gut inflammation, which can cause a whole host of mental and physical issues.

Anxiety and trauma

It appears that stress hormones directly affect the balance of bacteria in the gut.

Anxiety and trauma

A gut imbalance can lead to damage of the lining of the gut. Guess how the body responds to this damage? Inflammation, of course.

Anxiety and trauma

This inflammation can eventually spread to other parts of the body like the brain and increase vulnerability to a number of illnesses.

Anxiety and trauma

A few examples include ADD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, IBS, arthritis, Crohn's disease, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Anxiety and trauma

One study tested the guts of two groups of children. The group of children who had a stable childhood had a much healthier, diverse gut than those who didn't.

The gut and the brain

The diversity of gut bacteria has also been linked to brain function. The scientists in this study could detect a difference in the brain activity of the children with more diverse gut bacteria.

The gut and the brain

The Gut-Brain-Axis was discovered in the 1960s, confirming that our minds and our stomachs are closely linked! This had been understood instinctually for centuries.

The gut and the brain

Research into this has grown exponentially in the past decade and the results are eye-opening.

The gut and the brain

The gut and the brain are connected by the largest nerve in the body, called the vagus nerve. This nerve provides a two-way communication pathway between the gut and the brain.

The gut and the brain

The gut influences so many systems in the human body that it has become known as 'the second brain.'

The gut microbiome

The equilibrium of the gut can be affected by stress, diet, or infections, all of which trigger the inflammation response.

Inflammation causes

To summarize, inflammation can be caused by stress, poor diet, food insensitivities/allergies, infections, and toxins.

Mind-body connection

Inflammation is a two-way system in that it can be caused by emotional distress or it can cause emotional distress.

Mind-body medicine

Whether you suffer primarily from physical or emotional pain, it's not a bad idea to treat both!

Mind-body medicine

This is called the mind-body approach to health. It's based on the most recent research that shows us that the health of one directly affects the health of the other.