Supporting lymphatic drainage

The best way to take control of your health and well-being is to learn how your body functions and what to do when it starts becoming sluggish.

One of the most important topics to study in my opinion is the lymphatic system.

If lymph fluid is not continually moved & is allowed to stagnate, the bodies immune response becomes suppressed, resulting in thickening & slowing down of fluid through the lymphatic system leading to inflammatory conditions. The glymphatic system, (the brains waste removal system, which clears the brain of protein waste products, is mostly active during sleep.

New research shows how the depth of sleep can impact our brain's ability to efficiently wash away waste and toxic proteins. Because sleep often becomes increasingly lighter and more disrupted as we become older, the study reinforces and potentially explains the links between aging, sleep deprivation, and heightened risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Interestingly, blocking the lymphatic drainage in mice results in a buildup of fluids in three areas of the brain associated with ME/CFS: the hypothalamus, the thalamus and the basal ganglia.


As the lymphatic system is a network of vessels travelling all over the body, the fluid trapped in the blocked lymph capillaries & the additional fluid being delivered by the blood circulatory system has to be encouraged to either find another pathway or move out of the blocked lymph capillaries so that the fluid can be taken up by other lymph capillaries. This allows the lymph fluid to travel to a lymph node where it can be reabsorbed or eliminated from the body.

If the lymph vessels around the site of the blockage are not encouraged to move, the lymph fluid builds up in those vessels and over time becomes thicker, backing up the system, all the way down the lymph vessels path down a limb.

Once the lymph capillaries are full of lymph fluid the system essentially becomes blocked preventing more fluid entering the system. The interstitial fluid builds up and swelling begins to occur. Often the swelling goes undetected initially until the limb (leg/arm) or feet/ankles/hand swells up, even though you may have experienced pain from the full, tight lymph vessels. Gravity also assists in the pooling of fluid in the interstitial space at the body’s extremities.

The lymph fluid containing cellular debris, proteins, fats, fluids and other toxins as well as bacteria, and viruses drains into larger vessels called lymphatics via lymph nodes that remove foreign materials such as infectious microorganisms from the lymph fluid filtering through them.

In this way, the role of the lymphatic system is to direct lymph fluid from distant tissues (skin, muscles, visceral organs, lung, and intestine) to the lymph nodes thus preventing a fluid imbalance that would result in the organism’s death and as the first line of defence for the immune system.

Major lymph node-bearing areas include the neck, chest, abdomen and, importantly, the axilla (underarm) and groin. When the lymphatic system is damaged, then swelling (edema) or lymphedema results from an accumulation of the protein- and particle-rich fluid within the body’s tissues.

The Lymph in the Head and Neck are assisted by gravity to drain whereas lymph fluid in the arms, legs and abdomen travel through the non-return valve lymph vessels via 5 mechanisms:
-Skeletal muscle contraction
-Valves to prevent backflow
-Peristaltic contraction of smooth muscle in walls of lymphatics
-Respiratory pump
-Pulsations of nearby arteries

Lymphatic system transports fluid much slower than the circulatory system. It takes 24 hours to return 3 litres of lymph back into the blood whereas the circulatory system circulates 5 litres every minute. As Lymph fluid is being transported it is also being cleaned up along the way, slowing down the transportation.

Blood Plasma (the liquid portion of blood) that is pumped from the heart to tissues, leaks through the thin walls of the capillaries into the interstitial space of the skin. This leaked blood plasma is then called interstitial or extracellular fluid and carries with it nutrients for the tissue cells. Once the interstitial fluid enters the lymph capillaries it becomes Lymph fluid. There is between 3-4 litres of lymphatic fluid produced by an average adult every day.

The Immune system is the body’s defence against invaders, such as viruses, bacteria and foreign bodies. The immune system is comprised of special organs, cells and chemicals that fight infection. The main parts that actively fight infection are white blood cells, antibodies, the complement system, the lymphatic system, the spleen, the thymus and the bone marrow.