* INFLAMMATION
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Sometimes your body is only trying to protect you from harm
You have probably heard of inflammation — and may even have a sense that it’s not a condi- tion you want to have. What you may not realize is that there’s a lot you can do to prevent it, and that it’s not always a bad thing.
Inflammation, Defined Inflammation, in its most general sense, is what happens when your body’s im- mune system tries to fight off something it believes to be harmful. When you get a splinter in your finger, for example, your immune system will fight back by triggering white blood cells to release chemicals into your bloodstream. This causes your blood vessels to expand to
allow more blood to flow to the affected area, which can become red, hot and swollen. Like- wise, when you get a bacterial infection, your body mounts an inflammatory response to neutral- ize the pathogen, causing a fever. This may not feel so great, but it’s how you know
your body is trying to protect you from harm, and it stops once your body heals itself.
When It’s Bad The danger occurs when your immune system fights its own cells by mistake and continues to do so for a prolonged period of time. Why this happens is not always clear, but it can be
very harmful — even fatal — because it can lead to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and cancer.
20 | MATTERS OF HEALTH
ISTOCK.COM
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