Body and Mind Connection - Inflammation
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The body’s impact on the brain
Research is now revealing that the immune system, the gut microbiome and peripheral inflammation are not just bystanders or results of psychiatric conditions—they are active participants and may hold the key to new treatments.
Excerpt from Rethinking Mental Health https://www.thetransmitter.org/neuroimmunology/rethinking-mental-health-the-bodys-impact-on-the-brain/
The body's natural reaction to injury or infection is inflammation, it’s an essential component of our immune system. However, prolonged inflammation can damage our bodies, including our brains. It can lead to:
Decrease or even disruption of neurotransmitter, like serotonin and dopamine which are essential for mood regulation
Change in brain structure including areas responsible for mood and cognitive function
Heightened stress response by altering our body’s stress response
The results can lead to mental health problems like depression, anxiety and cognitive decline.
Our gut bacteria influence our overall health and well-being, It plays an important role in supporting our immune system.
So, what can we do?
Below are some natural ways to reduce inflammation in the body:
Following an anti-inflammatory diet
Eating fermented foods
Managing stress
Engaging in daily mindfulness activities like meditation
Spending time in nature
Limiting news and social media exposure
Exercising regularly
Prioritizing high-quality sleep
Do not smoke and limit alcohol consumption
Participation question:
What do you find helpful in preventing inflammation in your body?
Helpful Videos:
The 2025 Guide to Eating Anti Inflammatory for a Healthier You
NEW Study on 5 Fermented Foods’ Effect on Microbiome Diversity
Helpful Resources:
Cooling Brain Inflammation Naturally with Food
Seeking Help
Mental stress can cause us not to be able to see the good things in life and lead to excessive rumination or worries which can result in serious health problems. If you have serious, long-term problems with negative thinking and feeling depressed, see your doctor or talk to a therapist if they are related to any mental challenges.
Are you looking for a therapist? 7 Cups has online, certified therapists with a paid option. For more information on what happens in online therapy at 7 Cups, Read Lisa’s (a therapist and director of therapy) explanation
https://www.7cups.com/forum/therapy/General_2432/WeveLaunchedTalkTherapyon7Cups_319430/
To apply for 7 Cups online therapy, click on this link (must be logged into member account) https://www.7cups.com/online-therapy/?ob=1
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@amiablePeace77 What do you find helpful in preventing inflammation in your body?
I avoid sugar and starchy foods because they create unhelpful biomes in the intestine. Yogurt is a good fermented food.
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@amiablePeace77
The best move I've made was to give up all soda's a few years ago. Started anabolic cooking and dropped weight. Shouldn't be a problem to incorporate some anti inflammatory foods in the mix.
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@amiablePeace77 the best way I stop inflammation in my body, is to not injure myself 😁😁😁 I try to stay as healthy as I can 💗 I have never heard of a anti inflammatory diet though, I'll have to look it up 💗
gives Ami a giant tiny hug 💗💗 hope your ok
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I'm so happy to see a post about brain inflammation! I'm certified in the Biology of Trauma 🙋
This is such an important topic for me because I've been struggling with a high amount of brain inflammation for about 8 years, and only very recently found out it was brain inflammation. My brain inflammation was caused by intense psychological and emotional stress. It's rarely mentioned anywhere that stress can cause brain inflammation, which is why I would've never suspected that my symptoms were related to that.
I want to share the possible causes discussed in my training here:
● Direct Head Injury (Physical trauma with or without concussion)
● Indirect Head Injury (Whiplash)
● Intense Psychological or Emotional Stress
● Intestinal Permeability (Lipopolysaccharide [LPS] in bloodstream crosses blood
brain barrier)
● Gluten Sensitivity
● Oxygen Deprivation
● Chronic Infection
● Nervous System Infection (Meningitis)
● Heavy Metal Toxicity
As well as the common symptoms:
● Brain fog
● Light sensitivity
● Low tolerance for stress
● Decision fatigue
● Brain feels like it shuts down (lights go off)
● Word searching
● Difficulty staying present and engaged (focusing)
● Forgetfulness
● Clumsiness
● Delayed reaction time
● Mentally not as sharp
● Headache
● Coordination issues
● Psychosis
● Depression, anxiety
● Get relief with eye support somatic exercises
A great thing to do is to start tracking our brain inflammation during the day, as well as sleep, food intake. We can then start to pinpoint causes, and make changes. It can also be caused by certain activities we do, or when we have emotional discussions, hence why tracking might really help.
For example, I notice that when I go to bed later than usual, I get brain inflammation in the morning. So a consistent sleep routine is essential for me.
A great somatic exercise that usually helps is doing this: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KaFqjkcY_4A . For a minimum of 30s to a minute, but you can do it for as long as it is needed. Meditation also helps for me.
27-28 minutes naps in complete darkness, with no sensory distractions can also really help. For a bad brain inflammation day, taking a nap every 3-4 hours might be necessary.
I hope this is useful! Sending love to anyone who is dealing with this 💖
Lex
@ShiningInTheDark
Thank you so much for sharing all this helpful information with us! I hope many people here will read it. Sorry to hear though that you suffered for such a long time from high brain inflammation. I hope things are much better now!
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Thank you! It’s a daily struggle, but I’m starting to figure it out by using the tips I’ve shared. I only got that information a few weeks ago. I’m hopeful!
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@amiablePeace77
What do you find helpful in preventing inflammation in your body?
Being healthy. In other words, have a routine for different times of the day (morning, noon, evening, night) and be as consistent with your routine as possible. In your daily routine, try to be as productive and active as possible without overdoing anything of course and include things like exercise, meditation, sleep, eating healthy meals that fill you up, staying hydrated by drinking (purified) water (I highly suggest including electrolytes powder in some of these water drinks to make them even more healthier and beneficial for you), healthy snacks in between meals like fruits and fruit smoothies as well as nuts, regular medical professional visits like doctors, dentist, etc so if there are any problems, inflammation or otherwise, you’ll be able to solve the problems as soon as possible.
I’m sure there’s other ways but this is all I’ve got for right now :)
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I have a lot of inflammation from various conditions. Not sure how much affects my brain, I do get brain fog but that's often connected with body faigue too,so it's fatigue overall. I find many about half of these things can make it worse. Exercise is definitely a trigger. So are many things in nature and I do have times where based on my symptoms or environmental factors I have to avoid being outside as much as possible (medical appointments sometimes mean I can't just stay home).
Anti-inflammatory diets - this one at least looks fairly reasonable. Still though even with this there's problems, fish? Would probably kill me from inflammation. Nuts and whole grains are not unusual triggers for others. Some fermented foods are triggers for me, others seem neutral. I found the comment about IBDs interesting, I think similar diets might be need during flares of other conditions too (ie. not this Anti-inflammatory diet).
Sleep, managing stress, striking a balance with news/social media sound good.
Personally what I do- try to get enough rest, pace myself appropriately, avoid some triggers completely, balance exposure to other triggers. Use medical treatments I have acees to as appropriate, although the system is making that more and more difficult.
@AffyAvo
Thanks for sharing your point of view with us and nice to see you again in the forum AffyAvo. I quite agree with you that nothing is for everyone, that things have 2 sides and in my view it's important to find out what really helps me. Something that can be very helpful for one person can be triggering for another person.