Inflammation is part of the body’s defense mechanism. It occurs when the immune system recognizes and removes harmful bacteria, pathogens, and other irritants, and initiates the healing process (1✓).
Believe it or not, some inflammation is actually beneficial to the body. This is called acute inflammation.
Acute inflammation is the good type of inflammation. For example, if you catch a cold, your nose starts to run and your fever runs high – this is inflammation that assists healing! Or, when you scratch your arm, inflammation is apparent by the skin turning red and hot.
This type of inflammation is natural, healthy, and helps your body heal.
Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, is the type of inflammation you don’t want. This type of inflammation occurs when the immune system is chronically set to “on”. It can last for prolonged periods of several months to years at a time.
You can think of chronic inflammation as a forest fire that never goes out. Eventually, diseases start to develop as a result of a tired, worn out immune system.
If the immune system is on high-alert for an extended period of time, it can cause serious damage to your heart, brain, and other organs. This eventually leads to chronic disease (2✓).
It is well known that conditions like cancer, diabetes, allergies, metabolic
syndrome, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), inflammatory bowel disease, and
asthma all stem from the same common denominator: chronic
inflammation (3).
But how do you know you actually have high, unnatural levels of inflammation in the body?
Symptoms of Chronic Inflammation
see continuation on next page
