Chronic inflammation currently plays a significant role in seven of the top ten leading causes of death in America. When inflammation levels in the body stay high and continue unchecked, it can lead to serious health complications such as arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and even Alzheimer’s Disease. That’s why it’s so important to be aware of habits that can increase inflammation.
By avoiding unhealthy habits, like the ones listed below, you can keep your inflammation levels low. Here are a few of the biggest culprits, according to experts, as well as what to do about them.
1. Sitting For Long Periods Of Time
The average American sits for 13 hours a day. Add that to 8 hours of sleep a night, and our bodies could be at rest for a whopping 21 hours per day! Now, this might be on the extreme end of the spectrum, but there is no doubt that a sedentary lifestyle has become status quo in America over the last decade.
Sitting for long periods of time can have a huge impact on the body, including increased inflammation. The good news, though, is there is an easy way to counter these effects – get up and move! Doctors recommend that you avoid sitting for longer than three hours at a time, or even one hour, if you can help it.
If you are working in an office most of the day, get up and take a lap – just don’t make it an excuse to stop at the snack bar! At home, make sure you get up often while watching TV.
Another option for actively fighting inflammation is getting healthy dose of far infrared light and negative ions. These two energies have a well recognized as potent natural anti-inflammatories. Tourmaline is a semi-precious mineral that generates far infrared and negative ions. FIR Industries produces tourmaline infused products, with microscopic, nanometer sized
tourmaline particles. The smaller the particle size is, the more energy is generated per gram of tourmaline.
With all of that information, it is easy to see why many people who suffer from chronic inflammation would regularly use tourmaline infused products, such as Tourma®Tape or Tourma®Bands. The far infrared and negative ion energies of tourmaline have been shown to stimulate blood flow, increase blood oxygen levels and reduce oxidative stress and inflammation.
For more information on tourmaline, download our free eBook.
2. High Stress Levels
It’s no surprise that stress can increase inflammation in the body, along with a number of other unhealthy side effects. According to last year’s annual “Stress in America” survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, citizens are reporting the most significant increase in stress in the report’s 10-year history. American stress levels rose from 4.8 to a 5.1, on a 10-point scale, between August 2016 and January 2017.
So, how do we cope? Physical activity, listening to music, spending time with friends and family, yoga and meditation, and prayer are among the most common methods used today. Be sure to incorporate one or more of these activities into your daily lifestyle to keep the stress monger at bay.
3. Lack of Sleep
Again, it’s no surprise that lack of sleep can have a negative impact on your health. In fact, more than a third of American adults are not getting enough sleep on a regular basis, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Not getting enough sleep can weaken your immune system, opening the door for inflammation.
Simple lifestyle changes such as going to bed at the same time each night, rising at the same time each morning and turning off or removing televisions, computers and cellphones from the bedroom can help people you get the sleep you need.
Adding a tourmaline-infused Tourma®Blanket to your bed is another choice that may promote sound and restful sleep. As mentioned above, tourmaline generates far infrared light and negative ions, which collectively have been shown to help decrease inflammation levels in the body. Tourmaline particles can also increase serotonin production, as well as alpha brain waves, which can promote deep and regenerating sleep.
For more information on tourmaline, check out our page on Tourmaline Science.
4. Overconsumption of Sugar
Americans consume an average of 66 pounds of sugar each year. Eating too many foods and drinking beverages with added sugars can quickly spike inflammation levels and is linked to insulin resistance, diabetes, fatty liver disease, cancer and chronic kidney disease.
By limiting the amount of added sugar you consume, you won’t be putting your body under so much stress, and adding to its inflammation. Consuming less than 25 grams of sugar a day is a great goal to strive for.
5. Processed Foods
Following overconsumption of sugar is the overconsumption of processed foods, which are typically the foods laden with sugar, trans fats, GMOs and artificial ingredients. An overconsumption of processed foods could lead to many digestive health issues, including inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer. In a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, almost 60% of calories consumed from 2007–2012 came from ultra-processed foods.
Consuming even one whole food meal a day can lead to positive lifestyle changes and avoid contributing to increased inflammation. Some of the top anti-inflammatory foods include strawberries, almonds, olive oil, spinach and salmon.
6. Smoking
As if you needed one more reason to quit smoking, it also adds inflammation to the body, in addition to increasing your risk for lung cancer and gum disease. Part of the reason for these damaging health conditions is chronic inflammation of the lungs. However, it only takes a few weeks after quitting for inflammation levels to drop significantly.
7. Alcohol
For most people, there’s nothing wrong with the occasional alcohol containing beverage, however high consumption of alcohol can interfere with blood sugar levels and contribute to inflammation in the body. Alcohol consumption produces acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is a particularly potent toxin that can damage all the tissues in the body including the brain. It is produced when you drink alcohol, breathe the exhaust from cars, and smoke cigarettes.
8. Exposure to Toxins in Everyday Products
You should read the labels on your skincare products the same way you read labels on food, in the effort of avoiding as many harmful ingredients as possible.
Toxic chemicals in certain body products, such as lotions and shampoos, can cause hormonal imbalances, which trigger inflammation. Read labels carefully to make sure your products don’t contain harmful ingredients like petroleum distillates, parabens and hydroabietyl alcohol.
One Habit to Include In Your Daily Routine
A simple habit to begin is the use of tourmaline-infused products. Tourmaline is a therapeutic mineral that has been used for millennia in Eastern medicine and around the world, but western societies have only recently started embracing this natural mineral for its numerous health and wellness applications. A number of modern-day studies have shown that the energies emitted by tourmaline, when absorbed through the body, support overall health and wellness in regards to healing, sleep patterns and detoxification.
FIR Industries is the only company in the world that has patent pending technology to bond nanometer sized mineral particles to fabrics, textiles and fibers. These products are called theTourma®Line.
Tourma®Tape is one of the cornerstone products from FIR Industries. Tourma®Tape is different from any tape on the market. The mechanics of a kinesiotape provides the therapy. The Tourma®Tape itself actually provides therapy. That therapy is provided by the energy produced by the tourmaline particles that are in the Tourma® Tape itself. Users have reported great clinical success treating many varying conditions.
Tourma®Blankets and Tourma®Mats for Pets also contain nanometer sized tourmaline particles. Tourmaline particles can increase serotonin production, as well as alpha brain waves, which can result is promoting deep and regenerating sleep.
The smaller the particle of tourmaline is, the greater the energy will be for each gram of tourmaline used. This comes directly from a study published on PubMed.gov. FIR Industries uses nanometer-sized tourmaline particles, which is the smallest particle size that can be produced today.
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