Chronic Inflammation Symptoms, Causes, and How to Reduce It

With so many foods, cookbooks, and supplements being touted as “anti-inflammatory,” it may surprise you to hear that inflammation is sometimes a good thing. It’s your body’s way of fighting back when you get an injury or an infection. Burn your arm on a hot sheet pan, or pick up that nasty sore throat that’s going around your office, and the body may react with pain, swelling, redness, or warmth; this protects you and fights off invaders such as viruses and bacteria. But when inflammation hangs around after an initial trigger is gone, it can have a serious impact on your overall health.

“Any time you’re trying to fight an infection, inflammation is a tool your body needs—it activates your immune system, and that’s how you get better,” says Sadiya Khan, M.D., associate professor of medicine and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. However, sometimes that inflammatory response goes way over the top and doesn’t retreat. This can happen for a variety of reasons, says Dr. Khan.

Is it possible to keep the “good” kind of inflammation and get rid of the problematic? And what can you do to keep chronic inflammation at bay? Here, experts explain how to control inflammatory conditions so you can live your healthiest life.

When Inflammation Turns From Good to Bad

The kind of “good” inflammation we were just discussing is referred to as acute inflammation, and it ignites when you get a short-term injury or illness.

Here’s how it works: Once you get that scrape, burn, or illness, your body releases chemicals that act as a red alert. That causes a slew of white blood cells to flood the area of your body that’s hurting. Those white blood cells do their job of neutralizing the problem, then once the job is done, they’re supposed to retreat, allowing the symptoms of acute inflammation (soreness, pain, swelling, etc.) to fade away, usually within a few hours or a few days.

Chronic inflammation starts the same way, as a reaction to your body being “invaded.” The difference is that chronic inflammation doesn’t resolve. For example, an autoimmune disorder like type 1 diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or multiple sclerosis can cause the body to turn on its own tissues by mistake. The tissues are then under constant assault from inflammation.

Another insidious example of chronic inflammation: When plaque builds up in your arteries due to an accumulation of fat, cholesterol, and calcium, this can lead to an ischemic stroke. But that’s not the end of it. Your body views the plaque as a foreign substance and uses even more inflammation to “fight” it—which can cause the plaque to thicken even more.

Chronic constipation can be one sign of inflammation

Signs of Chronic Inflammation

It’s not easy to spot when inflammation turns chronic, because it looks like a lot of other conditions with a lot of other causes. Symptoms can include exhaustion, achy muscles and joints, GI problems such as constipation or diarrhea, headaches, and weight gain.

“There are no specific tests to diagnose inflammation,” explains Dr. Khan. “You’re not trying to identify inflammation as much as look at why it’s there.” She points out that the best way to do this is to have annual checkups with your healthcare provider, and to keep up on recommended screenings and blood tests.

“You want to get a complete profile of your health, and then treat any condition that the inflammation is related to,” Dr. Khan adds.

Why You Need to Address Chronic Inflammation

The repercussions of chronic inflammation can be very serious: It’s linked to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, different types of cancer, anxiety and depression, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, allergies and asthma, acne, eczema, psoriasis, and arthritis.

Add Prevention as a preferred source in your Google search results.

Use your Google account to add this to your settings.

Add to Google settings

If you are diagnosed with a condition linked to inflammation, your doctor may prescribe medications to help with the symptoms of that condition, which can then stop the inflammatory response. To treat inflammation, you essentially treat the problem causing it.

There are medical treatments to push back against inflammation, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, available over the counter (such as ibuprofen and naproxen) and by prescription (such as Celebrex). Then there are corticosteroids, which act like the hormone cortisol to cut inflammation.

Immunosuppressants can reduce the over-the-top response of your immune system. And a class of drugs called biologics can be helpful; they’re made from living substances and work to control cells that spearhead inflammation in your body. As of now, though, there is no drug that is FDA-approved for chronic inflammation in general. “For now, the thing to focus on is working with your doctor on your specific condition and symptoms,” says Dr. Khan.

Lifestyle Habits to Reduce Inflammation

Experts point out that changes in your everyday habits and lifestyle can help decrease low-level inflammation. “Controlling your weight, eating a healthy diet, improving your sleep—these things can nip so many health problems in the bud,” says Erica L. Johnson, Ph.D., professor of microbiology, biochemistry, and immunology at Morehouse College School of Medicine in Atlanta.

Here, the details on how to live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle every day:

The Best Foods to Eat

The foods you have can have an enormous effect on your inflammation. Here are the basics of an anti-inflammatory diet:

• Limit processed food. Packaged foods like chips, cookies, hot dogs, sugary beverages, canned soups, and frozen meals can pack in excess sodium and sugar. Try to include as many whole foods in your meals as possible.
• Go for nutritious whole-grain bread and rice. Refined starches can cause inflammatory responses such as weight gain, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol. A study from the University of California Davis found that eating too much sugar and fat can adversely affect the gut and contribute to inflammatory skin conditions, including psoriasis.
• Eat a wide range of colorful fruits and veggies to maximize your vitamin intake. “Consuming leafy greens and blueberries is very helpful in terms of lowering inflammation,” says Dr. Khan.
• Include lean protein, such as lean poultry, fish, eggs, beans, nuts, and fat-free Greek yogurt. And eat fish twice a week—it’s a great source of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which can slow the process of your body making the substances that cause chronic inflammation. Limit red meat, such as hamburgers and steak, to lower intake of saturated fat.
• Use olive oil instead of butter or margarine when you can; olive oil is rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. Limit saturated fat and avoid trans fat completely—read those labels!
• Consider working fermented foods into your diet. A study from Stanford University School of Medicine finds that food and beverages that promote microbial diversity in the gut can reduce inflammation. Foods to try include yogurt, kefir, fermented cottage cheese, kimchi and other fermented vegetables, vegetable brine drinks, and kombucha tea.

The Best Habits to Adopt

Prioritize these steps to maximize your health and combat inflammation.

• Get enough sleep. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that healthy adults get seven to nine hours a night. Make it a non-negotiable in your life.
• Move your body. Research has shown that regular exercise has an anti-inflammatory effect on people with autoimmune diseases. Choose an activity you really enjoy—walking, dancing, cycling, dance—and indulge in it at least three times a week. Aim for 150 minutes of weekly aerobic exercise in total.
• If you smoke, quit. Get help from your doctor if needed.
• Limit alcohol​, sticking to no more than a drink or two a day.
• Stress less. Yoga and meditation can really help. And do things that make you happy; a proactive, joyful attitude can make a huge difference in your health.

“You can improve inflammation, and improve your health every day as well, by staying active and addressing any underlying conditions,” Dr. Johnson says. “Most of the time, lifestyle remedies can really help with the conditions that cause inflammation, if you know what you’re dealing with in terms of those conditions.”