Why Your Lymphatic System is So Important to Your Health & How You Can Easily Take Care of it Everyday!
You know that feeling of swollen glands under your chin when you’re catching a cold or feeling under the weather? Do you ever wonder what those glands are and what they do? Well, I’m here to answer all of those questions and more, to help you understand the importance of your lymphatic system. Let’s talk about what this system is, what it does, and how to take care of it to improve your health, energy and immunity!
Your lymphatic system is a huge passive drainage system that has organs, tissues, nodes and vessels that are all working together to move your lymphatic fluid. The functionalities of the lymphatic system includes a long list of incredible processes! For example, it’s the first line of defense for your immune system and is crucial to your immune response. It also ensures we can absorb fats and vitamins, and regulates the good and bad fluids in our body and tissues. And those glands you can feel under your chin? Those are your lymph nodes. They are small groups of tissue that are responsible for monitoring and cleaning your lymph fluid. Lymph nodes also produce and hold immune cells, protecting you from bacteria and viruses. Fun fact: you have over 600 lymph nodes all over your body!
So let's start with lymphatic fluid. This is the fluid that isn’t reabsorbed after normal drainage from your tissues and cells. This fluid contains proteins, minerals, fats, and nutrients. It also holds the waste: foreign invaders and damaged cells (including cancer cells). It transports and removes these harmful waste products while returning the ‘good’ fluid back to your blood. Lymphatic fluid plays a huge role in immunity by not only producing immune cells, but also by transporting them from our body to our lymph nodes. It helps with the absorption of healthy dietary fats and fat soluble vitamins, which are crucial to our health. It’s pretty amazing how much fluid our body actually handles: about 20 liters of plasma circulates daily and about 3 liters is your lymphatic system's responsibility. It has to collect and return this to your bloodstream using only passive movement as a trigger!
So why is all of this circulation important? Well, it’s important because we need an immediate immune response to keep us healthy. Our body needs healthy fat and fat soluble vitamins to grow, maintain health, and repair damage. We also need our fluids balanced to prevent swelling and discomfort. When your lymphatic system is slow or bogged down, it can’t do its job properly. It can’t transport fluid and cells, rid excess fluid, or remove waste and toxins. This in turn leads to a decreased protection from illness along with an accumulation of waste. Combined, these will lead to inflammatory reactions, increased fat consolidation, and several other unwanted symptoms.
To avoid these symptoms, you have to keep your lymph fluid moving so it can circulate and do its job. Circulation in your lymphatic system probably isn’t what you would expect. It doesn’t have a pump like your circulatory system does. It’s passive, meaning there is no ‘heart’ to push all of this fluid throughout our bodies. We rely on muscle contraction and breathing to keep everything moving.
Now for the golden question: how can you take care of your lymphatic system? It’s actually pretty easy and can be done naturally, and in the comfort of your home!
Avoid chemicals. Stay away from pesticides and pay attention to what’s in your cleaning supplies. You use these often enough that if they aren’t natural, the toxins will build up in your system and slow it down.
Drink lots of water. This helps move the fluid more easily and ensures you are inhibiting lymph congestion.
Eat a well balanced diet of healthy fats, complex carbs, fruits and vegetables, and try to avoid processed foods. If you are regularly eating unhealthy food, you’re limiting your system’s strength to filter, and increasing your body’s inflammation. This will exhaust your lymphatic system!
Stay moving! Without an active pump like the heart, we need to move to get the fluid going. Any movement will stimulate flow, so use this as motivation to get that daily walk in. While walking or before you go to sleep, practice deep breathing, which offers increased lung expansion and muscle contraction for increased circulation. Massages can also lead to improved function.
Try lymphatic brushing. Focus on moving towards the heart to open up pores, stimulate glands, and encourage lymph movement.
Take a warm bath and use epsom salt. Epsom salt has magnesium, which can increase circulation and reduce swelling. Castor oil, organic and cold pressed, can also increase the flow of lymph throughout your body.
The lymphatic system is extremely important to your overall health and well-being and has so much to offer if you take care of it properly. A fun fact to leave you with: jumping on the trampoline for 7 minutes will drain and recirculate your entire lymphatic system. How cool is that?!
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