Inflammation Presented by RockWell

Overview  What is inflammation?  What is Chronic inflammation?  How does it affect my health?  What can I do about it?

What is inflammation?  Your body’s natural immune response  It is an essential part of the body’s healing processes  We commonly see it when we have an injury, scrap, infection, etc.

Chronic Inflammation  Chronic inflammation is related to heart disease and stroke  Inflammation contributes to the formation of plaque that ultimately blocks off the artery or can break off and form a blood clot.

Chronic Inflammation  Also responsible for autoimmune diseases involving inflammation  Crohn’s Disease  Rheumatoid Arthritis

Chronic Inflammation Causes  Smoking  Obesity, excess fat cells  Poor diet, highly processed foods  Stress

What can you do!?  Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables  Limit processed foods  Healthy fats, omega-3 fatty acids  A lot of herbs and spices have anti-inflammatory properties  Exercise regularly  Limit your risk factors for Cardiovascular disease

Tests for inflammation  High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (CRP) Test  Released during the inflammation process  Increased CRP increases your risk for heart disease and/or stroke

Summary  Inflammation is a nature immune response  Chronic inflammation is linked to Cardiovascular disease and stoke  Prevent it with lifestyle changes!

Activity  A good all around and anti-inflammatory diet is the Mediterranean diet. Read more about it here!here!