Holistic ways to lower inflammation

Danielle Wojtak, ND

Inflammation is a normal and natural response to various stimuli, including injury and infection (think of a sprained ankle). However, if inflammation sticks around for enough time, it can become a problem. This can lead to chronic pain, digestive problems, weight gain, and many other symptoms. So how do we deal with inflammation?

Anti-inflammation diet

There are a million resources when it comes to an anti-inflammatory diet, or even the anti-inflammatory protocol, which includes lifestyle things as well. At a base level though, focusing on foods that are the least processed is a great place to start. Lots of plants, grass-fed animals, and free-range chickens. Avoiding those processed foods, including processed oils, and the middle of the grocery store. The easiest way to avoid processed food- only shop outside of the grocery store! That’s where they keep the fresh foods.

Move your body

Find an exercise pattern that works for you, but make sure you’re moving your body every day! This can look like cardio (running, walking, hiking), but should also include muscle-building exercises to help manage our blood sugar, and stretching to help keep things loose and moving.

Adequate sleep

Are you waking up well-rested in the morning? If not, your sleep is not working for you. Make sure you’re going to sleep and waking up at the same time (at least within an hour). Are you having issues falling or staying asleep throughout the night? These questions can all help determine how well your sleep is working for you. If it’s not, consider working on sleep hygiene.

Sleep is when our body does all its important healing things. We repair our physical bodies and clean up inflammation. We also clean up our brains and push our memories from short-term memory into long-term storage. Make sure you’re getting enough hours so all these good practices can happen!

Additional inflammation supports

On top of these lifestyle ideas, there are lots of ways to support inflammation in our bodies with acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic work. We can also support lowering inflammation in our bodies with the help of Naturopathic Medicine. Lucky for you, we have all of these modalities at SHÈN!