How incredible is the human body?!
Does anyone else just get their mind blown on the regular at how freaking amazing our bodies are?
It’s honestly why I became a nurse in the first place.
Anatomy class with Miss Meier at BBCHS junior year circa 2003 was the most fascinating class of my entire life at that point. From entire organ systems all the way down to the lysosomes, ribosomes, and the gogi apparatus in a single cell, I loved it all! It was stupid how cool I thought it all was. And that was just the beginning!
As I began learning about all the other things (read: lesser known and less conventional things like high quality nutrition, essential oils, mind/body/spirit connection, colon therapy, grounding, etc) that went into real, true health, I learned about the often forgotten about lymphatic system and how incredibly important it is to our overall health.
The poor lymph … it is stuck with the job of gathering up old cellular waste and debris and clearing out unwanted materials and basically acting as the Swiffer system of the body.
Lymph is a fluid that contains white blood cells, which are our infection fighting cells.
And the lymph is contained within a network of vessels that are connected by lymph nodes and are distributed all around the body.
Organs that are part of your lymph system are:
tonsils
adenoids
spleen
thymus
lymph nodes
JUST REMEMBER: THE LYMPH SYSTEM IS VERY CLOSELY TIED WITH YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
So why is this important and why does this deserve a whole blog post?
Well, we are inundated on a near constant basis living as humans in 2019, with toxic things coming at us all day every day:
the air we breathe
the water we drink
the non-food-stuff stuffs we consume
the booze we drink
the pharmaceutical byproducts in our bodies from meds
the toxic petrochemicals that leach into your bottled water after it sat in your car on a hot summer day
the BPA lining the inside of tin cans
the antibiotics and growth hormones from conventionally raised chickens and beef and piglets
the xenoestrogens on that receipt you just grabbed from the grocery store
the artificial hormones from your birth control
...and the list goes on.
And I’m not even mentioning other things like actual bacteria and viruses that we come into contact with literally thousands of times a day. The bacteria and virus talk is another post for another day, so stay tuned.
Point being is that the body is on constant overload with toxins coming at it from every single angle, and we are having a harder and harder time eliminating all of that toxic burden because the compounding effects are just beyond what the body can do without adequate support.
Here comes the lymph.
Lymph’s job is to gather up all that toxic garbage and filter it like the filter system does to your pool. Toxins and destroyed bacteria are then carried in the lymph fluid back into the blood stream where they are then eliminated as waste via your poo, pee, or sweat.
What’s interesting about the lymphatic system is that it while it is similar to the circulatory system (heart, arteries, veins, capillaries), it is unique in that it does not have a pump.
The heart is the pump of the circulatory system, that’s how your blood is constantly moving around and around your body, oxygenating and nourishing your cells all day every day.
But the lymphatic system does not have a beating heart to keep the lymph moving. This simple point is the reason for why it is very easy for the lymphatic system to get stagnant.
And as the lymph system is basically a giant circuit of infection-fighting white blood cells that kill off bacteria and viruses and sweep the body of other toxic garbage, its important to keep that stuff moving and moving OUT.
KEEPING THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM FLOWING EASILY AND EFFORTLESSLY IMPROVES GENERAL HEALTH AND GREATLY STRENGTHENS THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Think about it: what happens when a pile of nasty garbage sits, stagnant, in an environment that is 98.6 degrees and doesn’t move out to the dump? It.gets.nasty.
It attracts pests and bugs and rats and other creatures that feed off of garbage. And it starts to get real stinky.
Just like you throw away the trash in your kitchen when it starts to get full and stinky and nasty… we need to keep the cellular debris, metabolic waste, used up old hormones, dead cells, and dead bacteria and viruses moving out swiftly and efficiently, too.
By cleaning out the lymphatic system, you enhance the body’s innate ability to heal itself.
Ways To Keep Your Lymphatic System Moving Smoothly
DRY BRUSHING
This is the brush I use at home. I like to dry brush right before a shower or right before I get into bed. Don’t be too rough with yourself, the point is not intense exfoliation. Just keep it gentle! I sometimes switch it up between circular motions and long strokes. I start by brushing along my sternum and then up and over each breast back and forth back and forth several times. I do this because the thoracic duct lies just behind the aorta and this is where all of the dirty lymph will get dumped into when its all been filtered. Then I go down to my feet and brush upward toward my heart. Then I do my arms, starting at my hands and again brush toward my heart. Make sure to get your armpits too! Lots of lymph nodes are concentrated in there. I spend a couple minutes on my abdomen because 70% of the body’s lymph nodes are contained within the abdominal cavity, so I like to give them a little extra love!
REBOUNDING
Yep…bouncing on a mini trampoline for literally only 5 minutes a day will get your lymph a moving and a shaking. This is the one I use. The action of rebounding stimulates the production of lymphocytes in the body, and lymphocytes increase immune function and therefore help the immune system work more optimally! 5 minutes a day, y’all! It’s built in fun and your lymph gets some love!
LYMPHATIC MASSAGE
I never got to go visit these people when I lived in Southern California, but I have heard incredible things and know people personally who have experienced the profoundly positive effects from this therapy. The minute I’m back there, I’m going to get a massage!!
LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE THERAPY
This therapy cleanses and unblocks the lymphatic system through use of a device called the Bio-Electric Lymphatic instrument. My former office down in Costa Mesa, CA -- Waters Of Life Cleansing And Renewal -- provides this service. Bonus points if you combine lymphatic drainage with a colonic for extra amazing removal of toxins!
EXERCISE
Lymphatic flow requires muscle contraction from exercise and movement, so exercise naturally helps the lymphatic system move out waste and debris. It doesn't have to be too involved, just move your body and your lymph will love you back!
And there ya have it! It’s a very easy job, keeping the lymph happy! An efficiently moving lymphatic system will help enhance your overall health, and keep your immune system robust and doing its thang.
Are you going to try any of these tricks to get your lymph moving? Let me know in the comments! Would love to hear from you!!
Xoxo,
Emily 😊
