Inflammaging: A word you should learn

We’ve all heard of inflammation. Imagine you hit your hand against something. Redness, heat and swelling can ensue. Your body is trying to fight an injury or infection.

But what if I told you that beneath the surface, a slower, silent version of inflammation is quietly driving most of the chronic diseases we face today?

Science has coined a new term for it. Inflammaging.

Inflammaging is a marriage of two words, inflammation and aging. While acute inflammation is your body’s natural, even life-saving, response to injury or pathogens, inflammaging is its sinister twin.

Low-grade, chronic inflammation that persists for years, often decades, without obvious symptoms.

So, what’s the difference?

Acute inflammation is short term. Your body trying to protect you. It is responding with precision.

It shuts down once the threat is over.

Inflammaging on the other hand is systemic and prolonged. It arises when the immune system is constantly activated. Not by injury or a pathogen but by stress caused by poor diet, lack of sleep, a sedentary lifestyle, pollution, and even social isolation.

In perhaps the most prestigious magazine on health, Nature, inflammaging was shown to be a factor for Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, and cancer.

Unlike acute inflammation, which is triggered by injury, inflammaging is driven by cellular debris, senescent cells, and a microbiome out of balance.

Why is this important?

Because inflammaging is more about lifestyle than bad luck. A diet high in processed foods, chronic stress, irregular sleep, and lack of exercise create the perfect storm.

Over time, this causes our immune system to remain in a constant state of low alert. Your body produces something known as cytokines, that damage tissues, age our cells, and disrupt the functioning of the body.

So what can you do?

You guessed right. Change your lifestyle to prevent inflammaging. Studies show that anti-inflammatory foods, regular movement, mindfulness practices, and quality sleep can reverse or reduce the effects of inflammaging.

Inflammaging is not inevitable.

It’s a reflection of how we live. And perhaps the most empowering truth of all is this.

You have hope, great hope!

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