Lower Inflammation, Slow Aging!

One of my goals is to age gracefully and no faster than necessary. Probably the best anti-aging strategy out there is to minimize levels of inflammation in your body.

High levels of inflammation are believed to be one of the drivers, if not the driver, of aging. Inflammation is also now “recognized as a major contributor to most chronic diseases from heart disease, depression, and cancer to Alzheimer’s and chronic fatigue syndrome.” (Ari Whitten, The Ultimate Guide to Red Light Therapy, p. 75)

And if all that wasn’t enough reason to pay attention to inflammation, a recent study published in Neurology says people with chronic inflammation in middle age may have thinking and memory problems later in life.

What is Inflammation?

“Inflammation is like a fire in your body you cannot see or feel. It's a smoldering process that injures your tissues, joints, and blood vessels, and you often do not notice it until significant damage is done. The damage might show up as arthritis, heart disease, stroke, and even Alzheimer's disease.”

Having said that, inflammation in and of itself isn’t always bad. It is one of the ways your body protects itself. There are 2 kinds of inflammation, acute and chronic.

Acute inflammation, for example, occurs when you cut your finger. The area gets red, swollen, and warm. This prompts the body to send white blood cells to the damaged area to fight infection and help with healing. The inflammation is temporary and lasts from a few hours to a couple of days.

Chronic inflammation on the other hand is persistent and does not go away. The white blood cells which are sent, end up attacking nearby healthy tissues and organs. This can ultimately end up leading to autoimmune disease. Chronic inflammation can be caused by foods we eat, lack of sleep and exercise, being overweight or poor lifestyle habits.

“Inflamm-aging is a chronic low-grade inflammation that develops with advanced age. It is believed to accelerate the process of biological aging and to worsen many age-related diseases.”

How to Check Your Levels of Inflammation?

You can ask your doctor for a C-reactive protein test and a white blood cell count to measure levels of chronic inflammation. I recently saw you can order these tests cheaply online although I have not tried this yet.

What Causes Inflammation?

Many factors can cause inflammation.

Poor Diet

 A leading cause of chronic inflammation is a diet high in processed foods, refined carbohydrates and sugars, and bad fats (think industrial seed oils like canola, sunflower, safflower – get rid of them and use olive, coconut and avocado oil). Some of these like sugar and starch cause blood sugar to spike which can lead to inflammation.

It is also important to understand how you react to different foods. You should avoid foods to which you have a negative reaction as food sensitivities and allergies also cause inflammation.

Furthermore, certain categories of foods are considered inflammatory. These include high-oxalate foods (ex. sesame, soy, raw kale), high histamine foods (ex. fish sauce, soy sauce, leftover fish), foods containing phytic acid (ex. beans, grains, wheat), burned or charred meat, grains and vegetables, and high lectin foods (ex. tomatoes, potatoes, beans). For more on this check out page 41 of Fast This Way by Dave Asprey.

Excess Weight

Being overweight can lead to more inflammation. “If you are overweight and have more visceral fat cells—the kind of fat that builds up in your abdomen and surrounds your organs—the immune system sees those fat cells as a threat and pumps out more white blood cells. The longer you stay overweight, the longer your body remains in a state of inflammation.” 

Poor Lifestyle Habits

The lifestyle choices you make can have far reaching consequences. Toxins from smoking have been linked directly to increased inflammation. And “physical inactivity leads to visceral fat accumulation-induced chronic inflammation.” Even prolonged sitting can increase inflammation!

And not getting poor quality or not enough sleep also has been linked to higher levels of inflammation. It turns out sleep strengthens the immune system memory which in turn helps support a healthy inflammatory response. So, when you shortchange yourself on sleep, your body is unable to perform processes vital to managing inflammation.

How to Keep Inflammation Low

Many factors are linked to lower levels of inflammation. By focusing on the areas below you can work to keep inflammation levels low.

Diet

Diet is always my favorite as it is something available to most people as a strategy. The food you eat can either cause inflammation or fight inflammation. As Dr. Mark Hyman says in The Pegan Diet, “food…is the biggest driver of imbalances in your biological networks and the biggest lever for rapid change, the reversal of disease and the creation of health.” (Dr. Mark Hyman, The Pegan Diet, p.10)

In his book Dr. Hyman recommends focusing on anti-inflammatory foods which provide a range of anti-inflammatory vitamins and minerals. The easiest place to find them is in fruits and vegetables and remember to incorporate a range of colors. Food high in polyphenols like onions, dark green leafy vegetables, berries, and turmeric have been shown to decrease levels of inflammation.

Use good oils like olive, coconut, and avocado. And when possible incorporate spices like cinnamon, rosemary, oregano, ginger, and turmeric. Focus on foods rich in Omega-3’s, like salmon, mackerel and sardines as well as certain nuts and seeds.

You also want to control your blood sugar. Inflammation from chronically high blood sugar can damage your blood vessels and make you susceptible to things like heart disease and cognitive impairment. A good way to keep blood sugar under control is to focus on low glycemic foods. A list of these can be found here.

Exercise

Yet another plug for exercise! While the benefits of exercise for lowering inflammation are well known, a new study has found that as little as 20 minutes of exercise can reduce levels of inflammation. From what I could find, a mix of cardio and strength training is ideal. Just be sure to get at least 2 sessions per week of strength as “having more muscle…promotes lower inflammation.” (Max Lugavere, The Genius Life, p. 29)

Fasting

When you fast you give your digestive system a rest. You also support autophagy (your body’s internal cleaning process) and detoxification, which help lower inflammation. As Dave Asprey says in his book, Fast This Way, “a great benefit of fasting is that it gives your body a chance to rest and do a thorough clean up at the cellular level.” (Dave Asprey, Fast This Way, p. 37) This past issue of Holos goes into a deeper dive on fasting.

Red and Near-Infrared light therapy

Red light and Near-Infrared light therapy work by inhibiting certain processes in the body’s inflammation pathways. Red light “has been shown to decrease inflammation wherever mitochondria are present -from the tissues to the joints and other specific organs of the body.” And “studies have even shown that red/NIR light therapy can have anti-inflammatory effects on par with” over the counter NSAIDs many people take. (Ari Whitten, The Ultimate Guide to Red Light Therapy, p.75)

I have a Platinum BIO600 light panel and use it when my knees ache, for healing wounds and for general health.

Sleep

Be sure to get your 7-9 hours of sleep each night so your body can do its repair work. For suggestions on getting a good night of sleep, check out this article.

Other Strategies

A couple of other strategies for keeping inflammation in check include keeping your cholesterol levels under control and focusing on good oral hygiene. Meditation also has been shown to lower inflammation levels. “There’s evidence that such “mind-body practices” dampen the activity of genes associated with inflammation.” And don’t forget to find moments of awe in your life as these lower inflammation too!

Parting Thought

An observational study “found that low inflammation was the chief predictor of good cognition, independence, and long life among Japanese centenarians and semi-supercentenarians.” (Max Lugavere, The Genius Life, p. 77) Given I am determined to live to at least 100, it seems keeping inflammation levels low is key to achieving my goal.