Exercise against chronic inflammation

What is chronic inflammation?

There are two different types of inflammation, acute and low-grade/chronic inflammation. An acute inflammation is not dangerous. On the contrary, it’s the body’s natural reaction when you’re exposed to malignant bacteria or injuries. When the immune system has finished fighting the damage, it should then reduce. Low-grade inflammation, on the other hand, is harmful. The inflammation remains in the body and awaits the next injury. The immune system then keeps on working and this can cause chronic inflammation in the body. You may experience symptoms such as stomach upset, recurrent infections, aches and pains. A low-grade inflammation can be caused by things such as an unhealthy diet, obesity, and stress. Find out more about inflammation.

Intestinal flora & exercise

Our gut consists of microbes (the bacteria in the gut flora) that interact and release substances that affect our weight, immune system, inflammation, and several other health parameters. Research shows that the composition and activity of our intestinal microbes is positively affected by exercise . When you exercise, production of the intestinal bacteria that form short-chain fatty acids increases, which as a result can protect against various diseases, including inflammation.

Exercise can also help prevent diseases such as diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, depression, certain types of cancer and joint inflammation, among others. By exercising regularly, we facilitate bowel function and help the body to reduce stress.

Exercise is good for the intestinal flora where 70% of our immune system actually resides. So how we take care of it is connected to how we generally feel. When we move, the amount of good bacteria increases, and people who lead an active lifestyle have a different intestinal flora from people with a sedentary lifestyle. The immune system and gut bacteria can be damaged by stress, but when we exercise regularly, we teach the body to resist harmful stress hormones. We also lower our stress levels, which also benefits the intestinal flora and our health.

Exercise to prevent inflammation

Obviously you don’t want chronic inflammation, and you can combat it yourself through exercise among other things. But how does exercise prevent inflammation? And how can you get the best effect?

Effects of exercise

We’ve known for quite a long time that regular exercise has anti-inflammatory effects. However, a group of researchers wanted to investigate whether even a single workout session could have a direct effect on inflammation in the body. The study tested whether activation of the sympathetic nervous system during a single workout session had an effect on the production of anti-inflammatory substances in the body. The test group had to complete a moderate workout session for 20 minutes. And the study concluded that by seeing a reduced inflammatory response due to the session, a workout session may help to protect against chronic conditions with low-grade inflammation. So even a relatively short session can then reduce inflammation and have a direct anti-inflammatory effect.

Which means exercise can have an anti-inflammatory effect, and with only moderate exercise for 20 minutes, it can reduce inflammation. This means daily exercise is very good for us and it doesn’t need to be at an advanced level. Remember that moving your body in your daily life also counts! Take the stairs when you can and cycle to work. The form of exercise that you take part in isn’t really the most important thing, but rather that you find a form of exercise that suits you and that you enjoy – then you’re more likely to stick with it.

Working out too hard can have the opposite effect

After a really hard workout session, our immune system may be weakened temporarily, which makes us more susceptible to infections, for example. We can avoid this by combining strong exercise with proper recovery and an anti-inflammatory diet.

The fact that exercise can protect us against disease can partly be explained by the connection between muscles and the immune system. Our muscles create signal substances that communicate with the immune system and give us anti-inflammatory effects. Research has shown that we can get anti-inflammatory effects from both strength and cardio training. But different studies show slightly different conclusions about the optimal form and intensity. Cardio training probably has the biggest anti-inflammatory effect, but combining it with strength training can produce a synergistic effect. The most important thing is to find a sustainable exercise routine over the long term, as the anti-inflammatory effect quickly disappears.

Effects of a sedentary lifestyle

It can be easy to think that if we exercise and get our heart rates up some of the time, we’re doing enough. But in Sweden we’re sitting still for an average of 60% of our waking hours. This means that we bring our metabolism down, which in turn negatively affects several functions in the body. For example, our muscles weaken and we lose strength. In addition, it affects cholesterol production and the production of fats and glucose, all of which increase the risk of inflammation.

A disease like obesity is caused by inflammation and anything that causes inflammation contributes to obesity. People with obesity have a smaller number of benign intestinal bacteria and more of the disease-causing varieties. These also create inflammation-causing toxins in the body.

One study investigated what happened when sedentary people started exercising for a time, all of the participants had an increase in the gut bacteria that increase the production of essential fatty acids. When the participants then went back to their sedentary lives, the number of short-chain fatty acids had decreased again.

So, even if you exercise for an hour or two every day, being sedentary for the rest of the day is still harmful. That’s why it’s important to move continuously throughout the day, try to move about every 30 minutes. Just standing up and walking around a bit is enough.

Anti-inflammatory lifestyle

Chronic inflammation begins in the gut, and a functioning intestinal flora is therefore the basis for good health. By eating an anti-inflammatory diet, working on stress prevention measures, exercising and adding food supplements for the stomach, you’re giving your intestinal flora the best conditions to counteract chronic inflammation.

At last, exercising on an empty stomach is best, in line with an anti-inflammatory lifestyle. Because it’s important that exercise takes place a few hours after a meal – preferably in the morning and before breakfast, if you eat breakfast. Studies have shown that if you have just eaten and have a lot of antioxidants in your body, it counteracts the benefit of increased health.