Good and Bad Inflammation

Living an Anti-Inflammatory Life series first article – Good and Bad Inflammation. Check back for future posts to read more about Living an Anti-Inflammatory Life.

Inflammation Affects Chronic Diseases

Studies have shown over the past decade that many diseases result from chronic inflammation. This article will provide the difference between good and bad inflammation. It is the bad inflammation that influences the development of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, asthma, arthritis and bowel disease just to name a few. Key factors that lead to inflammation are poor lifestyle, environmental toxins, poor diet and lack of exercise. With these factors out of balance inflammation starts building in your body and your immune system can go out of control leading to chronic illnesses. The key is to uncover the causes of inflammation and to naturally get the body back in balance and functioning at its peak performance.

Difference Between Good and Bad Inflammation

Here is a brief summary to help you understand the basic difference between good and bad inflammation.

Good inflammation is acute and short-term responses to infection or injury like a sore throat, rash or sprained ankle.

Bad inflammation is a chronic and long-term condition that slowly destroys your organs and leads to rapid aging. Some chronic inflammatory conditions include; acne, arthritis, asthma, autoimmune diseases, cancer, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases, hypertension, heart disease, migraines, Parkinson’s inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

Good, Bad and Ugly Inflammation

Here are a few more examples of good and bad inflammation plus the ugly inflammation that leads to rapid aging.

Good – Everyone who has had a sore throat, rash, or sprained ankle knows about inflammation. These are normal and appropriate responses to our body’s defense immune system to infection and trauma. This kind of inflammation is good.

Bad – Many of us are familiar with an overactive immune response resulting in too much inflammation. It results in common conditions such as allergies, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune disease, and asthma. This is bad inflammation and action needs to be taken to reduce the inflammation.

Ugly – It is the chronic, smoldering inflammation that slowly destroys our organs and our ability to function optimally and leads to rapid aging. This is downright ugly inflammation and requires a major lifestyle change of healthier eating and exercise.

List of resources, all worth checking out.

About Inflammation from WebMD.com

Chronic Inflammation Video from DoctorOz.com

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Cheers to a Healthy Day!

Lou Ann