Easy lifestyle tweaks to reduce inflammation

Walking, yoga, eating whole foods and using a sauna are all effective at reducing chronic inflammation

Inflammation gets a bad rap. But it’s an essential part of how our bodies respond to infections and injuries, both of which are unavoidable parts of life. When you get an infection or you hurt yourself, your body redirects its resources – in the form of blood cells, including white blood cells – to the body parts that need it, in order to repair them.

But this is only meant to be temporary. Chronic inflammation – where the body’s emergency response system never shuts off – is a rather different thing, and it is caused by lifestyle factors like what you eat and how much you drink. Inflammation becomes more common as we age and become less efficient at clearing cholesterol and damaged cells. The body reads cholesterol as an attack that it needs to deal with, triggering an inflammatory response. Though fortunately exercise is one of your key weapons against chronic inflammation, as I will explain later.

Thinking about inflammation is especially important once we reach 60, because inflammation underlies a number of different chronic diseases that are more likely to strike at this time of life. Everything from arthritis to atherosclerosis and heart disease are all caused or worsened by inflammation. In fact the World Health Organisation (WHO) attributes 50 per cent of all deaths worldwide to chronic inflammation.

It’s an invisible thing that happens inside of your body, but it can cause health problems that are tough to ignore. Fatigue, flaky skin and dehydration are all telltale signs of chronic inflammation, and while it’s hard to avoid completely, keeping your levels of inflammation to a minimum is critical to a healthy, happy life.

To know what’s going on in your system when it comes to inflammation, the most accurate measure is a C-reactive protein (CRP) test. This is a blood test, and you should be offered one as part of your midlife health check if you take it up – or you can ask your doctor for a test directly.

Preventing inflammation

If you don’t currently have high levels of inflammation – as indicated by a CRP test – then there are ways to stave it off and keep the inflammation you experience to a minimum.

The best way to do that is through exercise. Lifting weights actually causes inflammation – because it involves muscle tears, which you can think of as a sort of injury – but weight training regularly helps your body to get used to healing from inflammation and reduces inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein. This is true even if you are over 60. It is never too late to pick up weights. Start small and progress slowly to make sure that you don’t injure yourself.

If your inflammation levels are low (less than 1.0 mg/dL on a CRP test), then you should aim to do strength training three to four times a week, as well as following all of the below advice. If your inflammation levels are high (10mg/dL or more, indicating the presence of chronic inflammation), it’s best to focus on more gentle kinds of exercise like walking and yoga or pilates, until your inflammation levels are lower.

How to reduce inflammation

Exercise regularly – fast paced walks and long cycle rides

Brisk walks help to boost your circulation and reduce chronic inflammation - E+

Usually I am telling my clients that they need to hit the gym more often. But when it comes to reducing inflammation, it’s your general baseline activity – the stuff you do as part of your ordinary day – that is crucial. Regular brisk walks, for example, help to boost your circulation and reduce chronic inflammation.

If you already have the signs of chronic inflammation then it’s long, mid-range cardio sessions that will work wonders. Long cycles and long, fast-paced walks are great options.

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Cut down on alcohol

It’s extremely hard to reduce your inflammation if you are drinking. None of us want to hear it, but alcohol is a poison. Your body will treat it as an enemy invader, unleashing a tidal wave of stress response towards your liver, pancreas, gut and brain whenever alcohol is ingested.

You needn’t give up alcohol entirely to cut down your inflammation. Rather, it’s worth just having a few drinks less per week, or taking sober days between drinking days, to give your body a chance to recover.

Mind what you eat

Focus on a diet with oily fish and plenty of green vegetables - Moment RF

Gastrointestinal issues such as inflammatory bowel disease are all underpinned by inflammation (it’s in the name). Those of us without these diagnoses are also prone to experiencing inflammation because of what we eat. Taking on processed food causes localised inflammation within the gut and within the liver.

Refined sugars have the same effect. They cause a spike in inflammation, which keeps your body in the cycle of constantly fighting what it perceives as danger. Try to focus on whole foods: brown rice, lots of vegetables, lots of cruciferous foods, dark green vegetables – all are very good for aiding digestive processes.

In recent years, western health experts like me have been paying attention to Ayurvedic wisdom that’s been around for millenia. Eating “cooling” foods like cucumber and yogurt is a good idea (countering the “hotness” of inflammation”). Spicy foods are best avoided. Aloe vera may help, too, if you can get it from a quality source.

Give yoga a go

Yoga can aid digestion and prevent inflammation in your gut - iStockphoto

More Ayurvedic wisdom: there are different postures that can help a great deal with digestion, which prevents inflammation in your gut. Yoga is a good way to get your system moving and prevent constipation, which in itself worsens inflammation by leading your gut to produce more harmful bacteria, as well as irritating the lining of your colon. Apanasana (knee-to-chest pose), supta matsyendrasana (supine twist) and ustrasana (kneeling back-bend) are all helpful positions to take.

Yoga is also great for reducing stress, by taking you out of your repetitive thoughts, and a bit of downward dog can work wonders for your joints too. It might be challenging at first, but over time it helps to improve your flexibility and reduce your inflammation levels.

Hop in the sauna

Infrared saunas have been proven to be very effective at reducing chronic inflammation. Normal saunas too are linked to lower all-cause mortality when used regularly. Both boost your blood flow, which is reflected in CRP markers.

Using a sauna twice a week gets good results, and you can go every day if you want. But if you can’t make it so frequently, the occasional session can still work wonders.

Prioritise your sleep

We need less sleep as we age, but when it comes to inflammation, I recommend aiming for eight hours a night if you can, and committing to yourself that you’ll make six consistently if not. It’s during sleep that our bodies tackle the brunt of the inflammatory problems they face, hence the conventional wisdom that colds are best slept off and injuries require rest to heal.

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