Recommendation #5
Reducing chronic Inflammation
Most of us have taken anti-inflammatories for aches and pains. Richard Silva’s article focuses on an aspect of inflammation I did not know about: “In people at risk for depression,” he reports, recent research suggests that “inflammation may be a trigger for the disorder.” So new therapies, including anti-inflammatories, are being explored to treat depression.
Most of us, when we have lived long enough, have to deal with another, more common form of inflammation: the chronic kind. It shows up through tests for C-reactive protein and in fat on our midsections, raised levels of blood sugar, cardiovascular disease, etc.
Reducing chronic inflammation isn’t an easy task, I have found. I had a C-reactive protein test some years ago that made me aware of my own chronic inflammation. Since the Ageless Mind Project’s focus is on prevention, I started searching for information on lifestyle changes I could make to help prevent or at least reduce chronic inflammation. All the sources pretty much agreed that exercise, diet, sleep, and stress are key factors we should focus on.
I fell on my face recently through a moment of inattention. I was very lucky that I broke only my nose because I could have had a brain bleed as well. But this has made me even more aware of the importance of staying strong through both aerobic and weight-bearing exercise. Dr. Peter Attia concludes, in his book Outlive (I have found it so useful that I have both the hard copy and e-book), that exercise is the most essential contributor to healthy longevity, because it brings down levels of inflammation and also improves bone density and general stability. Two benefits for the price of one!
Diet is another key ingredient in reducing inflammation. Foods that lower blood sugar, add muscle rather than fat, and increase energy are the go-to’s here. Precision Nutrition that identifies how foods interact with one’s particular body is a new field I am following. It has been illuminating to check my blood sugar regularly and find out what foods raise it – and what don’t. Some surprises there.
The quality as well as the duration of sleep is also being studied much more these days. I have started wearing my Fitbit all night to learn more about my sleep patterns. I know the information is not always accurate, but it does make me more aware of the connection between the day’s activities and how I sleep. Then I can experiment and make changes more easily.
Interestingly, doing all of these things has helped reduce my stress. Another two-fer!
One of the chief reasons we founded this nonprofit Ageless Mind Project was to encourage us all to become more familiar with the ongoing research on ways we can proactively increase our heathspan and, crucially, to discover through personal experience what works best for each of us -- what we can actually put into regular practice. I am sharing my journey in the hopes that you will share yours too so that we can all learn from each other.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/02/23/depression-brain-inflammation-treatment/
(Richard Sima’s full article, which details this research is available only to Washington Post subscribers, but since WP costs only $4 a month, you might want to subscribe. I like to support good journalism.)
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The dangers of inflammation in the scientific literature keep expanding in fact. Many dementias, schizophrenia, cardiac events, cancer, to name a few are related to it when it chronically turned on. We do know a lot more about what triggers inflammation at the cellular level and ways to combat that inappropriate on-state are under intense development at pharmaceutical companies.
Oddly enough, this time when I clicked on the article I got the full version, so maybe some are in front of the paywall or they give an allowance. In reading it through, there is some pretty important information about depression. Reminds me a bit of cancer in the sense that it is one pathological term that can actually describe many variations of the pathology. And like cancer, knowing the specifics of the pathology determines very different treatment regimens. This is actually harder for depression, but it makes sense why it can be hard to treat. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors may not work if one has an inflammation cause. One has to treat the inflammation. Really good article. Eat healthy and exercise and sleep well!