Waking up sore? Having trouble opening your hands and gripping objects tightly? Experiencing constant pain in the joints? Chances are you are dealing with inflammation.

Diseases related to inflammation of the body such as arthritis and fibromyalgia are very common amongst Australians. You are not alone. In May 2016, Arthritis Australia reported that 3.9 million Australian’s were currently diagnosed with alzheimers alone. This report did not cover Fibromyalgia or any other inflammatory conditions.

In this blog post, we will talk about the causes, and give you the tools to see if you are experiencing early signs of these diseases.

What is inflammation and why do so many people have it?

Most people palm off their body’s early warning signs of ill health and chronic diseases as “old age”. We are lead to believe that as you get old, your body begins to break down. In fact, what we often think of as signs of aging, are actually warning signs from the body as it tries to tell us “hey, things are going wrong down here, help!”

Have you caught up with a friend that you haven’t seen for a while and thought “geez they’re not aging well”? Over coffee you might learn they’re a regular drinker, constantly stressed by work and trying to make time for themselves in between taking care of the kids just doesn’t happen. Sound familiar?

Now if I said that you were going to meet another friend, but before you caught up with them I told you that over the last 5 years since you last saw each other, they’ve been living on the Sunshine Coast where they own a successful little café, goes for ocean swims each morning, eats a whole food diet and enjoys spending time with their family each night laughing, having fun and cooking dinner together… you already know that they’re going to look a whole lot healthier than our former example.

Arthritis, fibromyalgia and inflammation are all the result of years of various lifestyle choices we all make, unaware of the potential consequences that may arise as we age. Do we pick the steak with pepper sauce or the fresh simple salad? The cheeky bottle of chardonnay on a Friday night in front of the TV or a Friday evening yoga session? The lack of exercise throughout the work week, not getting enough sunshine (yes the sun is good for you), sitting in offices all week, putting up with that draining friendship, holding on to anger and carrying guilt… all of these experiences and choices make a difference and add up over a life time.

These are all lifestyle choices we make that create the environment in our body for inflammatory markers to begin to build up as we age. It is our lifestyles that are leading us to ‘feeling old’ at 50, not time.

Now I’m not saying that we have to throw out all the bottles of wine and go and buy a yoga mat. We still need to enjoy ourselves. But as with everything, balance.

Here are six questions to find out…(as explained by our clients)

• Do you wake up with sore muscles or joints in the morning?
• Is bending down to pickup the paper in the driveway getting difficult?
• Is it hard to make a strong fist in your hand?
• Do you feel like it takes a while to get the body working in the morning?
• Do you toss and turn throughout the night from discomfort?
• Do your stiff and sore joints hurt more in the winter?

If so, you may be experiencing early signs on Arthritis, Fibromyalgia or chronic inflammation.

The good news is our body is a lot smarter than we are, and in a lot of cases can heal and reverse conditions very fast! Bottom line? Make healthier choices, keep active and stay happy.