The Exercises You Need to Reduce Inflammation

This season, we’ve been obsessed with living that anti-inflammation lifestyle, finding ways to naturally reduce it and live our best lives. One of the biggest factors in fighting inflammation is, of course, diet (we’ve put together some handy guides here and here, but another aspect of improving your health shouldn’t be a surprise: exercise.

In 2017, researchers from the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine found that exercise activates the body’s sympathetic nervous system — responsible for things like breathing rate and blood pressure — and which can also help reduce inflammation. According to one study, even just two and a half hours of exercise a week can reduce your inflammatory markers by up to 12 percent and can promote lower inflammation throughout years, if not decades.

However, not all exercises are created equal, and you want to avoid physical activity that will actually stress your body out more, leading to cortisol-induced inflammation. Here are some of our favourite ways to work out, de-stress, and promote a healthier body, inside and out.

Practice Yoga

You probably knew this one was coming. The fusion of exercise with deep breathing is the perfect recipe to stimulate your muscles while calming your mind. Studies have also found that yoga produces more adipocytokines, an anti-inflammatory, while decreasing the production of leptin, a pro-inflammatory. The frequency with which you practice yoga promotes additional adipocytokines, creating a more favourable ratio throughout your life. Some of the best poses to fight inflammation? Stretching into a warrior II or a supine twist is a great place to start.

Pilates

Similar to yoga, pilates is also a great tool in your anti-inflammatory arsenal. One of its main benefits is supporting the lymphatic system, which involves the fluid in your body that helps remove waste. When not functioning, fluid can build up and inflammation can be triggered, producing toxins. Pilates’ gentle, but strengthening, poses help this fluid move properly, which in turn aids your body in a natural detox — no green juice cleanse required.

Hike

We can’t advocate the importance of being outside enough. Try and hit the trails for an hour on a regular basis, aiming for walks that will raise your heart beat without stressing out your body. Make it a social experience by inviting a friend or two, or use it as a time to practice mindfulness — another tool that will help bust through stress-related inflammation. Walking through nature will also allow you to engage in forest bathing, which has been found to reduce cortisol levels in your body by up to 20 percent.

Hit the Treadmill

Again, this doesn’t have to be rigorous, sweat-inducing session — in fact, it probably shouldn’t be. Researchers have found that even walking at a fast rate or jogging for between 20 and 30 minutes a day can play an active role in decreasing inflammation. Choose an intensity that is appropriate for your fitness level; it is important to tailor the workout to what’s appropriate to you, not what someone next to you is doing.

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