InHealth: Inflammation, Aging and Chronic Disease

Karen O. Brainard, MD

Uncontrolled Inflammation.
Who would think this may be the single most important factor contributing to the health problems I see day after day? Infections cause it. Toxins contribute to it. Stress ramps it up. Disturbances in our intestinal tract amplify it. Obesity revs up the inflammatory response. Cancers are fed by inflammation. This state of inflammation can be obvious, like an infection of a cut where the skin become red, swollen and painful, but more often inflammation is subtle, silent, such as the inflammation of the lining of our arteries that triggers the development of atherosclerosis. Inflammation can become severe and obvious like rheumatoid arthritis, or can slowly manifest in most of our degenerative conditions.

How to tame it? Many of our everyday choices have an effect on the inflammatory state in our bodies. Cumulatively, these behaviors can wreak havoc or they can often assist our bodies in healing. Working to discover where your personal points of leverage exist can be helpful to quiet the inflammation and reduce the harmful effects on the body.

We know regular exercise improves our circulation, stimulates production of new connections between nerve cells, helps our sleep at night, and releases built-up stress. Avoiding environmental toxins by eating organic, non-GMO foods, filtering our water, avoiding heating foods in plastic containers, avoiding smoking and excess alcohol intake can help. We know the practice of meditation, a sense of purpose in life and cultivating an attitude of gratitude, can go a long way in mitigating the effects of daily stress.

But there is more you can do: twenty-first century, personalized medicine. Healthcare that can look at an individual’s genetics, food allergies, environmental influences, exercise patterns and their effect on the human microbiome, hormonal balance, metabolic state and energetics. We now know that all of these components are modifiable—even our genetics.

This modification is epigenetics, and it means that we can affect how our genetic inheritance shows up in our lives. We can identify food allergies to avoid disruption of the intestinal lining, helping to preserve the gut barrier and avoiding a leaky gut. We can identify hormonal imbalances and work to bio-identically balance them. We can identify nutritional deficiencies and optimize your nutritional status, giving you the fuel to feel energized. Modern medicine has given us incredible tools, but remember, the choices we make daily have an impact on a healthy vibrant state. We have an opportunity every day to calm our bodies and find balance!

Dr. Karen O. Brainard
Bradenton East Integrative Medicine
8614 E State Rd 70, Bradenton, FL 34202
941.727.1243
beimonline.com