Inflammation: Are You Living in a Pro-Inflammatory or Anti-Inflammatory State?
I was listening to a medical podcast recently, and they said something about how the body is always in either a “pro-inflammatory” or “anti-inflammatory state,” and it made me think about how true this is not just for the body, but for the mind and spirit as well.
The statement caught my attention because I have had migraine headaches for years. And if you’ve ever had migraines, you know they are more than just headaches, but can affect the entire body for days. When I have a migraine, I know can recognize that something has activated my immune system’s inflammatory response.
Certain smells, sounds, foods, hormone levels, stress, environments and situations activate this inflammatory response. These triggers would be pro-inflammatory, and I have learned what my pro-inflammatory triggers are and how to reduce or avoid them.
On the other side, I know that there are things that reduce my chances of getting a migraine. For example, my “anti-inflammatories” would be things like getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, having balanced hormones, and avoiding scents and sounds that disturb me.
Migraines are just one of my examples. It seems that inflammation can be at the root of most diseases and ailments. So if we are able to pay attention to our bodies’ clues about what makes us feel inflamed, and what makes us feel the opposite, we can be in tune with our immune systems at a deeper level and avoid ill health.
But what if we were also able to notice this concept on other levels, not just at the body level but at the mind and spirit as well.
Are there pro-inflammatory thoughts that you need to clear out of your mind? Are there more anti-inflammatory thoughts you could replace them with?
For example, what if one of your inflammatory thoughts was “I’m not good at_________, I need to be perfect to get started.” This is an inflammatory thought because it causes you to procrastinate and not start something that you want to get done.
An anti-inflammatory thought you could replace it with may be, “I don’t need to be perfect at this because I can learn from my mistakes.”
Other sources of inflammation that can impact your mind, body and spirit are:
fears
doubts
worries
holding grudges/unforgiveness
attachments to ideas, people or things that no longer serve you
What if recognizing what triggers us and instead bringing ourselves into an anti-inflammatory state was the secret to living our healthiest, happiest lives?