Do you struggle with inflammation? Does inflammation take a toll on your body? Keep reading to learn about how to manage inflammation and live your best life.

All About Inflammation

Inflammation isn’t always visible. While not always seen by the human eye, inflammation can cause pain and discomfort in the body. Inflammation—a form of swelling—is the body’s process of fighting injury, illness, and infection. 

Often undetected, chronic inflammation can damage your body’s joints, organs, and arteries. Over time, chronic inflammation can lead to heart diseases, obesity, cancer, and more if left undiagnosed.

Inflammation is typically caused by an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, and increased stress. Even though many people struggle with anxiety and are exposed to unhealthy foods, all of these things can be managed. Given that inflammation can have consequences that can significantly impair your life, taking steps to improve your lifestyle can help prevent inflammation. 

Do you want to live a long and healthy life? Keep reading to learn some tips.

Reducing Inflammation

You can reduce inflammation by changing your lifestyle. Eating a healthy and anti-inflammatory diet along with living a healthy lifestyle can help manage inflammation. Here are 4 tips for reducing inflammation:

1. Eat Anti-Inflammatory Foods

Food is healing. Eating a wide range of nutrient-dense foods will help keep your body healthy. While eating healthy food can help reduce inflammation, it’s important to note that there isn’t one specific type of food that will completely get rid of inflammation. 

The best types of food to eat that promote anti-inflammation are plant-based foods such as fruits and vegetables, and foods that contain plenty of omega-3 fatty acids such as nuts and seeds.

You might be thinking that you don’t have any of the foods listed above in your fridge or pantry. That’s okay! It’s easier than you may think to include anti-inflammatory foods in your diet. For example, adding an extra serving of veggies at lunch or dinner can help. Even adding a handful or two of spinach to your morning smoothie is a great way to sneak in extra veggies. 

Another great way to add anti-inflammatory foods in your daily diet is by topping salads, pasta dishes, and even smoothie bowls with walnuts, flax seeds, or chia seeds as these three foods are all rich in omega-3s. Many omega-3 fatty acid foods belong in the Mediterranean Diet, a diet that many researchers suggest promotes anti-inflammation. This diet focuses on whole fruits and vegetables, rather than processed foods. For an extra boost of vitamins and hydration, consider scheduling an appointment for IV fluids at home in Los Angeles. These treatments can fuel your body with vitamin formulas designed to combat inflammation while ensuring your body is hydrated and nourished.

1. Get Your Sweat On

From being forced to run a mile during gym class in high school to doing the dreaded PACER Fitness Test, staying active has been ingrained in your brain from a young age. But your physical education teachers weren’t wrong—fitness is important for your health.

While staying active is important, it’s also important to note that overexercising can harm your body. Overexercising can impact your immune system and create inflammation. But, if exercise is done 30-45 minutes 4-5 days a week, it can greatly reduce the risk of inflammation. Some great forms of exercise include cardio—biking, running, or walking—and resistance training.

It can be hard to motivate yourself to get to the gym or do an at-home workout. To find motivation, try downloading a fitness app or treat yourself to a new workout outfit. When you don’t have a specific workout to complete and are not sure what to wear, it can make finding the motivation to get sweaty more challenging.

It’s important to note that there is not only one type of workout to do. Any movement that increases your heart rate and works on building muscles will help manage inflammation and increase your immune system. 

1. Get Some Sleep

Sleeping is a natural part of life. Along with rejuvenating after a long day, sleep can help increase concentration, productivity, muscle repair, mood, and heart health. Along with these benefits, sleeping also helps reduce inflammation. When sleeping, your body releases proteins—called cytokines—that help your body go into a state of sleep. When sick, your body requires more cytokines to sleep. This is also true when your body is fighting inflammation. If you don’t get enough rest, your body is unable to produce these imperative proteins that work to reduce inflammation.

While sleeping is a natural part of life, it can be hard for some people to fall asleep (or even stay asleep during the night). Here are a few tips that can help promote a restful night sleep:

• Meditate 20-minutes before bed
• Reduce your screen time before hitting the hay
• Make sure your bedroom is dark
• Try incorporating cannabidiol (CBD) into your nighttime wellness routine, as studies have shown that high-quality CBD—such as A88CBD™—can encourage a restful night’s sleep

1. Stress Less

Truth be told, stress isn’t good for anything. Stress can not only increase inflammation in your body, but it can cause you to feel anxious or even sad. Managing stress levels is important to living a happy and healthy life. Some ways to manage stress include:

• Starting a yoga practice
• Doing meditation
• Journaling
• Having a planner to stay organized

Stress can arise in a variety of different situations. It’s a good idea to be aware of the situations that cause you to feel more stressed and address the problem at its core. By resting, staying active, and finding ways to increase your daily self-care, you are setting yourself up for success.

A health journey isn’t a race—it’s a marathon. There’s no such thing as a perfect health routine and everyone’s routines will look different from one another. When you find what works for your body and what you enjoy doing to stay healthy, you will be amazed by how much better you feel.