Welcome to another episode of Power Your Life. Last week I introduced you to Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) and today I want to tell you about the benefits of MSM. But first I like to start out by sharing something that happened to me recently.
The other day I noticed there were some birds that made a nest on top of one of the downspouts in the front of the house. You know how the downspout comes down and curves? These guys had made this little nest up there which is of course dropping stuff and always making a mess. I really just wanted to tear it down.
My wife, Shauna, wouldn’t let me do that. She is such an animal lover, she was so worried about where these birds were going to live. I was wanting to take the nest down but she wanted to leave it up there. We went back and forth. I figured these birds were going to make a nest elsewhere if I took it down. They’ll just move on. But like I said, she is such an animal lover. She is so adamant I leave the nest alone. I had no choice but to let it be.
The other day I’m pulling up into the driveway, I looked up and saw the mother bird sitting in the nest, tending to the little baby birds. Next to the nest was what I assumed was the father bird. He was standing guard over the mother and his babies. It was then it hit me. I realized my wife was right, but don’t tell her that. I decided to listen and leave the nest alone; Let the bird family do their thing.
This Got Me Thinking…
I got to thinking, for the most part, this family of birds is really a blessing to our family. It’s not a nuisance. My wife, kids, and I get to experience the joy of watching mother nature at her best. It was seeing this family of birds grow and become a part of the world that’s all around us. We get to experience this miracle of life in nature right outside our front door. How amazing is that?
Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM)
Speaking of miracles, last week, I talked about Methylsulfonylmethane, otherwise known as MSM. I am telling you this stuff is also one of nature’s miracles. If you didn’t get a chance to read that blog, check it out HERE. Today we are going to go in depth on all of the benefits MSM has for your body as well as what it means to you and your health.
The World of MSM Recap
- MSM is an organic form of sulfur.
- It is key in forming the connective tissues of your body along with collagen, cartilage, and keratin.
- Helps keep all of the connective tissue healthy, elastic, and flexible in the body. This in turn keeps these tissues from degenerating.
- Helps with energy production and the metabolism of your body cells.
- It even helps insulin be more effective
In case you missed last week’s episodes, I highly suggest going back and catching up with Part Five. MSM also It even helps with insulin being more effective. So now let’s get into the benefits of taking MSM.
Benefits of MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane)
- Shown to reduce chronic pain in a 1999 study.
- Researchers found that in more than 18,000 patients they were studying who suffered from chronic pain, 70% of them found their pain was diminished or disappeared altogether when taking MSM.
This is a naturally occurring substance in 70% of these people, it reduced their pain significantly or diminished it all together! Why haven’t we heard about this stuff? Why hasn’t anyone been talking about the benefits of this natural nutrient? Well, there’s a lot of reasons for why we haven’t and we can go into that at another time.
The types of pain that were reduced included: arthritis, fibromyalgia, lower back pain, headaches/migraines, muscle aches, bursitis, tennis elbow, and carpal tunnel issues. It also accelerated scar healing, those with whiplash, and repetitive strain injury. These were all the kinds of pain that were reduced.
How This Works
MSM helps reduce pain by several different mechanisms.
First:
MSM blocks the transfer of nerve impulses through nerve fibers called C fibers. C fibers are a part of the nerve or type of nerve fiber that transmits pain. What MSM does is block the transmission of those pain fibers so the signal is not getting sent to the brain anymore.
Second:
MSM does is block the inflammation and inflammatory processes. This it reduces inflammation.
Third:
MSM improves the permeability of cell membrane, which improves the uptake of nutrients and vitamins while getting rid of waste products. This in turn speeds up the healing.
Fourth:
MSM actually dilates the blood vessels, which enhances circulation. As we all know, if we can get more blood into an area, we are going to speed up healing.
Fifth:
MSM acts as a natural muscle relaxant. It helps the spasms and tight muscles loosen up. We all know when those muscles are knotted and tied it up you don’t get good circulation to that area. It really hurts! Right? In folks with chronic pain, it was able to help relax those muscles.
Sixth:
MSM also improves the body’s immune system by regulating prostaglandin metabolism; Plus, it regulates the formation of antibodies and immune complexes. That’s a mouthful right there. Just know this, it improves the immune system.
Seventh:
MSM also has a synergistic effect on other vitamins and nutrients. Basically, if you are taking another supplement, vitamins, or minerals, it’s going to enhance that effect. It does this because it helps the cell’s ability to uptake these nutrients and vitamins. It makes them more effective because now they can get into the cell instead of being digested in and then sent out as waste.
Eighth:
MSM is a very strong antioxidant. This can get really complicated and technical so before I start going into that, I just want to give you a little background on antioxidants and free radicals. Here’s what you basically need to know, an antioxidant binds and shuts down the free radicals in the body. Free radicals are unstable molecules and atoms in the body that are naturally occurring. You just have them because your body produces them. The liver produces them and that’s fine. They cause a problem when they are overproduced. If free radicals are overproduced, they will harm the cell membranes. Overproduction of free radicals are caused by physical/mental stress, malnutrition, air pollution, heavy metals, contaminants present in our drinking water/food, radiation, and cigarette smoke. All right.
What happens is, MSM helps provide the extra antioxidants needed to fight the overproduction of these free radicals. How awesome is that?
Ninth:
MSM has also been shown to detoxify the body. It improves symptoms of allergies. It reduces inflammation from auto-immune diseases, such as lupus.
Tenth:
It has also been shown to have the ability to protect against the onset of cancer in animals in studies. There was a study called The Current Status of MSM in Medicine. Researchers showed the growth of cancer was significantly reduced in rats who were given MSM. It also improves the cellular uptake of glucose by improving cell permeability. This helps us balance our blood sugar levels. Sulfur’s a component of insulin and MSM helps improve insulin production in the body by providing the needed sulfur.
Additional Benefits
Some extra benefits of MSM to the body included a reduction in muscle soreness and cramps, decreased constipation, and stomach acid production. Things started moving through better. One of the most interesting benefits is how MSM actually improves lung function. We already covered how MSM helps improve elasticity of connective tissue and it improves cell membrane permeability. MSM helps the lungs take up oxygen more effectively. It also prevents and corrects the clotting of red blood cells. This allows the body to use oxygen better since red blood cells carry oxygen to the rest of the body. As your body can uptake and use oxygen more effectively, you get more energy.
Even More
MSM helps your body manage stress. Studies have shown those who are taking MSM have reported and shown they were getting stronger and they had improved endurance. In one study, they followed folks who took MSM for a year and showed none of them became ill for that entire year.
Not only does MSM improve your body’s ability to fight stress, but it also helps your skin too. You see, sulfur helps your skin stay smooth, elastic, and flexible as you age. Sulfur is a necessary component for the production of collagen, keratin, and the proteins necessary for the health of your skin and nails.
Now that we have talked about all of these wonderful benefits of MSM, who should be taking it? I’ll tell you that… Anyone who wants to improve and maintain their health (athletes, weekend warriors), you guys can all benefit and use it to enhance performance and recovery from workouts.
People who have arthritis, back pain, or any degenerative disease. You can use it to help heal and improve the quality of life. Most people today suffer from chronic MSM deficiency due to MSM not being able to endure the processing of food today. MSM will give your body the tools it needs to heal and maintain itself.
Speaking of Healing
If you are suffering from any back pain or hip issues, you’ve got to check out our Back Pain Breakthrough Session. In this session, you can find out what the root cause of your problem is. You can get treatment and start feeling better immediately! All you need to do is click on the link HERE.
As always, I will leave you with this thought-provoking quote from Thomas Fuller.
“Better one’s house be too little one day than too big all the year after.”
I’ll let you think about that.
Until next time. Power Your Life and keep moving forward.
