Inflammation is designed to be an on-off body protector. Get a cut or an infection and this internal first aid system rushes white blood cells and killer T-cells to the site of the injury to aid in repair. The redness, swelling and heat are part of the immune system response. It subsides when the job is done. At least, it is supposed to …

We previously wrote about lifestyle changes that can reduce arthritis and other autoimmune illnesses stemming from chronic inflammation.

Today we look at its role in aging, and related health risks that develop over time, like diabetes, dementia and cardiovascular disease. This layman chat is based on a Zoe.com health-focus podcast featuring Professor Janet Lord, a British researcher on aging, who shared her decades-long study of the causes of premature aging. We hope the information will help you work toward a healthier, more energetic life.

[Note: This is not intended as medical advice. If you are sick, see a doctor]

Background: We all age. Ask Ponce de León. But some things like constant stress, lack of sleep, excess belly fat and poor diet and exercise can accentuate inflammation and the resulting bodily aging, including external signs like graying and wrinkling skin. Beyond appearance, however, when those internal defense mechanisms stay fired up, they begin to attack our normal cells, a process that can lead to illness. Lord called it “inflammaging,” described as a low level, “grumbling sort of inflammation lasting for years.”

Professor Lord spoke of several things we can do to help restore internal order. Establish daily habits that reshape the immune system … tamp down unneeded inflammation … steps toward long-term health. A simple blood test, measuring proteins called “cytokines” (e.g., CRP, interleukin), that indicate or signal inflammation is at work. As we get older, it is often harder to turn off unneeded inflammation. We witnessed this during the Covid years.

Exercise: You don’t have to be an athlete or body builder. We are all busy running our days and family. But you should do both some cardio and some resistance exercise. That might include a daily brisk walk or multiple use of stairs to get the heart pumping. (The modern 10,000 steps approach). Perhaps use stretching bands or small weights for resistance training. Muscles are “anti-inflammatory.” (Lord says the natural muscle-building hormone DHEA starts declining around age 30). So, make some use of your remaining muscles, beyond pushing back in the easy chair and staring at the tube. When you do sit back for the evening, or during those long work hours at a desk, get up and stretch every hour or so. Movement is your friend. It increases blood flow and helps dissipate the hormone cortisol produced from stress. It also helps avoid thickening or restricted arteries (arteriosclerosis). Guidelines recommend, if you are over age 65, you need 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week.

Sleep: Like your grandmom, Lord suggests minimum of 6-1/2 to 7-1/2 hours of sleep each day. Time to turn off the bright lights of your electronic toys and let that noodle wind down. It restores internal order.

Diet/gut: Most health professionals suggest we need to get away from overly-processed foods. All that chemical engineering might please your taste buds, but is not good for you or your gut biome (the good bugs which help generate and protect intestinal lining). Read labels. Get whole foods, like fruits and veggies, with fiber intact. Eat the colors. Minimize saturated fats. Use olive oils and simple seed oils instead. Lord liked eating oily fish, especially the red color in salmon (also the red in veggies), which have an anti-inflammatory called astaxanthin. Gut health is key — a “leaky gut” allows bad bugs to cross the cellar barrier into the blood stream, which triggers an inflammatory immune response.

Fasting: Some folks rely on time-restricted eating (i.e., 6 to 8 hours where you eat meals, leaving the remaining 16 to 18 hours of “rest” for processing it, drinking only clear liquids like water, coffee, tea and leaving the body time to repair damaged cells). Lord says she prefers setting aside one day a week where she skips meals entirely. That 24-hour fast enables “autophagy” — a Greek word that stands for the body’s ability to reprocess components of damaged cells into healthy new ones, readying the organism to face the next challenge. She reports fasting “turns on anti-aging processes.”

Those simple health steps can help your body function in a way that avoids triggering the constant low level immune response — that smoldering fire that eventually morphs into debilitating disease, like diabetes, dementia and cardiovascular disease. You will still get old, but hopefully will remain reasonably healthy as you age.

Be well, grasshoppers!

Nick Della Volpe is a lawyer, a gardener and a former member of Knoxville City Council.

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