'Silent' Factors That Could Be Making You Sick

Dr. Barry Sears
Zone Living

CBN.com – What is wellness?

We assume we have it, yet we take it for granted until we’re sick. I’m referring to “wellness.” Webster’s dictionary defines wellness as “the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal.” This means we have to make an effort if we want to be healthy—something many of us don’t do.

You probably think of wellness as simply the absence of chronic disease. If you aren’t sick, then you must be well. That definition simply won’t cut it because it can take years, if not decades, for diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s to finally emerge. The seeds of chronic disease are planted at an early age, sometimes even as early as our childhood. Our genes, body weight, dietary habits, and physical fitness all determine whether we are in a state of wellness, and whether we are already moving toward chronic disease in the years to come. And they determine whether we have a stealth killer: silent inflammation. Having increased levels of silent inflammation means you are not in a state of wellness. In fact, here’s my personal definition of wellness:

Wellness\’well-ness\n: the absence of silent inflammation.

You may be asking yourself, “What on earth is silent inflammation?” Even more perplexing, how can inflammation be silent? Silent inflammation is simply inflammation that falls below the threshold of perceived pain. That’s what makes it so dangerous. You don’t take any steps to stop it as it smolders for years, if not decades, eventually erupting into what we call chronic disease.

I can’t emphasize enough how strong the link is between silent inflammation and life-threatening chronic diseases. If you have high levels of silent inflammation in your body, even if you are not actively sick, it means that you simply cannot be well.

Ironically, inflammation is the life-saving component of your immune system that helps fend off bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microbial invaders. It also helps damaged tissue repair itself from injury. Without inflammation we would be sitting ducks in a very hostile world, with no way to repair the damage constantly being inflicted on ourselves. But inflammation also has a dark side if it isn’t turned off. Study after study points to a myriad of ways in which chronic inflammation does great harm to the body. It has a damaging effect on arteries, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes. It destroys nerve cells in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. It depresses the immune system and helps promote the formation of cancerous tumors. In essence, silent inflammation is the polar opposite of wellness. It lays the groundwork for chronic disease. What’s more, it has become an epidemic in America--and threatens to destroy our health care system as we know it.

The good news is that you can do something to alter your future if you’re now on a course to chronic disease. You can achieve a state of wellness while it is still early enough to head off heart disease or diabetes. This, of course, requires you to take action. First, you need to find out whether you’re on the path to wellness or on the path to disease. If you carry excess body fat, eat poorly, and get little exercise, you’re probably heading down the wrong track. That should be fairly obvious, but measuring the extent of silent inflammation in your body will reveal just how bad off you really are. What’s amazing, though, is that your state of wellness can now be measured scientifically. Blood tests can reveal whether you are doing everything in your power to stay healthy for life—in other words, whether you are doing everything you can to reduce silent inflammation. If you have high levels of silent inflammation, you need to take the next course of action—to move into the Anti-Inflammation Zone, which is the pathway back to wellness.

The Insidious Nature of Silent inflammation

All pain is ultimately due to inflammation. Remember, inflammation is how the body defends itself against alien invaders (bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites) and initiates the healing process the body requires to repair itself from injury. You generally begin to notice inflammation if you have swelling in your joints and tissues, but you really begin to pay attention when it creates pain. This kind of inflammation manifests itself as what I call screaming pain. You know it when you have it, and probably deal with it by reaching for an anti-inflammatory drug like aspirin or ibuprofen. And if those over-the-counter drugs don’t work, then you may reluctantly go to your physician for more powerful drugs.

If you ask your physician what inflammation actually is, he or she may simply tell you that it’s very complex. This is medical shorthand for saying, “I really don’t know, but it’s probably bad.” In fact, the primary focus of medicine since the beginning of time has been the search for compounds that reduce pain without actually treating the underlying problem. Although pain medications can be very effective at providing relief, they are powerless to stop what’s causing the inflammation in the first place.

Let’s take this one step further. Let’s say you are lucky enough not to have a condition that causes chronic screaming pain. Let’s say you think you’re feeling just fine. You might still be suffering from the dangerous effects of chronic inflammation that is below the threshold of perceived pain. Your body suffers in silence from this silent inflammation. This is a silent pain. You don’t feel the pain of this type inflammation as it relentlessly takes a toll on your brain, your heart, and your immune system.

The Path to Chronic Disease

Having silent inflammation means that you are no longer well, and already on your way to chronic disease. You just don’t know it yet. I know this can be hard to believe, but the truth is that virtually all chronic diseases work like this. They just don’t happen overnight. Most people with cancer are shocked when they get their initial diagnosis. “But I’m feeling just fine. How can I be sick?” is a common question they ask. That’s why we call cancer insidious. A tumor can lurk undetected, often for years, in the body before it makes its presence known. Silent inflammation is the same way. It may not announce its presence to you by causing you pain, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. And if you have high levels of silent inflammation, you simply aren’t well anymore—even if you aren’t feeling sick at the moment.

Achieving wellness means not only altering the pathway to chronic disease but also the pathway to successful aging. Of course, you can’t avoid getting older, but can you maintain your quality of life as you age? Can you avoid spending the last years of your life debilitated and dependent on nursing care? If you follow the dietary and lifestyle advice in The Anti-Inflammation Zone, the answer is an emphatic yes. The simple most important thing you can do to keep silent inflammation under control is this: take a daily supplement of high dose fish oil. When I say high dose fish oil, I mean it. You simply can’t get enough fish oil from eating fatty fish like salmon, tuna or mackerel, even if it’s on a daily basis. Fish oil ultimately the healthiest fat around because it has profound anti-inflammatory properties.

The longer you maintain yourself in that state of wellness, the better your quality of life will be now and in the future. In fact, you can start feeling better right now, within hours of entering the Zone. This Anti-Inflammation Zone is not science fiction: Its concepts have been verified in various studies, including those conducted at Harvard Medical School. Even if you think your quality of life is pretty good at the moment, you’ll be amazed at how much better you can feel. Over the years, countless Zone advocates have told me that they never realized how great they could feel until they entered the Zone. Don’t take my word for it try the program for yourself.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. As with any natural product, individual results will vary.

For more information about Dr. Barry Sears, his incredible fish oil supplements, or the popular Zone Diet, please visit www.zoneliving.com.

If you purchase any Zone Labs, Inc. products, part of the proceeds support CBN ministries.

Dr. Barry Sears is a leader in the field of dietary control of hormonal response. A former research scientist at the Boston University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Sears has dedicated his efforts over the past 25 years to the study of lipids and their inflammatory role in the development of chronic disease. He holds 13 U.S. patents in the areas of intravenous drug delivery systems and hormonal regulation for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.