Do You Have Systemic Inflammation?
By Joseph Hooper
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If you have chronic inflammation, your immune system goes into overdrive and attacks healthy cells. This condition is linked to Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and depression. Here are six ways to assess your risk.
Related: The Anti-Inflammation Diet
You Put on Five Pounds
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Even going up a few pounds causes enlarged fat cells to secrete inflammatory adipokines throughout your body. What’s more, that fat likely went to your gut, and belly fat generates its own class of inflammatory cytokines. That’s why one of the biggest steps you can take to tamp inflammation is to keep the scale steady, says Dr. Joseph Raffaele.
Related: The Real Weight-Loss Workout
You Have Gut Issues
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Constant digestive distress and acid reflux are signals that your gut is inflamed, which can cause a laundry list of problems beyond the gut walls — constant fatigue, brain fog, low energy, irritability.
Related: 10Reasons You Can’t Lose Your Gut
You Can’t Get Fitter
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If you’ve been pushing hard in the gym but seeing fewer results and feeling more fatigued, you may be experiencing the cellular exhaustion of over training, which promotes chronic inflammation. You want to do short bursts of intense exercise instead of long, tough workouts. Doing intervals creates muscles and bones better able to fight chronic inflammatory diseases like sarcopenia (muscle wasting) and osteoporosis (bone thinning). Do a 20-minute cardio interval routine — go all out for a minute, then recover for a minute, and repeat — twice a week.
Related: 10 Signs You Need to Switch Up Your Workout Routine
You Regularly Sleep Less Than Six Hours a Night
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Sleep is the body’s preferred time to recover from the cell oxidative stress that leads to inflammation. “Getting less than six hours a night is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for developing heart disease and cancer,” says Dr. Kerry Kuehl, director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Oregon Health and Science University.
Related: The Top 11 Health Benefits of Sleep
You Wake Up Stressed
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Everyone has a hectic day or two. The red flag goes up if you’re rolling out of bed already feeling tense from constant stress at work or home. This level of anxiety depletes a large amount of the hormone cortisol, leaving little left to help regulate your immune system and keep inflammation down. “Stress is the big one — it affects the body profoundly,” says UCLA gastroenterologist Kirsten Tillisch.
Still Unsure? Get Tested
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For a hard number on your inflammation level, ask your doctor for a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein test (hs-CRP) to measure inflammatory cells in your blood. It’s in the $17 to $71 range.
