Hi guys,
How are we all doing, I hope we had a great weekend and I am certain we are all looking forward to another amazing week in the days ahead. Spoiler alert! Wednesday happens to be Valentine's Day and I hope you are ready to fill the air with some love.
Speaking of the air though, we are in the dry season, commonly referred to as the harmattan season where the northeast trade winds circulate all around us carrying with it lots of dust. This not only makes a dangerous combination of dryness and wind, but the addition of sand has many health hazards.
So yesterday I spoke about two things we should be doing right now to keep our health in check and protect ourselves from the repercussions of this season and today I want to talk about some common things during these times. Inflammations.
Inflammations
So first of all what are inflammations? Before we jump off and make all sorts of assumptions about it, we need to know that inflammation ain't a bad thing at all, as a matter of fact, it is a mechanism that was put in our bodies for good purposes. It is a reaction of our body against invasion as a way to protect us, our cells, and our organ systems. You can look at it like an alarm system of the body.
But then just like everything else, when things get out of hand or it becomes too much, it becomes problematic and could end up causing damage in a situation where it was meant to be protective and offer care and protection. And so we have to be mindful here. Now one thing most people are aware of is that when inflammation comes, there is always a painful sensation that comes with it.
What they don't really focus on because it is not much of a sensation is the redness, swelling, and warmth that comes with wherever inflammation may be going on in our bodies. Together with the common pain we feel or know, these are referred to as the 4 cardinals of inflammation. Now why am I talking about all these things when we are here to discuss the season and inflammations.
Well, the thing is that almost every single one of us has some form of reaction to dust in the atmosphere, some are mild almost nondetectable, others are severe and very discomforting. For the lucky few who may not show any sign of reaction to dust, what we have to know is that as the dust remains in the atmosphere we are likely to breathe some in over a long period even if we wear masks and this can result in respiratory diseases which all have some inflammations to it.
Asthmatic individuals suffer the most in times like this. When we are exposed to lots of dust our system gets triggered and acts against the dust particles that get into us one way or the other as an alien, an invader, and inflammatory processes are started as the system tries to fight it. And so with the eye, one would now tend to experience redness or red eye or pink eye or as health practitioners like to call it, conjunctivitis.
The pain can cause discomfort to your vision and then the process occurring due to the dust particles can trigger histamine release in our bodies causing us to itch or rub the eyes which also makes things worse. In most cases, the rubbing would introduce more bacteria into the eye and then the simple itch becomes an infection. And just like that, we have an escalated situation. Interesting right?
Conclusion
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The lesson here is that this time of the year makes it so much easier to get inflammations occurring in your body not only with your eyes, your tonsils can get inflamed, and your sinuses can experience the same, perhaps an infection even. And so be extra cautious, protect your airways, wear a nose mask, wear glasses.
Wash your hands frequently, and try as much as possible not to rub the eye even when it itchs, when you feel something is not right visit your healthcare provider right away and do well to abide by all your treatment plans and you should be just fine during this time. So, thanks for reading and I wish you a blissful week. Cheers!
Further Reading
Arulselvan P, Fard MT, Tan WS, Gothai S, Fakurazi S, Norhaizan ME, Kumar SS. Role of Antioxidants and Natural Products in Inflammation. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2016;2016:5276130. doi: 10.1155/2016/5276130. Epub 2016 Oct 10. PMID: 27803762; PMCID: PMC5075620.
Keddache S, Laheurte C, Boullerot L, Laurent L, Dalphin JC, Adotevi O, Soumagne T. Inflammatory and immunological profile in COPD secondary to organic dust exposure. Clin Immunol. 2021 Aug;229:108798. doi: 10.1016/j.clim.2021.108798. Epub 2021 Jul 17. PMID: 34280578.
Xu R, Zheng X, Lin Y, Lin C, Guo Y, Huo X. Assessment of dust trace elements in an e-waste recycling area and related children's health risks. Sci Total Environ. 2021 Oct 15;791:148154. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148154. Epub 2021 May 31. PMID: 34118658.
Andersson L, Bryngelsson IL, Hedbrant A, Persson A, Johansson A, Ericsson A, Lindell I, Stockfelt L, Särndahl E, Westberg H. Respiratory health and inflammatory markers - Exposure to respirable dust and quartz and chemical binders in Swedish iron foundries. PLoS One. 2019 Nov 1;14(11):e0224668. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224668. PMID: 31675355; PMCID: PMC6824619.
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Inflamation is a normal process of the body answering some stimulus which can be from outside or inside the body =)
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Thank you
Yes my friend you are right air with sand is definitely bad for health. So we have to start all these processes to stay healthy. May the Creator always grant you all the skills you need.