I want to share some easy rituals you can do every day that will help dissolve inflammation and pain in your body. These are 4 of the most effective habits I’ve tried which I believe anyone can do.
Inflammation is like the body’s defense mechanism. It is one of the ways our bodies react to things that may be harmful for us. If you are experiencing pain in any part of your body, it usually means there’s inflammation present at some level. This condition can lead to more serious health issues like cardiovascular disease and cancer if not addressed and treated accordingly in time.
The first thing you must know is that there are two main types of inflammation, acute and chronic. Acute inflammation can be caused by injuries or illnesses but it’s a temporary condition; once the threat is gone or treated, your body will start to heal itself. Chronic inflammation on the other hand lasts much longer than usual and can lead to serious health problems. If you want to know how long does acute inflammation last , you can read this one of my previous posts: Acute Inflammation: What It Is And How Long Does It Last?
Here are 4 rituals that you can easily implement into your everyday life to alleviate inflammation and pain:
Ritual #1 – Epson Salt Bath Soak
In a world where we’re always on the go, it can be difficult to find time for ourselves. We often neglect our bodies and ignore symptoms that are warning signs of serious health problems. But there are some things you can do to make sure your body is feeling its best and will be able to handle anything that comes your way. Epsom bath relaxes your muscles, calms inflammation and helps you sleep more readily. This powerful, natural mineral bath is great for relieving back pain and inflammation brought on by strenuous exercise.
Here’s how you take an Epsom salt bath:
#1 First dissolve ½ cup of pure Epsom salts in your tub until the water becomes cloudy (not too hot). Stir to prevent any clumping.
#2 Next, add 3 to 4 cups of hot water into the tub and soak for at least 20 minutes. Sit back, relax and enjoy.
#3 Some recommend adding 1 teaspoon of pure lavender essential oil to the bath as it has a calming effect on your body, helps with indigestion and promotes sound sleep.
#4 When it’s time to get out, slowly stand up and relax in a warm shower before getting dressed.
#5 Finally, drink 1 or 2 glasses of filtered room temperature water (it will help hydrate skin quicker) after your bath to remove any traces of salt from your body.
Other tips: If you are pregnant, talk to your doctor before taking an Epsom salt bath.
Also, try having it at night before bedtime because the magnesium will help you sleep better.
Here’s how to make a relaxing Epsom salt foot soak:
#1 Boil 4 cups of water and place 2 tablespoons each of pure Epsom salts and baking soda in a large bowl.
#2 Next, add your feet and cover the bowl with a towel to prevent any splashes (not too hot).
#3 After 15 minutes of soaking, rub your feet with oil and put on cozy socks to help hydrate skin. It’s important that you use all-natural oils like coconut or olive oil.
#4 Finally, drink one or two glasses of filtered room temperature water to help hydrate skin quicker and remove any traces of salt from your body.
No essential oils are needed with this soak unless you want to add a few drops of lavender to relax you before bedtime.
Ritual #2 – Anti-inflammatory Foods
Eating nutrient dense and anti-inflammatory foods, along with limiting the foods that are inflammatory in our body, is a great way to naturally reduce the inflammation inside of us.
How can you tell if food is helping or hurting your health?
The best way to know this is through self-experimentation. By observing how your body responds to certain foods, you’ll have the best idea of how they will react inside you.
What food is inflammatory and how can you tell?
Foods that cause inflammation in the body are processed foods containing refined sugars, dairy products, gluten and soy. These ingredients have been shown to irritate our intestinal lining and leak through into the bloodstream where they can cause more harm. For example, when your intestines tolerate dairy products, it can create a negative immune reaction that can lead to inflammation and pain in your joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Sugar and processed foods have also been shown to contribute to inflammation as it spikes blood sugar which creates an inflammatory response in the body.
If you’re not sure if certain foods are causing inflammation in your body, try cutting them out for a period of time and see how you feel. Limit your sugar intake, as well as refined foods containing white flour or processed dairy products. After the trial period has passed, eat these foods again and notice if you begin to feel aches and pains you normally didn’t have before.
How can anti-inflammatory foods reduce inflammation in your body?
Eating anti-inflammatory foods can help reduce the amount of inflammatory white blood cells by up to 50 percent. Your immune system reacts differently when you introduce anti-inflammatory foods into your diet, which then reduces the overall impact of chronic inflammatory damage that has been done to your joints and tissues.
You need to make sure that you’re consuming adequate amounts of vitamins and antioxidants from your diet to get the most out of these anti-inflammatory foods. Some anti-inflammatory foods include:
Asparagus Broccoli Brussel sprouts Blueberries Buckwheat Cabbage Carrots Cayenne peppers Chia seeds Cloves Eggs Ginger Green leafy vegetables Nuts Onions Oranges Pomegranate seeds Salmon Seaweed Spinach Sprouts Turmeric Wild salmon
Ritual #3 – Rest & Sleep
When we’re feeling pain, instead of resting that part of our body and getting the sleep we need to heal, we often put off how we feel. We tell ourselves it’s just a little ache and we can push through it.
However, it’s very common that stress, tension, and inflammation will build up in our bodies when we don’t rest or sleep the way that we need to. When this happens on a regular basis, your body’s immune system can become compromised and start to release more white blood cells.
What can happen when you’re not getting enough sleep?
When we don’t get enough sleep on a regular basis, our body’s ability to fight off chronic inflammatory health problems becomes compromised. Also, it shows that the body isn’t able to repair itself as effectively as it should.
Most people don’t think that they need as much sleep as they actually do, but an average adult needs to rest for at least 8 hours each night. If you’re not getting enough sleep and are still feeling the same amount of pain, your body may be able to heal itself if you get adequate rest.
It’s been suggested that the average person spends 1/3 of their life sleeping, so if you take a good look at your current sleep habits and what they are doing to your health, you may be surprised.
However, there is good news – even though lack of sleep makes our body more susceptible to other chronic inflammatory problems, it’s not impossible to reverse the effects.
If you want to sleep better and start getting your body back on track, try some of these ideas:
Rest in complete darkness for as long as possible. This helps our mind and body relax more quickly at bedtime and promotes restful sleep throughout the night. Use a fan or air purifier in the room if you get too hot. An alternative to complete darkness is to wear blue-light blocking glasses after dark, which will also help your body wind down at night.
Stay away from stressful situations as much as possible. When we’re under stress, our bodies produce more cortisol than usual, which helps us deal with the stressful situation. However, if you’re stressed out all the time (like many people often are), cortisol becomes chronically elevated in your body. When this happens, it causes inflammation leading to chronic diseases and hurts the body’s ability to fight off health issues like cancer .
If you can’t get away from a stressful situation at work or home, try cutting down on the amount of time that you spend dealing with it. For example, if stress is caused by a long commute to work, see if you can change your schedule so you’re getting up earlier in the morning and leaving an hour earlier for work. This way you’ll have less traffic to deal with each morning, which will give you more time and help ease any stress.
If you can’t avoid a stressful situation completely, try breathing exercises to help lessen the impact that it has on your body.
Ritual #4 – Hydration
Here are the 3 daily Hydration rituals that I suggest everyone try to see how they work for them:
Daily Ritual # 1. Start your morning with a glass of water and lemon juice on an empty stomach. Lemon can be a strong detoxifier in our body, especially first thing in the morning when we are dehydrated and our digestion is most active. By adding lemon to your water, it can help eliminate toxins from the body and improve bowel function. If you want to add some other detoxifying herbs like dandelion root or burdock root, feel free (but not necessary). First thing in the morning, when we are dehydrating for several reasons: Not enough fluid during the night, not enough water consumed throughout the day before bed, and our metabolism is at its highest state of activity. It’s also in this time when there is so much waste in our body that we can easily eliminate through detoxification.
Daily Ritual # 2. Drink a glass of hot water with a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar in the morning, about half an hour after your lemon water. Apple cider vinegar is a great source of probiotics and enzymes, which can help aid digestion and support our immune system, as well as restore the beneficial bacteria balance inside of us. The hot water will open up our pores to release toxins.
Daily Ritual 3. Drink a warm glass of water with the juice from half a lemon and 1-2 tablespoons of raw honey on an empty stomach once you get to work (or about an hour after ‘Daily Ritual #2). The lemon alone can help support your immune system, but by adding the honey it will create an alkaline environment in our body that bacteria doesn’t have much of a chance to grow or survive in (it will also make the lemon taste better).
The warm water and lemon juice can help to dissolve inflammation inside of us. If you’re someone who drinks coffee, this ritual may be even more helpful for you because it will provide your body with an alkaline environment instead of a harsher, acidic environment like coffee does.
These are just 4 rituals that I have found to naturally improve my health over the years. If you are looking for more ways to naturally support your immune system and reduce inflammation inside your body, feel free to try these out and see how they work for you.
Thanks for reading! Do you have any of your own health rituals in place? Please share them in the comments below.
Excellent article Baba. Over the years I have seen or heard each of these recommendations individually. This is the first time all of them are gathered in one place. I will definitely be passing that along. 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾