Mercury poisoning is the result of mercury exposure, a heavy metal that’s seriously toxic to our health. Numerous studies have shown that high exposure to mercury changes and poisons the central nervous system, which can result in irritability, fatigue, behavioral changes, tremors, headaches, hearing and cognitive loss, hallucinations, and even death.

Mercury exposure can also negatively affect the cardiovascular system, causing high blood pressure in humans and animals.

Ideally, we would all have zero mercury internally present in our bodies. However, due to our diets, environmental exposure, choice of fillings in our teeth, and more, almost every single person in the world has at least trace amounts of mercury in their bodies.

Mercury poisoning is typically not a health problem that occurs overnight. It takes time for mercury levels to build up in the blood. Naturally, mercury slowly leaves the body through urine, feces, and breast milk. However, if you consume a great deal of fish high in mercury, it can take up to a year for your mercury levels to go down after you stop eating the mercury-rich fish.

This may sound like a ridiculous amount of time, but you have to consider that when you eat seafood containing methylmercury, over 95 percent of the mercury can be absorbed into your bloodstream. It can then travel throughout your body and penetrate the cells of various tissues and organs where it can remain stored up for years, which can cause symptoms that you may or may not realize are the result of mercury poisoning.

While there is no way to entirely avoid mercury as long as you live on planet Earth, there are many ways to naturally reduce your exposure and intake.

Mercury serves zero purposes in our bodies, which means we ideally want to reduce our mercury exposure as much as possible.