Inflammation
and your health
Professor Graeme Meintjes, who
works at Khayelitsha and Groote Schuur hospitals has warned South Africans of
a third Covid wave ‘in the near future’.
This means that it’s not the time
to get complacent about Covid-19. The health-care system may be gearing up for
an increase in the number of patients, but we do our best to get or stay
healthy.
Covid-19 is a respiratory disease –
and causes pneumonia. In a nutshell, this virus causes inflammation of the
respiratory tract that includes the nose, throat, bronchi and lungs. From there
the virus attacks the rest of the body.
Let’s understand a bit more about
inflammation.
Inflammation helps the body to
fight infections and speeds-up healing. Extra blood is pumped to areas affected
by toxins, infections or injury. Extra blood to the area of inflammation means
a boost of extra oxygen and white blood cells – known as leucocytes or the
body’s infection control. A bit like ambulances and
other rescue vehicles that rush to the scene of an accident. Superficial inflammation caused by say a thorn
or splinter is easily identified because this area becomes red, feels hot and
throbs. Internal (also called systemic inflammation) is not so easy to
recognise.
In response to inflammation, the
body makes antibodies. These help to prevent re-infection. Sometimes it happens
that the immune system gets confused between "self" and
"non-self" antibodies, and this can lead to autoimmune disorders like
Rheumatoid arthritis, Lupus, IBS (Irritable Bowel Disease), Multiple sclerosis
(MS) Type 1 diabetes, Psoriasis and others. Some people who have recovered from
Covid-19 has been left with autoimmune symptoms.
Typical signs of systemic
inflammation are body aches, muscle weakness, fatigue, and memory loss. There
are also more serious symptoms like dizziness and insulin resistance, IBS
(Irritable Bowel Syndrome), lower backache, and an increased risk of a heart
attack or a stroke.
What
can you do to minimise Covid-19 risks?
- Keep-up
with precautions – wearing a mask, social distancing, and hand washing. The
effectiveness and pros and cons of wearing a mask is a blog on its own. But
let’s just say it reminds you to keep your hands away from your face.
- Make
sure you get a good night’s sleep – preferably without the help of sleeping
tablets
- Fresh
air and exercise: try walking for at least 40 minutes every day – 20 of these
bare-foot on the soft grass. Walking barefoot on the grass, sand, sea-shore or
smooth pebbles are nature’s ‘reflexology’ that reconnects you to the earth
- Daily
yoga and meditation
- Revisit
your spice-rack. Turmeric, rosemary, cinnamon, cumin and ginger have wonderful
healing benefits
- Grow
herbs in your garden
- Eat
more fruits, vegetables, chopped nuts, beans and fish
- Green
leafy veggies contain antioxidants that help to minimise inflammation
- Lose
that extra weight you’ve been carrying around with you for way too long now. Obesity
increases your risk of other health problems
- There’s a good reason why you should stop smoking, and minimise your alcohol intake.
