Best exercises helping you fight inflammation

Keeping ourselves physically fit just makes sense. There are numerous benefits backed up by research demonstrating how keeping active improves our cardiovascular health, can reduce type 2 diabetes, help achieve a healthier body weight, and improve our mental outlook.  One other reason exercise is so beneficial is it also helps our body fight inflammation.  

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to protect itself from harm.  Whenever we bang our knee or cut a finger, our immune system goes into action by dispatching an army of white blood cells to surround and protect the area, creating visible redness and swelling.  This is known as acute inflammation and is necessary for us to heal from within. 

However chronic inflammation is another story.  Chronic inflammation is ongoing, often due to unhealthy habits such as smoking or eating a poor diet and is linked with many serious diseases such as atherosclerosis, arthritis, or type 2 diabetes. 

Regular, consistent exercise is one very healthy habit we each can make a part of our lifestyle helping curb chronic inflammation.  Exercise is an effective tool we can use every day to lower inflammation along with the other many advantages it provides. 

Researchers have observed that aerobic or conditioning exercise significantly reduces pro-inflammatory markers in the body.  One of these markers is called C-reactive protein.  C-reactive protein is a substance produced by the liver that is elevated in the presence of inflammation in the body.  An elevated C-reactive protein level is identified with blood tests and is considered a non-specific “marker” for disease.  It can signal flare-ups of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

In one study, moderate exercisers were found to be 15 percent less likely than sedentary individuals to have elevated C-reactive protein.  In addition, those volunteers who exercised vigorously were 47 percent less likely to have a high C-reactive protein level than their sedentary peers. 

Several studies confirm that exercise is necessary to help in the inflammatory process of keeping it under control.  One study that followed 4,000 middle-aged people over a 10-year period found that those who exercised for two and a half hours per week lowered their inflammation by 12 percent. 

Exercise certainly is a healthy habit to adopt as long as it is reasonable.  However, pushing oneself to the brink of prolonged overtraining can actually lead to increasing inflammation so use common sense.  Meeting the guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine of 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous physical activity is a safe recommendation to follow.

But when it comes to lowering inflammation, certain exercises are ideal in helping achieve this goal.  Here are 4 different kinds to consider using for bringing down inflammation:

1.   Walking

Anyone who has been intensely training causing more inflammation in their body should try a less vigorous means of exercise such as simply going on a walk.  An easygoing walk is an excellent way to reset the body, easing up a bit on extreme exercise.  Our bodies need time to recover from grinding workouts.  Walking is a perfect way allowing our muscles to recover. This helps bring down inflammation by sending fresh blood and oxygen throughout our body, pumping the lymphatic system for waste removal while gently restoring our digestive system that may be affected also.  

2.  Hiking

Similar to walking, hiking takes a different path, literally from walking.  Usually hiking involves walking from a lower elevation to a higher elevation but entails a lot more effort than walking since the terrain of hiking trails are more difficult than a walking trail.  Walking can be done indoors on a treadmill or track but hiking always is done outdoors immersed in nature.  Find an easy trail and go on a one-hour ramble through the woods.  Just like walking, an easy hike can stimulate muscle recovery and reboots our system.  An added bonus is the time spent outdoors surrounded by trees or prairie, which lowers our body’s cortisol stress-response (which is linked to inflammation) by up to 20 percent. 

3.  Foam roll

A form of movement known as foam rolling is a type of self-myofascial release (SMR).  SMR is a technical term for releasing tight muscles, connective tissue (fascia) and trigger points (sensitive points on muscles) with self-massage.  Using a tool called a foam roller applies pressure to these areas helping release tight and sore muscles while improving joint range of motion, overall muscle performance, flexibility, improves sleep, helps with digestion, and lowers inflammation. Inflammation can be reduced with a foam roller by lying on the roller and using gravity to apply pressure to a muscle. 

4.  Yoga, deep breathing/meditation

No surprise here.  All of the above are well-known for creating both physical and mental relaxation perfect for busting up chronic inflammation.  Yoga is known for contributing to numerous health benefits when practiced on a regular basis.  It also reduces inflammation by reducing the levels of cytokine IL-6 that is produced in the body whenever there is inflammation such as from trauma, burns, cancers, or fever.  Cytokine IL-6 is implicated in a host of chronic disease conditions associated with inflammation such as diabetes mellitus and to the systemic form of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. 

Meditation/deep breathing is also very helpful in combatting chronic inflammation.  Participants in a mindfulness meditation found that blood samples of those who underwent the mindfulness training had lower levels of interleukin-6, a biomarker of inflammation, than those who did a relaxation retreat.