Inflammation: The Good, Bad, & How to Manage
What is Inflammation?
Inflammation occurs as the immune system's response to trauma or an irritant in the body. Causes for inflammatory responses could include certain food products, pathogens entering the body (getting sick), external injuries, toxins (such as alcohol), and intense exercise.
Inflammation can occur anytime the tissues in our body are damaged or in danger of being harmed. However this doesn’t always mean that there was significant damage done. From the perspective of exercise it can simply be the microscopic tears that occur in your muscles during resistance training. To help aid in the recovery of those micro tears our body releases cells like cytokines that actually promote inflammation. These cytokines tell your immune cells how to repair injuries and increase blood flow to the area. In this case, inflammation is a good thing! It is a sign that your body’s immune cells are healing damaged tissues.
Acute vs. Chronic Inflammation
It's important to differentiate between acute and chronic inflammation. Acute inflammation is a short-term response that lasts for hours or days after exercise. It's a necessary process that kick-starts the healing and rebuilding of muscle tissue. On the other hand, chronic inflammation is a prolonged state of inflammation that can be detrimental to the body. Chronic inflammation occurs when training frequency, volume, or intensity, is excessive without sufficient rest, recovery, and nutrient intake.
What Happens Without Proper Management of Inflammation
When you don’t take care of your inflammation it turns from acute to chronic as was previously discussed. There are many factors that can contribute to chronic inflammation:
Obesity
Poor Diet
Smoking
Excessive Stress
Irregular sleep
Additionally, chronic inflammation when training can cause overtraining syndrome, one of the most prominent symptoms for it is the inability to maintain high-intensity exercise under the same or increased load. Overtraining takes an accumulation of a month/months of neglect to develop, but can lead to…
Decreased Force Production
Decreased Glycolytic Capacity
Sickness and Infection
Altered Hormone Concentrations
Increased Risk of Injury (2)
How to Manage Inflammation
Nutrition: Fueling your body with a balanced diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods can help reduce post-training inflammation. Include foods like fatty fish (omega-3s), leafy greens, berries, nuts, and seeds, which are known for their anti-inflammatory properties.
Hydration: Proper hydration is essential for maintaining optimal bodily functions. Water helps with nutrient delivery, aiding in the recovery process.
Active Recovery: Motion is lotion and rest is rust, this is the idea behind active recovery. This doesn’t mean you should be loading up and doing high intense workouts, instead perform low impact/intensity workouts. Some examples of active recovery include yoga, cycling, swimming, hiking, and walking. By doing these types of exercises you can increase blood flow to the tissues that need it most following a workout and are effective in removing post exercise muscle fatigue. It is suggested to try 20 minutes of post exercise active recovery involving the muscles that you primarily used in your work out (1). So after your workout consider taking a walk or engaging in low strain exercises, and see the difference it makes in your recovery.
Sleep: Quality sleep helps ensure your body performs most of its repair and recovery duties. Aim for 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night to support your body's healing mechanisms.
Sources
Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0675-0