If you struggle with inflammation, you know the toll it can take on your body.

Follow these tips to manage your inflammation and live your best, healthy lifestyle.

What is Inflammation?

Inflammation, though not always visible to the eye, can create damage and discomfort throughout your body.

Inflammation, or swelling, is part of your body’s natural healing system.

It helps to fight off injury and inflection but doesn’t only occur in response to injury and illness.

Chronic inflammation is often undetected, as it shows with only subtle signs and symptoms.

However, over time, chronic inflammation can cause damage to your arteries, organs, and joints.

If you were to leave chronic inflammation undiagnosed, it can lead to chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and more.

The root causes of inflammation can be traced back to unhealthy diets, lack of exercise, and an excess of stress.

Luckily, all of these things can be managed. Inflammation can have long-lasting damage and consequences over the long term.

In order to feel your best, it’s important to take strides towards reducing inflammation and treating your body well so that you can live a healthy and long life.

How to Reduce Your Risk

The good news is that you can control, and even sometimes reverse, inflammation with a few healthy tips and tricks.

The most important thing you can do for your body to manage inflammation is through a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle.

Follow these tips for reducing inflammation in your body:

Add Anti-Inflammatory Foods to Your Diet

Healthy eating isn’t just cutting out ‘bad’ foods. It’s important to get a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods that will help your body thrive.

Keep in mind that no single food or specific menu can completely resist inflammation.

However, the food you consume and the supplements you take can help to protect against unwanted inflammation and support a healthy lifestyle.

You should focus your food consumption on fruits, vegetables, and foods that contain omega-3.

Don’t be intimidated by the list of foods listed above.

It’s easier than you think to get everything you need throughout the day.

To up your fruit and vegetable intake, start by trying to add a portion to each meal throughout the day.

Work towards having most vegetables on your plate, with a fist-size amount of protein to accompany your meal.

Getting the right amount of good nutrients is crucial to maintaining an anti-inflammatory diet.

Some of the best sources of omega-3s include salmon, tuna, tofu, walnuts, flax seeds, soybeans, grapes, celery, blueberries, garlic, olive oil, tea, ginger, rosemary, and turmeric.

Many researchers suggest following a Mediterranean Diet is a perfect example of an anti-inflammatory diet.

This diet focuses on limiting unhealthy trans fats like red meat, butter, margarine, corn oil, deep-fried foods, and many processed foods.

Stick to an Exercise Routine

It is important to first note that too much exercise can actually do more harm than good.

When exercise is overdone it can harm your immune system and cause an influx in inflammation.

However, research suggests that exercise can greatly reduce the risk of inflammation.

It is recommended to complete at least 30-45 minutes of aerobic exercise and 10-25 minutes of weight and/or resistance training at least 4 or 5 times per week.

If you have a hard time motivating yourself for the gym or at-home workout, we recommend putting your workout clothes out the night before.

When you don’t have to think about what to wear or give yourself the opportunity to make an excuse to postpone your workout, you’re more likely to stick to your routine and achieve your goals.

Remember that managing inflammation is a multi-part process and each mindful act builds on one another to help you feel your best.

Any exercise that increases your heart rate and builds your muscles is ideal to manage inflammation and boost your immune system.

This is due to the fact that exercise helps to ensure your white blood cells are circulating and defending your body.

Get Adequate Rest

Did you know that getting enough rest helps to increase your:

• concentration
• productivity
• muscle repair
• mood
• & heart health

In addition to these amazing benefits, getting adequate rest helps to reduce inflammation in your body.

While you get shut-eye, your body releases proteins, referred to as cytokines, which allow your body to rest. When your body is fighting infection, disease, or inflammation, your body requires more cytokines.

When you don’t get adequate rest, your body will prevent and decrease the production of cytokines.

Some tips for getting a good night’s rest include being mindful of your activities before bed.

Although it’s tempting, you should limit your screen time before hopping into bed.

Studies have shown that putting your phone down and turning the TV off at least 1 hour prior to sleeping helps you to get a better night’s rest.

If you need sleep support, cannabidiol (CBD) has been studied and shown to help encourage restful sleep.

You should look for a high-quality, hemp-derived CBD product like A88CBD™ if you are going to implement CBD into your sleep routine.

Manage Your Stress Levels

No surprise here, stress plays a significant role in your body functions and can increase inflammation in your body.

Some ways to help manage your stress levels include meditation, yoga, self-reflection, and even guided imagery.

If you are experiencing an excess of stress it’s important to take care of your body, being mindful of what you are doing and consuming throughout the day.

By taking action to get adequate rest, exercise, and eat an anti-inflammatory diet—you’re setting yourself up for success and decreasing your chances of succumbing to stress throughout the day.

Remember, it’s a health journey—so it may take some time to make all of these suggestions a habit.

Take it one step at a time and ease your way into your new routine.

Your body will thank you for the hard work and dedication!