Inflammation is one of the body’s main defense mechanisms used to indicate that there is a problem that needs urgent solving. Inflammation occurs as a natural response to injuries, bacterial and viral infections, irritants, and diseases. Inflammation has been linked to the type of diet you have, your level of physical activity, your weight, your stress levels, your amount and quality of sleep, whether you smoke or drink alcohol, all these factors play great roles in your body’s reaction to trouble. There are generally two main types of inflammation:

• • acute inflammation: This type of inflammation occurs for a short duration of time from days to a couple of weeks but no longer than a month, and it usually resolves fast as the body fights against the causative agent.

  • chronic inflammation: This type of inflammation on the other hand happens gradually and lasts for longer periods of time usually for over six weeks, it doesn’t always end with proper healing of the illness and is the type that is commonly related to autoimmune diseases.

Symptoms of inflammation:

When a pathogen enters the body the immune system responds to it by introducing white blood cells to the affected area where they secrete chemicals like cytokines and leukotrienes that cause the five cardinal symptoms of inflammation so as to get rid of that pathogen, these symptoms are :

1. 1. redness

   2. hotness

   3. swelling

   4. pain

   5. loss of function, like not being able to move the affected area