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The Lymphatic System
Did your high school have one of those life-sized plastic models of the human body? We had one at the front of the classroom. You remove plates that represented the skin, and all the organs of the body were life-sized. The teacher could pull out the liver, the heart, the stomach, the lungs and other organs when he was explaining their function. He also had pull-down charts at the front of the room depicting the various systems of the body. There was the circulatory system, the nervous system, the respiratory system, the digestive system….but there was one system that seemed to be missing: the lymphatic system.
If you were asked to list off the major systems of the body, I’d bet that you’d get most of them correct, but you’d probably forget the poor lymphatic system. It’s like the Rodney Dangerfield of the body; it gets no respect. And that’s a shame, because thanks to your lymphatic system, you’re alive and reading this today.
What is the lymphatic system? It’s a network of organs, ducts and tissues throughout the body that shuttle a clear fluid called lymph through the entire body. Inside the lymph is where magic happens. That’s where the immune system’s heavy hitters are transported from place to place.
Maybe it’s so hard to wrap our heads around the lymphatic system because it’s not as clear cut as, say, the circulatory system. We intuitively understand the circulatory system because we hear and feel our hearts beating; we see blood when we cut our fingers, and we understand that the heart has to pump blood around the body for oxygenation, nourishment, and more.
But the lymphatic system is vital to your health and well being. Not only does it move important players in the immune system from place to place, the lymphatic system is essential for removal of toxins. If your lymphatic system gets sick, you get very sick indeed.
For the next series of posts, let’s take a look at the lymphatic system – what is does, and how to keep it healthy. In the meantime, love your lymph – it certainly loves you.
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