[00:00:00] Silent
inflammation is the root of so many chronic health issues from fatigue and [00:00:05] weight gain to anxiety and autoimmune disease In this episode I'll explain what inflammation [00:00:10] really is how to recognize it and steps you can take to calm the fire inside your [00:00:15] body
The
word inflammation is something that most of us now recognize Over
my 20 years in practice in the [00:00:20] integrative and functional medicine space I am actually super happy that this is a word that [00:00:25] people don't scratch their heads about anymore But we are all inflamed And we are inflamed in [00:00:30] different ways and it's not just the big autoimmune disease or the scary diagnoses [00:00:35] of cancer or heart disease or any of those
There's silent inflammation happening [00:00:40] within us each and every day And unfortunately many of the conditions and [00:00:45] symptoms and even how we present
in
life are a reflection of this [00:00:50] silent inflammation
When I talk about inflammation and all of us being [00:00:55] inflamed I'm talking about the hum of cortisol the stress hormone that's [00:01:00] traveling throughout our body day in and day out
24 hour rhythm coming down through [00:01:05] time and keeping us in a chronic state
of
inflammation [00:01:10] Cortisol comes from lots of different places Most of you may hear the word cortisol and think [00:01:15] stress Well she's talking about the stress response and I am but there's acute stress where something [00:01:20] major happens or you have a deadline or you have some trauma or you have something that's happened that you [00:01:25] can explain
and that does create a cortisol response
It triggers inflammation [00:01:30] it triggers high blood sugar and it keeps us sometimes it acts even as [00:01:35] a tipping point for many different diseases. Those grandiose entries of [00:01:40] cortisol and inflammation may lead to the diagnosis of different diseases but that's not [00:01:45] what we're talking about today
In this episode I wanna break down this idea of [00:01:50] silent inflammation the cortisol hum how we are all inflamed and [00:01:55] is there anything that we can do about it?
Welcome to Hol+, the podcast that [00:02:00] embraces and tackles the holistic way, bringing it all together.
Science, research, [00:02:05] innovations and technology, and our collective human experience. This is where science and spirit [00:02:10] come together. I'm Dr. Taz, your host and a double board certified medical doctor and integrative health [00:02:15] expert, a nutritionist and an acupuncturist. I'm also the founder and CEO of Hol+.[00:02:20]
A digital and clinical platform where my team and I practice evidence-based [00:02:25] holistic medicine every single day. I know and I hear all the health and wellness noise [00:02:30] that's out there. I want this show to be the one to empower you with the knowledge you need to [00:02:35] heal. Not just your body, but your relationships, your communities, and our world.
[00:02:40] Welcome to Hol+
Silent inflammation can begin when we're not [00:02:45] even aware of it It can tie back to the prenatal environment It can [00:02:50] tie to how our early childhood played out Everything from the food we [00:02:55] ate the amount of stress we were exposed to amount of television [00:03:00] environmental toxins electronics you name it
but
inflammation being [00:03:05] influenced by so many different inputs all around us
What's even more [00:03:10] fascinating and interesting is there is now talk that some of this might actually [00:03:15] be intergenerational We have yet to prove it but so many studies are [00:03:20] starting to understand that inflammation can actually be coated
in
[00:03:25] your DNA in your mitochondria and transmitted down generation [00:03:30] after generation as can your stress response
In [00:03:35] 2017 or 2018 I did a TED Talk talking about this and it was fascinating to me at the time [00:03:40] reviewing the literature and the science that talked about the maternal or the mitochondrial [00:03:45] DNA Remember the mitochondria sits in the cell It's the powerhouse of a cell and [00:03:50] it's usually maternal inherited passed down generation after [00:03:55] generation When they study where emotions and thoughts are coded they often find [00:04:00] that it is coded in the mitochondria
and
in turn that cortisol [00:04:05] response is coded there as well So sit back and think about that for just a [00:04:10] second We talk about inflammation in so many different contexts right?
We talk about it [00:04:15] in the context of an anti-inflammatory diet or anti-inflammatory herbs and [00:04:20] supplements We love our curcumin or our boswellia you know all these different things that [00:04:25] seem to turn the body around and calm the immune system down How [00:04:30] much do we really talk about inflammation and cortisol in the [00:04:35] context of mitochondrial DNA and intergenerational habits and [00:04:40] patterns?
And that is what science is slowly starting to prove We're starting to [00:04:45] understand that under stress or under trauma there are actually changes to our genetic [00:04:50] code and that those genetic code changes are then handed down over [00:04:55] time generation after generation If the stress of each generation is [00:05:00] cumulative well then there are more genetic changes and that in turn [00:05:05] changes what happened when you arrived If you were born in an environment [00:05:10] where your mom or her ancestors experience incredible stress well [00:05:15] that prenatal environment is already more susceptible for you to [00:05:20] develop inflammation We see it in studies that are kind of one off right?
When we talk [00:05:25] about PCOS for example they now know that PCOS is connected to high [00:05:30] androgens and the high androgens are connected to high cortisol And a lot of that is present [00:05:35] as early as a prenatal in utero environment And then as you walk through [00:05:40] life it only exaggerates So sometimes you can say we are all [00:05:45] inflamed 'cause we've all come from a lineage of stress and inflammation and trauma
[00:05:50] And it's only exaggerated when we add to it the environment of today[00:05:55]
So
let's move forward just a little bit Even if we are walking around with [00:06:00] inherited genetic changes or a predisposition to stress and cortisol you might be [00:06:05] thinking well I can't do anything about that And you're right to a point[00:06:10]
but let's keep moving because beyond that childhood today teenage [00:06:15] today and adulthood today looks very different than it did 50 years ago[00:06:20]
There are hits to your inflammatory load from all kinds of [00:06:25] places Your toxic load is higher than it has been in the past We know that endocrine [00:06:30] disruptors glyphosate phthalate so many different chemicals exist today [00:06:35] and larger amounts than they did even two decades ago [00:06:40] We also understand that food quality is changing and going down adding to our inflammatory [00:06:45] load
We understand too that the environment is not only changing but [00:06:50] how we live is changing We are indoors more not in nature [00:06:55] surrounded by light and blue light disrupting and impacting our [00:07:00] circadian rhythms That also triggers inflammation as we've grown and [00:07:05] modernize and become a more technological society we're also becoming more isolated
[00:07:10] The nuclear family sometimes has shrunk even further down And in [00:07:15] that isolation and lack of community we continue to stay inflamed [00:07:20] because community lowers cortisol and our relationships [00:07:25] help us to stay in a lower stress or stress-free environment As long as they're [00:07:30] healthy So this idea of cyclical inflammation or [00:07:35] generational inflammation is predisposing all of us to staying [00:07:40] inflamed and then come the hits
So it's almost like we're walking into the situation [00:07:45] already not at a hundred percent And now the hits start coming [00:07:50] and like all autoimmune diseases the silent hum of cortisol [00:07:55] and inflammation Coded over time and throughout maybe your childhood and your early [00:08:00] adulthood is the setup in the precipice for a full-blown disease[00:08:05]
There are many diseases of inflammation today cancer diabetes autoimmune disease [00:08:10] cardiometabolic diseases mental health diseases all of them hallmarks of [00:08:15] inflammation
But
what if we could prevent it all? And what [00:08:20] if we could act on silent inflammation even earlier? Then [00:08:25] before we started to notice symptoms and conditions how [00:08:30] amazing would that be?
Where we could actually rewrite the script we could flip it [00:08:35] and turn it around so that we don't have to live out a story of inflammation and high [00:08:40] cortisol that maybe those that came before us did big inflammation [00:08:45] right? Chronic inflammation The
one that I diagnosed in the exam room the one that gives me a high [00:08:50] CRPA high sed rate you know high TGF beta high interleukin six [00:08:55] That stuff is easy to spot at least easy for me It should [00:09:00] be easy for you The symptoms of big inflammation as I'm gonna call it the [00:09:05] grandiose dramatic inflammation are everything from joint pain brain fog [00:09:10] rashes that you can't explain fatigue or chronic fatigue even depression and [00:09:15] anxiety
All symptoms of inflammation changes in your weight are [00:09:20] often one of the first hallmark signs of ongoing inflammation disruptions in your gut health and your [00:09:25] overall hormone health All of it A sign of inflammation Many [00:09:30] times that's what drives you into the exam room and you show up ready to [00:09:35] understand what's going on
Others you might ignore it and wait for the actual [00:09:40] diagnoses Either way that inflammation is more tactical maybe
[00:09:45] maybe
more tangible maybe something we can understand and even measure a little bit [00:09:50] more easily But remember We're already walking around [00:09:55] inflamed We're all inflamed And what we do wanna understand in more depth
is what
are [00:10:00] those silent symptoms of inflammation?
There's
an autoimmune disease that [00:10:05] is becoming an epidemic among us and that disease is called [00:10:10] autoimmune hypothalamus
and
symptom is high cortisol
and
[00:10:15] inflammation Some of the subtle signs and symptoms of this are showing up [00:10:20] in your everyday life and you're simply not aware of it They're showing up in your [00:10:25] personality your irritability your anxiety your inability to [00:10:30] connect to somebody else your desire to withdraw and to [00:10:35] isolate
Many of these are signs of silent inflammation They're showing up [00:10:40] in your gut health and your hormone health It could be simply not feeling good after a [00:10:45] meal bloating or reflux It could also be things like missing periods [00:10:50] not having the energy that you normally do or for many of our men [00:10:55] today having trouble building muscle or gaining muscle they're showing up in our [00:11:00] brains where we can't focus and concentrate
Why are so many of our children on [00:11:05] a DD and A DHD medications? What's happening there? It's almost like the [00:11:10] brain can't handle the load that is expected to perform at today [00:11:15] These are all signs of silent inflammation
This cortisol [00:11:20] hum and this silent inflammation can make you not take a risk or a chance [00:11:25] on something that you might have
and it
can prevent you from getting pregnant or building the [00:11:30] family that you always wanted
But to understand silent inflammation [00:11:35] it takes a little bit more work than a standard lab panel and understanding and [00:11:40] checking the boxes off typical inflammatory markers We have to start thinking [00:11:45] about ourselves as all susceptible to this idea of hypothalamus [00:11:50] where we are inflamed from the start and now we need to work proactively to [00:11:55] reduce it and to minimize it
it
That's where autoimmune hypothalamus comes into [00:12:00] the picture And it helps us to understand silent inflammation in the [00:12:05] context of not just a cortisol hum or an intergenerational [00:12:10] issue or an environmental issue or food issue but really how the [00:12:15] entire nervous and hormone system and inflammatory and immunology [00:12:20] cascade work together
Now that's a lot So I want you to take a second to [00:12:25] process all of that that we are essentially tying together what has happened before [00:12:30] you with what happened during your childhood with the environment that you're now walking into [00:12:35] and weaving it together And understanding now that so many people before they [00:12:40] get a diagnosis of a chronic disease already have a disease [00:12:45] called hypothalamus
And I wanna take a second to help you understand what that is and [00:12:50] visualize what that is So when I use the word hypothalamus what in the world
are we talking [00:12:55] about? So the hypothalamus is a section of the brain It sits literally right here behind [00:13:00] the pineal gland Very deep
but
up with the pituitary gland The two [00:13:05] almost work together and it's so important for you to visually understand this and here's the [00:13:10] reason why
All of these guys are interconnected The pineal gland is receiving [00:13:15] light telling us when to sleep when to wake regulating melatonin Melatonin [00:13:20] regulates insulin and right behind it is this hypothalamus and pituitary The [00:13:25] hypothalamus is your sensor I always equate it to like the shark's spin It's running around in [00:13:30] the environment sensing your temperature your mood you know what's going on in
Is there a [00:13:35] danger? Is there anything in the environment that we need to be aware of? Your [00:13:40] hypothalamus Your hypothalamus is conscious of what to do in a moment or [00:13:45] in a situation and regulates your fight or flight response Now right [00:13:50] next to your hypothalamus again is that pituitary gland and that pituitary is res
[00:13:55] Responsible
for secreting the hormones that regulate production of hormones from [00:14:00] all the different end organs of the body Your ovaries your uterus your thyroid your [00:14:05] adrenal glands you name it So we've got the hypothalamus sensing everything the pineal gland [00:14:10] taking light and input in and then the pituitary regulating hormones but it [00:14:15] also regulates your neurotransmitters
So that's your dopamine your serotonin and your [00:14:20] gaba So they're almost like this On off switch is probably the best [00:14:25] way to think about it Hypothalamus alerts the pituitary starts to act [00:14:30] Pituitary pumps out cortisol and adrenaline and all these stress hormones those stress [00:14:35] hormones influence all the other hormones
Testosterone estrogen progesterone and the secretion [00:14:40] of those And this circuit kind of works together On and off and up and [00:14:45] down protecting one another and deciding what's going to happen with the physiology with the [00:14:50] biochemistry of your body
Think about what that means That means [00:14:55] first of all that a single stressor is impacting the nervous system [00:15:00] in its entirety and also maybe impacting your hormones
The two are so [00:15:05] intertwined So when we are all inflamed and [00:15:10] when we've undergone assault after assault after assault whether it is as a child [00:15:15] or in utero or intergenerationally That hypothalamus [00:15:20] is already on alert You may be three years old and your [00:15:25] hypothalamus is on alert You may be 50 years old and that hypothalamus is on [00:15:30] alert and that chronic state of cortical activation or being on alert or [00:15:35] in fight mode or flight mode keeps us all inflamed [00:15:40] even when you are trying to pursue diet and supplements and lifestyle [00:15:45] modification
If we're not dealing with this central area of the brain that's working [00:15:50] together and chronically deciding really commanding what's going on with the rest of the [00:15:55] body we're doing the body a disservice There are a lot of specific examples that [00:16:00] I can give you and a lot of things we can't explain in medicine that I think can be explained by [00:16:05] this particular pattern by this particular disease the conventional [00:16:10] approach to looking at the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland is to check [00:16:15] traditional markers whether those are hormones or even looking at neurotransmitter markers and then [00:16:20] deciding what's deficient or what's in excess and then kind of going from there
Here's [00:16:25] some classic signs and symptoms If you looked it up in a medical textbook for example your blood [00:16:30] pressure is determined by the hypothalamus your fluid shift
Whether
you're retaining [00:16:35] water or dehydrated is also determined Have you ever looked at somebody who's super stressed and they just [00:16:40] look puffy?
Well that's why the hypothalamus is driving that Things like [00:16:45] infertility again driven by the hypothalamus and in addition to that [00:16:50] delayed puberty or even precocious puberty that we're seeing a lot of today Muscle weakness [00:16:55] sleep disturbances temperature regulation
all
of it associated [00:17:00] with the hypothalamus
Hypothalamic activation is connected to PCOS and [00:17:05] androgen sensitivity and it's also now connected to the drop in [00:17:10] testosterone that we're seeing in men
So maybe those are easier to diagnose right [00:17:15] When we are all inflamed and we have silent inflammation many of us live in [00:17:20] the gray zone The zone where the labs don't really tell us very much but we [00:17:25] know something's off or maybe our subconscious knows that something's off
Here are [00:17:30] a few signs and symptoms personality changes If you've gone from [00:17:35] being and this is across every age by the way a happy go lucky child now fearful or [00:17:40] anxious That's a sign they've got hypothalamic activation Someone who [00:17:45] was relatively comfortable in social situations and now has social anxiety[00:17:50]
Hypothalamic activation hypothalamus fatigue even if it's low [00:17:55] grade not showing up for activities not being able to perform the way you once were [00:18:00] Again a sign of hypothalamic activation as is changes in sex drive skipping [00:18:05] period excessive thirst These are all signs subtle more [00:18:10] subtle signs of inflammation in the hypothalamus
Once we recognize [00:18:15] that the hypothalamus is driving a lot of our symptoms of inflammation as we [00:18:20] experience it today then we can actually start to build a plan to reverse all of [00:18:25] this But first is the recognition and the reason I wanted to do this episode and call [00:18:30] attention to this it's because I feel like we have a lot of plans for a lot of different things but we [00:18:35] don't understand that we have to take cortical activation down at the level of the [00:18:40] hypothalamus
At the level of the pituitary to truly embark on a healing journey [00:18:45] When we don't do that and we're sort of like taking this for inflammation and taking that for hormone [00:18:50] balance and you know randomly doing things and not incorporating this critical [00:18:55] piece of it then we don't truly recover a hundred percent
And true [00:19:00] healing happens when the nervous system and the hypothalamus Calm [00:19:05] down I want you guys to remember that true healing happens when we can get that [00:19:10] hypothalamic pituitary access to calm down So we need all of [00:19:15] it to work together So let's start to build a model where that can actually [00:19:20] happen rather than it seeming like something so intangible that is not realistic to do
do
[00:19:25] So it begins with first of all a certain amount of awareness that this is going on [00:19:30] and this is something that we need to deal with and it does now begin in a slightly different [00:19:35] way than many of the other medical conditions we've talked about on this show
We
think gut health [00:19:40] is important We still think an anti-inflammatory diet is important
Optimizing
[00:19:45] nutrients are important All of those things still hold in building a toolbox to [00:19:50] tackle autoimmune hypothalamus But here's what's different [00:19:55] We have to actively work on lowering cortisol and lowering [00:20:00] down hypothalamic cortical activation And the way to do that is [00:20:05] conscious resting which is so difficult to do and conscious [00:20:10] resting
when we're
talking about it with silent inflammation is not scrolling on your phone
[00:20:15] It's not even watching a show It's going into those deeper healing states the type [00:20:20] of states that maybe the Buddhist monks go into or your shamans and your healers [00:20:25] go into because in those deep deep states of healing that's where the brain [00:20:30] resets and that's where you flip the switch onto intergenerational trauma
[00:20:35] and cortical
activation
What
that means is that you have to [00:20:40] prioritize and almost pursue this type of healing We have to bring the nervous [00:20:45] system back into alignment So now the priorities become deep [00:20:50] consistent sleep Are you or your child or anybody in your family [00:20:55] getting at least 90 minutes of deep sleep and 90 minutes of REM sleep?
Are we [00:21:00] resetting cortisol at the level of the hypothalamus? What are you doing to force your [00:21:05] nervous system to relax? That means now we have budgets around how much time [00:21:10] we can be in blue light or in light in general and increased budgets [00:21:15] about being in nature off phones off devices to really absorb nature [00:21:20] and its rhythms which help to bring cortisol activation down
In addition to that [00:21:25] we have to pursue modalities that calm the nervous system down at that deep hypothalamic [00:21:30] layer Sound bats are one of my favorites I don't know if you guys have ever tried one of these [00:21:35] but they instantly bring the nervous system back into balance and they instantly bring [00:21:40] some calmness
The frequencies will change what's happening with cortical activation in the brain[00:21:45]
Modalities
like sra which is fascinating or even now the more [00:21:50] modern version of the head spa where you are forcing that nervous system to relax in [00:21:55] these command centers Again a great way to gradually bring cortisol [00:22:00] down
Another way to do it at home is to again oil the scalp or [00:22:05] massage the scalp and definitely massage right here between your third eye These are all [00:22:10] ways to change the chemistry and the biochemistry of what's happening through here
through here
one of the [00:22:15] greatest tools is meditation But meditation over a period of time [00:22:20] is what ultimately changes what's going on at the level of the hypothalamus It can [00:22:25] start with five minutes and go to 10 minutes and then ultimately trying to even get to about a [00:22:30] half an hour a day
It's an incredible way to literally put water on a fiery [00:22:35] brain All of these are strategies to help calm inflammation [00:22:40] down at the level of the hypothalamus and in turn reset every [00:22:45] other system in the body
But as you can imagine this is not something that happens in a day [00:22:50] or even in a month This is something that happens over time and is gradual but with [00:22:55] consistency and effort We can see the changes You see it because your [00:23:00] emotions change your personality changes your energy changes your [00:23:05] hormones reregulate have you ever talked to somebody who's reregulated their hormones through [00:23:10] meditation?
That's what I'm talking about It's happened to me once where I for the first [00:23:15] time had three consecutive weeks off and my entire issue with [00:23:20] my hormones and my hair reset in those three weeks because I was in the sun I was sleeping [00:23:25] deeply I was happy had no stress around me and it was literally like a [00:23:30] switch was flipped and everything reset
So
for anyone out there who is [00:23:35] struggling with their health and is trying everything but nothing is working [00:23:40] I want you to think about this as a potential diagnosis Remember that you may have [00:23:45] entered whatever health equation or relationship equation or work [00:23:50] equation already inflamed already cortically activated
And as [00:23:55] life happens and as things happen you may be pushed as a tipping point [00:24:00] into a diagnosis of some kind
And
you
can change it by doing [00:24:05] all the things you're already doing But if you're missing thinking about the [00:24:10] hypothalamus and the pituitary locked together working together in [00:24:15] synergy trying to reset your health we're missing a really important piece of the [00:24:20] puzzle
and that
could be your block in your healing journey to getting better[00:24:25]
So whether it's sound baths or yoga or meditation or deep [00:24:30] breathing or hyperbaric therapy whatever the modality we [00:24:35] want to pursue the ability to get the nervous system to relax at the [00:24:40] level up here not just lower and beyond So we are all [00:24:45] inflamed because our ancestors Our lineages have all gone [00:24:50] probably through something indescribable something they can't explain or verbalize
[00:24:55] And the genetics with each passing generation have changed but it's our [00:25:00] responsibility now to own that understand that and to flip that code so [00:25:05] that we can then pass on healthier genetics to future generations But more [00:25:10] importantly
Set ourselves
up to be less inflamed and healthier [00:25:15] more energetic
And a more vibrant version of ourselves not just for us but for the [00:25:20] families and the communities that we live in as well If this episode spoke to you share it with someone who [00:25:25] needs it Subscribe for more and check whole plusco for free resources to [00:25:30] start your healing journey
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Hol+, be sure to [00:25:35] share this episode with your friends and family. And if you haven't already, please take a moment to subscribe to this [00:25:40] podcast on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. To engage with the community, follow at [00:25:45] Live Hol+ and check out our website Hol+.co.
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