{"id":1416508,"date":"2022-04-03T07:31:06","date_gmt":"2022-04-03T11:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1416508"},"modified":"2022-04-03T07:31:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T11:31:17","slug":"the-bodys-best-defense-on-overdrive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-bodys-best-defense-on-overdrive\/","title":{"rendered":"The Body\u2019s Best Defense, on Overdrive"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-bodys-best-defense-on-overdrive%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1416508&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>When you catch an infection, your body responds with redness, swelling, and pain. This is called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-inflammation\">inflammation<\/a>. It\u2019s how our immune system gets rid of intruders.<\/p>\n<p>This response is an essential part of the healing process. But inflammation can also work against us\u2014when things go wrong, it can become a major driver of disease.<\/p>\n<p>How can something that heals also make us sick? It depends on how long inflammation lasts.<\/p>\n<p>Stress triggers inflammation. If that stress is an infection, the immune system turns on the inflammatory response until the invader is thwarted, and the body goes back to normal. But when stress is constant and the immune system can\u2019t kill it, inflammation never shuts off, and a process that should be temporary becomes permanent.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2207395\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2207395 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2017\/01\/06\/shutterstock_544562881-580x580.jpg\" alt=\"shutterstock_544562881\" width=\"580\" height=\"580\" \/><\/noscript> (Designua\/Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Inflammation is regulated\u00a0by substances called cytokines, which are proteins made by the immune cells to communicate with each other. These inflammatory chemicals are produced in response to a cold or flu, and we feel achy and fatigued for a few days until the immune system prevails. It is believed that an explosion of cytokines, called a cytokine storm, is one of the primary culprits in COVID-19 fatalities. In essence, a misfiring immune response triggered by COVID\u2014and likely a host of other co-morbidities that also undermine the immune system\u2014is killing people.<\/p>\n<p>Cytokines can also be triggered in response to anxiety or depression, but they don\u2019t bring help, only hurt. That\u2019s why people with chronic inflammation always feel achy and fatigued.<\/p>\n<p><span>But chronic inflammation is more than just an inconvenience. In recent decades, researchers have <\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4361086\/\">discovered<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><span>that this steady drip of cytokines underlies a host of illnesses such as Alzheimer\u2019s disease, <\/span><span>rheumatoid <\/span><span>arthritis, asthma, certain cancers, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and osteoporosis, as well as psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This new understanding of inflammation is one of the most important discoveries in health research in recent years, according to Dr. George M. Slavich, director at the Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research at the University of California\u2013Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAll told, inflammation is involved in at least eight of the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States today. Understanding how inflammation promotes poor health, and how and when we can intervene to reduce inflammation-related disease risk, should thus be a top scientific and public priority,\u201d Slavich wrote in a March 2015 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4361086\/\"><span>article <\/span><\/a><span>in the journal Brain Behavior Immunity.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Constant Stress, Rapid Aging<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span>Several researchers point to the unrelenting stress of modern life as the key culprit in the rise of chronic inflammation. One is Dr. William Malarkey, professor emeritus of internal medicine and director of clinical research at the Center for Clinical and Translational Science at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>When we\u2019re forced to endure constant stress, our endocrine system gets stuck in high gear, Dr. Malarkey says. \u201cIt\u2019s like the body is always getting prepared to meet that bear around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span>During periods of prolonged stress, people seem to age before our eyes: presidents as they serve out their term, couples struggling through a divorce, or those enduring the death of a loved one.<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>We are resilient creatures, so our bodies can recover after a rough period. But when stress doesn\u2019t let up, and our ability to recover is diminished, inflammation eventually leads to disease.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour heart attack didn\u2019t just happen today, it started 20 or 30 years ago with this process,\u201d Dr. Malarkey said.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Building Resilience<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span>Stress is a fact of life, but why do some people handle hard times better than others? In studying the stress response, Dr. Malarkey has identified five domains that act as buffers to adversity. He calls the model <strong>REMAP<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>R<\/strong> is for relational engagement: connectedness with family members and friends.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>E<\/strong> is for emotional sensibility: a healthy emotional life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>M<\/strong> is for meaningful engagement: satisfaction and meaning in different aspects of life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>A<\/strong> is for awareness of self and others: perceptions and reflections that influence how we feel about ourselves and how we relate to others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>P<\/strong> is for physical health behaviors: getting good nutrition, regular exercise, and good-quality sleep, and abstaining from smoking and other harmful substances.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The stronger we are in preserving these domains, the better our resilience to stress, says Dr. Malarkey. If we fail in these domains, our immune system gets activated.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"pull-quote\">\n<p>The good news is that change is possible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The good news is that change is possible. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5064816\/\">Research<\/a> has shown that when patients work to improve in these five domains, they can prevent the effects of chronic stress.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cJust by getting right thinking, you can drop the cytokines in your immune system, and this inflammatory stuff begins to fall,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were able to lower risk factors for heart disease in inflammatory markers just with some daily practice of <\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/23078984\">mindfulness meditation<\/a>.<\/span><span>\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Developing an Anti-Inflammatory Mindset<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span>Growing awareness of this inflammatory model of disease has given rise to anti-inflammatory supplements to treat it, such as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/n3\/1347368-rev-up-your-turmeric\/\"><span>turmeric<\/span><\/a><span> and <\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/n3\/1408947-something-fishy-in-your-fish-oil\/\">fish oil<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><span>capsules. These interventions have been shown to reduce inflammation, but their impact is tiny compared to the influence of the mind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s unlikely that any single supplement is going to make a big difference when you have this huge tide coming from your brain every day,\u201d Dr. Malarkey said. \u201cThe greatest intervention is to have something on board that protects us from stress.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"pull-quote\">\n<p>Lots of mental factors contribute to our stress adaptability, but having a sense of purpose plays a key role.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Lots of mental factors contribute to our stress adaptability, but having a sense of purpose plays a key role, Dr. Malarkey says. This often includes activities that make us feel we are a part of something bigger: spiritual practices, positive contribution, or helping others in need. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>The strength of our relationships is another key factor in how well we handle stress. Loneliness can be particularly damaging and a key factor in bad health or disease, says Dr. Malarkey.<\/p>\n<p><span>The groundwork for stress resilience (or lack thereof) starts early in life. In a <\/span><span><a href=\"http:\/\/njc.rockefeller.edu\/PDF_BN08\/topic%202Francis%20&#038;%20Meaney.pdf\">study<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><span>published in 1999, researchers found that newborn rat pups who were taken from their mothers in the first week of their lives developed different brain chemistry than rats who got to have mom close by.<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Within just one week without contact, the rats\u2019 levels of the stress hormone cortisol\u00a0went into overdrive and couldn\u2019t shut off. Similar brain chemistry has been found in humans who experienced a dysfunctional childhood and committed suicide later in life\u2013their receptors for glucocorticoid, the hormone that cuts off cortisol production, were silenced.<\/p>\n<p><span>According to Dr. Malarkey\u2019s research, those who adapt to stress best are people with an active social life and solid relationships. These people are<\/span><span> emotionally optimistic and are always engaged in learning new things. They sleep well because their worry level is very low, and they participate in some sort of regular exercise.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Food and Exercise<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span> What you eat and how much you move can also have a significant influence on your inflammatory environment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cFood is a powerful regulator of the gut microbiome, which is a huge inflammatory regulator of the immune system. Nutrition can affect changes in cells,\u201d Dr. Malarkey said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sugar, fried foods, and vegetable oils high in omega-6 fatty acids are notorious contributors to inflammation, while fresh fruits, vegetables, and foods high in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/n3\/1369443-stalking-the-elusive-omega-3s\/\"><span>omega-3 fatty<\/span><\/a><span> acids help turn off the inflammatory response.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Exercise, too, plays a major role in regulating inflammation, but it can also be one of the hardest habits to adopt. Two of the biggest complaints among people with chronic inflammation are pain and fatigue. No one wants to move when they\u2019re feeling sore and tired, but making even a little effort toward regular exercise can have a big impact in the long run.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Because it puts stress on the body, exercise initially triggers inflammation. But this brief spike falls away once your workout is finished. Over time, this regular burst of activity helps decrease chronic inflammation, as exercise helps the body become better adapted to stress. Experts advise combining light aerobic and weight training or resistance exercises to best reduce inflammation. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>If that doesn\u2019t get you moving, then consider that an out-of-shape body becomes more efficient at generating inflammation. An abdominal bulge isn\u2019t just unsightly\u2014it actually develops into an extra gland, complicating an already dysfunctional endocrine system.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Genetic Fate, Personal Responsibility<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span>As far back as the 1950s, researchers noticed behavioral and endocrine responses to stress.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Although the idea of inflammation as the root cause of chronic disease has been gaining steam in the medical community in recent years, the concept is at odds with the prevailing notion that genetic fate decides who gets sick and who doesn\u2019t. But Dr. Malarkey says genes alone don\u2019t tell the whole story.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cPeople get stuck in this thinking: \u2018My Daddy got this, so therefore I\u2019m going to get it.\u2019 Well, it\u2019s not the genes. It\u2019s the fact that you\u2019re all anxious and you all eat the same way. It\u2019s your environment. These things alter the way genes get expressed. That\u2019s why you\u2019re all getting heart disease,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Ancient Medicine, Redefined<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Exercise, eat right, make friends, get enough sleep, try not to worry, and fulfill your purpose in life: The lessons of REMAP sound suspiciously similar to the no-nonsense health advice doctors have been giving for ages. But to Dr. Malarkey, this is proof that he\u2019s on the right track.<\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIn my opinion, all the traditional systems of medicine all involve the same processes that I am now putting into contemporary psychology and basic science and biology,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cEach culture has to reinterpret these things in their own language. We have to keep finding this\u00a0<span>out in light of the contemporary issues that face us, or else we lose the message.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you catch an infection, your body responds with redness, swelling, and pain. This is called inflammation. It\u2019s how our immune system gets rid of intruders.This response is an essential<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":489,"featured_media":1894165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1416508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1416508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1894165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1416508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1416508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1416508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}