Written by Mark Mckoy
When it comes to health and fitness we often hear about heart health. And we all know that exercise it the key to a healthy heart. But there is another hidden warrior, one not spoken of as frequently as the heart, which is your lymphatic system. It is just as important, if not more important than your circulatory system.
Why?
Your circulatory system has a pump, your heart. But your lymphatic system is not quite so fortunate.
The lymphatic system plays an integral role in the immune functions of the body. It is the first line of defense against disease. This network of vessels and
nodes transports and filters lymph fluid containing antibodies and lymphocytes (good) and bacteria (bad). The body's first contact with these invaders signals the lymphatics, calling upon this system to orchestrate the way the infection-fighting cells prevent illness and diseases from invading microorganisms.
The lymphatic system is critical to the body's surveillance against cancer. The lymphatic system is one of the most common avenues for the spread of cancer cells throughout the body. Science and medicine will immeasurably add to our ability to conquer cancer when we learn more about how cancer cells influence the development of new lymphatic vessels and pathways, establishing the route for these cells to spread to other parts of the body. This process known as "lymphangiogenesis" is an emerging focus within the scientific cancer research community.
The problem with the lymphatic system not having a pump is that toxic fluids can build up to cause an array of problems. The only way to circulate and eliminate those toxins from the body is to exercise. Muscle contraction is the pump of the lymphatic system. And you thought exercise was just for the vain to look good on the beach.
Once more I stress the importance of getting into some kind of physical routine. The more you exercise, the more you flush harmful toxins from your system, the healthier you are and the less chance you have of developing any type of sickness or disease. There are many reasons to shedding those extra pounds and none of them include looking good (although that wouldn’t be a bad by-product). And trust me, in the big picture, that’s all it really is, a by-product.
Your health is much more important than any of us can imagine. It is everything. And it is not as hard and time consuming as you think. My favorite saying, “if you don’t have 10 minutes a day for yourself, you don’t deserve to be healthy”. Now it may take a little more than 10 minutes (but not much). Exercise programs are the easy part. Doing it is the hard part. We can all make excuses. It’s just human nature.