Healing Your Inflammation With Every Step You Take
People who engage in regular moderate exercise experience a significant anti-inflammatory effect as indicated by lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP is a key indicator of inflammation). Research shows those who engaged in three hours week of moderate aerobic activity showed an increase in leptin sensitivity, suggesting that exercise directly combats leptin resistance. Moderate intensity includes brisk walking (about 3 miles per hour) gardening, vigorous housework, dancing, yoga, t’ai chi, cycling, or swimming. The world Health Organization(WHO currently recommends an hour a day of moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week, for maintaining a healthy body weight and preventing chronic disease.
Here is a basic rule of thumb: Moderate activity is invigorating. Strenuous activity that causes fatigue is not beneficial. If exercise doesn’t leave you feeling better, then it was too intense for your fitness level. While moderate exercise helps combat inflammation, excessive exercises activity can increase the inflammation. So if you are feeling fatigue or out of sorts after exercise, don’t give up just back down and build up to it more slowly
How Stress Can Make You Fat
One of our most important stress hormones is cortisol, a chemical produced by your adrenal glands when your body, mind, and emotions all need to gear up to meet a significant challenge. If you are trying to meet a pressing dead line or you are overwhelmed with life’s many challenges cortisol goes cursing through your bloodstream as you mobilize to take care of business.
This primitive flight or fight reaction occurs in response to a particular danger or in response to cortisol. Unfortunately we live our lives feeling stressed or in over whelmed most of the time, which doesn’t not allow our biochemistry to rebalance itself by feeling the calm and hence to lower cortisol.
One stressor that you may not be aware of that releases cortisol is inflammation. Inflammation can keep you in a continual stress response. Unfortunately Cortisol is a storage hormone which during prolong stress may cause you to break down lean muscle tissue and store fat for survival fuel.
Cortisol actually causes fat cells to grow, and the presence of this hormone will increase your amount of belly fat as your belly fat has more cortisol receptor sites (or doorways) than any other part of your body. Then the vicious cycle begins the more weight the more inflammation as fat cells act as an endocrine organ producing not only inflammation but estrone which in itself can cause more weight gain. Elevated cortisol levels can also cause fluid retention, memory loss, high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar levels and muscle weakness and possible adrenal fatigue.
Here Are a Few Action Steps to Reduce Stress and Inflammation
- Take a hot bath each night not a shower as a shower can stimulate you
- Take a walk daily especially after eating or experiencing a stressor
- Listen to melodic music
- Connect to nature as often as possible
- Work in your garden
- Meditate or do prayer work
- Get a massage
- Get 7-8 hours of sleep a night
Adequate sleep is essential for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. Recent studies indicate that people who slept five hours or less each night had higher levels of ghrelin, a hormone produced by the stomach that stimulate appetite. At the same time sleep deprivation lowers leptin levels and leptin, so if you deprive yourself of the sleep you need, you’ll find yourself hungrier and probably heavier.