Inflammation serves a person. It is your body’s first line of defense against infection and injury. In a healthy response, this process normally shuts down once healing occurs. Inflammation is a problem when the process gets stuck on and does not switch off. It can cause the body to attack healthy cells and tissues. This can be called chronic or systemic inflammation.
Inflammation can present itself in different ways. In some people, it may be arthritis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease. In some, it can cause inflammation in the brain. Inflammation shuts down energy production in brain cells, causing mental fatigue and slowing down the firing of neurons.
We have all been sick with the cold right? How did you feel? I’m guessing you felt pretty lousy, tired, uninterested in being social, lacked motivation, maybe lost your appetite and your body may have ached. Speak to a depressed person and these are likely to be similar to how they are feeling. Therefore you may now appreciate how depression may be a symptom of an inflamed brain. This is called the cytokine model of depression (1).
It is common knowledge that modern medicine treats depression or mood disorders with antidepressants. This assumes that there is more of a chemical imbalance problem going on. This may not always be the case and may not be the root cause of the problem.
What can trigger the brain to become inflamed?
- poor diet
- stress
- gluten
- lack of exercise
- chronic inflammation
- environmental toxins
- vitamin deficiencies
- infections
- drugs
- and more
What we eat can be a major player in whether you are inflamed or not. Adopting a healthy anti-inflammatory diet, therapeutic supplements, improving sleep quality, exercising and reducing stress levels will help turn off the inflammation response in the brain.
If you think chronic inflammation is a problem for you, book a consultation. Through looking at your blood work and your symptoms we can determine if inflammation is underlying any mood disturbances you may have. Chronic inflammation is one of those things where the longer you leave it, the worse it usually becomes. Book in today.
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