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Wisdom Wednesdays: Anti-aging strategies part 8: Combatting chronic inflammation · Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor

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  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays and
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  Speaker 1: our series on the Hallmarks of aging. Today, we are
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  Speaker 1: going to go through episode eight and we're going to
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  Speaker 1: dive deeper into chronic inflammation. This is a persistent, low
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  Speaker 1: grade inflammatory states that contributes to various age related diseases,
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  Speaker 1: and the list is pretty shocking. Basically, cardiovascular diseases like athrosclerosis,
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  Speaker 1: heart failure, stroke, a bunch of diabetic complications like chronic
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  Speaker 1: renal failure. Diabetes itself is partly inflammatory. Then we have
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  Speaker 1: chronic inflammatory disorders like editable bald disease, psoriasis and things
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  Speaker 1: like that. We have bone, muscular and skeletal diseases that
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  Speaker 1: have a large inflammatory components, such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, muscular dystrophy.
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  Speaker 1: We then have a range of cancers that are known
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  Speaker 1: to be anti inflammatory, such as lung, kidney, gastric, colon,
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  Speaker 1: pancreatic and lymphoma cancers. And then we have metabolic disorders
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  Speaker 1: such as fatty liver disease, heart disease. I did talk
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  Speaker 1: about type two diabetes, but also chronic kidney disease and
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  Speaker 1: sleep apnea all have an inflammatory component and then there
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  Speaker 1: are neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and other forms
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  Speaker 1: of dementia and Parkinson's disease as well as AIS. So
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  Speaker 1: as you can see, the list of chronic diseases that
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  Speaker 1: are driven by a chronic inflammatory state is pretty shocking.
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  Speaker 1: And understanding the underlying mechanisms and then implementing effective lifestyle
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  Speaker 1: interventions we know from the research can significantly mitigate chronic inflammation.
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  Speaker 1: So let's explore some of these strategies so before just
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  Speaker 1: to go a little bit deeper into it. So, chronic
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  Speaker 1: inflammation is this prolonged systemic inflammation that silently damages ourselves
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  Speaker 1: and our tissues and.
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  Speaker 2: Our organs over time.
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  Speaker 1: So unlike acute inflammation, which is short term protective response
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  Speaker 1: to injury or infection or even from doing physical training,
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  Speaker 1: when you particularly doing resistance training or long duration aerobic
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  Speaker 1: stuff runs those sorts of things, you get inflammation, but
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  Speaker 1: that then triggers the remodeling of our muscle helps us
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  Speaker 1: become bigger, faster, stronger. So this acute inflammation is really
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  Speaker 1: really important. It's when that acute inflammation turns chronic and
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  Speaker 1: it persists that it then contributes to the development of
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  Speaker 1: all of those diseases that I talked about, and we
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  Speaker 1: know that factors such as poor diet, physical inactivity, stress,
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  Speaker 1: and exposure to environmental toxins and now the research on
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  Speaker 1: micro and nanoplastic exposure, all of this contributes to a
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  Speaker 1: persistent inflammatory state. So let's talk about what we can
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  Speaker 1: do again. First, cab off, the rank is exercise, and
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  Speaker 1: we know that engaging in regular physical activity is one
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  Speaker 1: of the most effective strategies to combat chronic inflammation full stop.
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  Speaker 1: We know that when people are sedentary it drives in
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  Speaker 1: inflammatory state, but during exercise, our contracting skeletal muscle releases cytokins.
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  Speaker 1: These are messenger molecules known as myokinds. Now, if you're
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  Speaker 1: a regular listener to this podcast, you've heard me talk
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  Speaker 1: about myokinds before. I call them magical myokinds. And amongst
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  Speaker 1: a whole hepe of stuff that they do, one of
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  Speaker 1: the things they do is they exert anti inflammatory effects
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  Speaker 1: both locally within them muscle and systemically throughout the body.
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  Speaker 1: This is for me, one of the big frontiers in
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  Speaker 1: medicine is understanding now that myokines get outside of our
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  Speaker 1: muscles and they have signaling effects on all of our organs.
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  Speaker 1: And one of the key functions of maokines is that
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  Speaker 1: they're anti inflammatory. So there are two particular marakins that
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  Speaker 1: have been identified.
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  Speaker 2: One is interlooking six.
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  Speaker 1: Some of you, if you've got a bit of a
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  Speaker 1: medical background, may have heard of Interlooking six as a
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  Speaker 1: pro inflammatory cidokine, and it is. However, it also functions
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  Speaker 1: as a miokine with anti inflammatory properties when it's released
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  Speaker 1: during exercise, right, so it's kind of got two sides
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  Speaker 1: to it, and it then when it's released from exercise,
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  Speaker 1: it helps regulate metabolic processes and inhibits the production of
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  Speaker 1: pro inflammatory side of kins such as tumor necrosis factor
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  Speaker 1: alpha TNF alpha. And then the other on another couple
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  Speaker 1: actually of anti inflammatory madakinds interlook in ten and interlook
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  Speaker 1: in one receptor antagonist. And these made kinds further contribute
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  Speaker 1: to the anti inflammatory effects of exercise by suppressing pro
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  Speaker 1: inflammatory pathways. And so we know that regular exercise is
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  Speaker 1: really key for your long term health, and a big
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  Speaker 1: component of it is because it reduces our systemic inflammation
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  Speaker 1: and then lowers the risk of chronic disease. And there's
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  Speaker 1: been too many studies to mention that show that regular
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  Speaker 1: exercise actually reduces inflammation and improves our health outcomes.
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  Speaker 2: Now let's talk about some other stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Probably the next big factor is nutrition and having balanced
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  Speaker 1: nutrition and particularly an anti inflammatory diet that is low
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  Speaker 1: HI you'll have heard me talk about before, low human interference,
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  Speaker 1: basically real food. It's basically incorporating a wide variety of fruits, vegetables,
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  Speaker 1: unprocessed whole grains, things like nuts, seeds that are rich
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  Speaker 1: in antioxidants and fiber. And also we know from an
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  Speaker 1: anti inflammatory perspective, healthy fats are really really critical. Probably
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  Speaker 1: the most importance of mega three fatty acids from fatty fish,
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  Speaker 1: but also you can get them from flax seeds and walnuts,
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  Speaker 1: and they're known for their anti inflammatory properties. And also
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  Speaker 1: things like extra virgin olive oil is anti inflammatory. And
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  Speaker 1: then the other side of the ledger when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to nutrition, is really minimizing your intake of ultra processed
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  Speaker 1: foods that not only are high in sugars and unrefined
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  Speaker 1: carbohydrates and unhealthy fats, but they also have a number
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  Speaker 1: of compounds in them that we know are really really
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  Speaker 1: quite nasty and they increase inflammation. Things like the additives
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  Speaker 1: that are in them, the emulsifiers, the artificial sweeteners, and
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  Speaker 1: the flavors that actually disrupt our microbial balance and promote
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  Speaker 1: inflammatory pathways. And I have talked before about a comprehensive
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  Speaker 1: umbrella review that showed that greater exposure to ultra processed
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  Speaker 1: foods is associated with a higher risk of a ridiculous
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  Speaker 1: amount of chronic diseases. And I will link to that
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  Speaker 1: study for anybody who hasn't seen it, because it is
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  Speaker 1: mind blowing the effects of this. So we have that
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  Speaker 1: we talked about an anti inflammatory diet, and there was
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  Speaker 1: a systematic review that was done that showed the datary interventions,
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  Speaker 1: particularly ones that had high amounts of fish, extra virgin
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  Speaker 1: olive oil, fruits, nuts, veggies, legomes. So those fruits, lots, veggies, leagomes,
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  Speaker 1: they contribute to overall fiber intake, which we know is
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  Speaker 1: anti inflammatory. But also things like yogurt and keffer and
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  Speaker 1: even coffee and tea can reduce inflammation and positively influence
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  Speaker 1: that got microbiome, thereby mitigating these chronic inflammatory diseases. And
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  Speaker 1: studying Frontiers in Nutrition in July twenty twenty three found
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  Speaker 1: that increased anti inflammatory food intake was associated with improved
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  Speaker 1: physical characteristics, reduce stress, decrease pain in patients with chronic pain,
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  Speaker 1: and often chronic pain is inflammatory. Now let's talk about
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  Speaker 1: some supplements that have been well established to be anti inflammatory.
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  Speaker 1: I think the standout here is a Mega three fatty assets.
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  Speaker 1: They act on a particular anti inflammatory pathway, and we
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  Speaker 1: know that supplementing amiga threes can help reduce inflammation and
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  Speaker 1: support both heart and brain health. And I've talked about
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  Speaker 1: this before. People who have an Amiga three index, which
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  Speaker 1: you can get tested. If you have an Amiga three
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  Speaker 1: index of greater than eight, they live five years longer
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  Speaker 1: than people within a Mega three index of less than five.
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  Speaker 1: So Omega three fatty acids are hugely important, and the
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  Speaker 1: next nutrient would be magnesium.
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  Speaker 2: It actually plays a role in over three.
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  Speaker 1: Hundred enzymatic reactions and can help to manage the stress
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  Speaker 1: response in the body and reduce inflammation. And vitamin D
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  Speaker 1: is also important just because it has such an impact
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  Speaker 1: on hormones as well. It should actually be called a
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  Speaker 1: hormone rather than a vitamin. And in vinamin C is
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  Speaker 1: a powerful antioxid supports immune function and may help to
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  Speaker 1: combat inflammation, and then there are a number of spices
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  Speaker 1: and things like turmeric and ginger, but also garlic as well.
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  Speaker 1: It's not a spice, but it has anti inflammatory pathways.
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  Speaker 1: So there are a number of different plants and plant
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  Speaker 1: compounds that are anti inflammatory. And basically the take on
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  Speaker 1: here is about eating real food and not this ultra
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  Speaker 1: process crap that we tend to find in supermarkets. The
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  Speaker 1: next thing is around stress management, so particularly if you
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  Speaker 1: have a fur bit of stress in your life, trying
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  Speaker 1: to get that under control, because we know that chronic
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  Speaker 1: stress elevates cortisol and cordisole when released and significant amounts
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  Speaker 1: over time is very pro inflammatory. So arrange of stress
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  Speaker 1: reduction techniques exercises is brilliant for stress reduction, but also
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  Speaker 1: mindfuless meditation, yoga, deep breathing.
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  Speaker 2: Exercises, and having hobbies what the.
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  Speaker 1: Japanese called icky guy rather than just spending your spare
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  Speaker 1: time with your head buried in the screen, doing something
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  Speaker 1: that is engaging can also help to manage stress effectively.
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  Speaker 1: But also on the other side of the ledger, it's
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  Speaker 1: trying to minimize the inputs from that, which I know
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  Speaker 1: is not always practical, but we know then that The
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  Speaker 1: next thing that has a massive impact is sleep. Adequate
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  Speaker 1: sleep is essential for regulating inflammatory processes, and the research
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  Speaker 1: shows that having those seven to eight hours of quality
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  Speaker 1: sleep per night helps to support overall health and reduce inflammation.
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  Speaker 1: And those who have six hours are less sleep per
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  Speaker 1: night definitely have a big spike in their levels of inflammation.
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  Speaker 2: And it's just.
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  Speaker 1: Because of so much stuff is actually going on under
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  Speaker 1: the hood whenever you're a sleep There are so many
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  Speaker 1: biological restorative processes that are happening during sleep, and it's
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  Speaker 1: really clerical. And I've talked about sleep hygiene before, but
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  Speaker 1: the major things would be regular go to bed and
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  Speaker 1: regular waketime to ensure that you have a regular circadian rhythm,
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  Speaker 1: making sure that you're avoiding screens and bright lights within
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  Speaker 1: the thirteen minutes of going to bed, making sure you
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  Speaker 1: don't have television's, laptops and certainly mobile phones in the bedroom.
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  Speaker 1: The bedroom is supposed to be where you go to sleep,
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  Speaker 1: and if you're lucky, you get a bit of oofty macgoofty.
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  Speaker 2: Every now and then.
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  Speaker 1: But it's also about having that regular routine. Having that
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  Speaker 1: wind down routine before you go to bed is really key.
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  Speaker 1: And if you're somebody who's who's brain gets kind of
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  Speaker 1: full of stuff, having what's called a dump pad, well
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  Speaker 1: you just as part of your wind down routine for
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  Speaker 1: half an hour because you're not on bloody screens, you
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  Speaker 1: just write down all the stuff that is in your mind,
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  Speaker 1: and that gives you cognitive closure and can be really
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  Speaker 1: really effective. So in closing chronic inflammation A really is
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  Speaker 1: the silent killer, and it's a bit contributor to many
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  Speaker 1: age related diseases, but we know we can manage it
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  Speaker 1: through lifestyle choices. And you will have noticed a consistent
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  Speaker 1: theme with some of the other hallmarks of aging that
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  Speaker 1: regular exercise is really important. Having a good diet, especially
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  Speaker 1: for this one, rich and anti inflammatory foods, but also
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  Speaker 1: managing stress and having quality sleep really is key for
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  Speaker 1: managing that inflammation and reducing your chronic disease risk. So
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  Speaker 1: that's it for this week, folks, Catch you next time.