Top 6 Ways to Reduce Chronic Inflammation (#2&#3 are Key!) - a podcast by Discussions with successful health experts such as Ben Greenfield, Terry Wa

Inflammation is known to help fight illness or heal injury, but it goes beyond that sometimes. A chronic inflammation state may slowly be damaging your body it won’t even show. This form of inflammation goes into action without an infection or injury. This way, the immune system cells that are meant to protect you will start to destroy your healthy organs, arteries, joints, and other body parts.

Several kinds of research have shown that when you don’t eat healthy, rest adequately, or get enough exercise, your body responds by triggering inflammation.

The bad part is that chronic inflammation has a long-term damage on the body. If left unchecked, it can contribute to chronic disease conditions, such as blood vessel disease, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and more.

How is chronic inflammation measured?

Doctors measure inflammation using several measures including

• conducting a blood test for C-reactive protein (hs-CRP)
• Measuring homocysteine levels
• Testing for HbA1C – a measurement of blood sugar

However, it is important to learn simple and effective ways to reduce the risk of chronic inflammation.

Ways to reduce chronic inflammation

The interesting thing is that you can prevent chronic inflammation through a change in lifestyle and diet. The following are simple but effective ways to reduce inflammation in your body:

Manage stress

Stress contributes largely to inflammation. You may not be able to change routines that cause stress, but you can change your response to it by learning how to manage stress better.

Some good measures include meditation, yoga, guided imagery, biofeedback, Chiropractic care or other stress-relieving practices.

Exercise regularly

Making time to exercise is a good way to prevent inflammation. You can engage in 30 to 40 minutes of aerobic exercise four to five times per week. You can also try 10 to 25 minutes of resistance training.

Eat more anti-inflammatory foods

Your choice of food matters a lot in preventing inflammation. When you add more anti-inflammatory foods - including fruits and vegetables - in your diet, it helps to reduce inflammatory markers and improve your overall health and wellbeing.

Also, you need to cut back or eliminate inflammatory foods, such as commercially grown red meat, bad oils,  margarine, and most processed foods.

Lose weight

Being overweight increases your risk of inflammation. Hence, make moves to lose weight. You can speak with Dr. Jason Jones at our chiropractic office for effective natural ways to lose weight.

 

 

Control blood sugar

Eating too many simple carbohydrates at a sitting such as white rice, white flour, or refined sugar put you at risk of developing chronic inflammation. So, one easy rule is to avoid white foods, and products made with white flour and sugar.

You should build your meals around whole foods high in fiber, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains such as whole wheat bread and brown rice.

Get enough sleep

Lack of adequate sleep may trigger chronic inflammation. This is because inadequate rest makes you more sensitive to stress, which in turn encourages inflammation.

So aim for at least 7-8 hours of sleep at night for optimal rejuvenation.

You can consult Dr. Jason Jones at our chiropractic office at Elizabeth City, NC, to learn about other simple measures to reduce chronic inflammation.

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