Autoimmunity is the term when our body attacks itself. Some degree of this is actually normal in the human body. It is when the immune system becomes, or worse, develops imbalanced that the amount of autoimmunity goes up. Consider the common autoimmune diseases like Crohn’s, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimotos / Graves thyroiditis or psoriasis. There are many more. Each of these can be diagnosed when a certain marker in the bloodstream gets too high. NOT the fact that it is present, but the fact that it is elevated beyond “normal” levels.
The problem is that, when all the autoimmune conditions known are lumped together, they actual become quite common. 1 in 31 people have some type of autoimmunity. Were our immune systems really designed to go awry almost 3% of the times? Hard to think that’s the case.
So what might be contributing? This article suggests that our heavy environmental burden (some 80,000 chemicals are approved for use by the EPA) may play a role. Most chemicals are released onto the American public with no safety studies beyond what the manufacturer states are “safe” levels of exposure. Many times, these “safe” levels have nothing to do with health. Rather, they are considered the “average” level of exposure that the typical American may have. That does not leave me with a warm, comfortable feeling inside.
Again, the mantra is to lower your risk. Avoid flame resistant mattresses manufactured after July 07 (at this time the flame resistant standard shot up to withstand a BLOW TORCH for 30 minutes–the amount of chemicals to achieve this is, as expected, very high). Ask for an FR free one next time you buy. You many need a doctor’s prescription.