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If you’ve scrolled through TikTok lately, you’ve probably seen tons of videos about how to reduce inflammation in your body. The topic is going viral for good reason, too—inflammation is the precursor of most modern chronic diseases, says Maya Feller, RD, the founder and lead dietitian at Maya Feller Nutrition, so it’s no wonder people are concerned with it.
Inflammation isn’t always a bad thing, so you don’t want to (and can’t) rid your body of it entirely. It’s actually a normal part of your body’s immune system.
“Inflammation is a completely natural process, and it’s a response usually to either injury or infection,” says Valerie Gustave, MD, a gastroenterologist at Lenox Hill Hospital and NYU Langone Medical Center. For example, acute inflammation might occur when you get a cut or twist your ankle to help your body heal.
But when inflammation is chronic, it can be an issue. Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome are all inflammatory conditions, and symptoms like fatigue, low energy, recurrent rashes, joint pain, and unexplained stomachaches can also be caused by persistent inflammation, says Micaela Bayard, MD, a rheumatologist at Mount Sinai. For any of these conditions or symptoms, you should speak with a doctor to evaluate your inflammatory markers, confirm an issue, and help you determine the best path forward.
In addition to medicine, part of that path might include lifestyle changes. These expert-approved tips are the foundation of healthy living—and can possibly help prevent excess inflammation in the future.
Meet the experts: Valerie Gustave, MD, MPH, is a gastroenterologist at Lenox Hill Hospital and NYU Langone Medical Center. Micaela Bayard, MD, is a rheumatologist at Mount Sinai. Maya Feller, RD, is the lead dietitian at Maya Feller Nutrition and author of Eating from Our Roots: 80+ Healthy Home-Cooked Favorites from Cultures Around the World.
How To Reduce Inflammation
If you’re dealing with fatigue, recurrent rashes, joint pain, or any of the symptoms described above, it may help to make an appointment with your doctor to rule out any chronic conditions. And if you want to take better care of yourself in general and reduce your risk of inflammation, you can start with the basics, Dr. Gustave says. Here are seven simple, science-backed ways to reduce inflammation and boost your health overall.
Drink Less Alcohol
Cutting back on booze is one way to tamp down inflammation.
“The body recognizes alcohol as a toxin,” says Feller, so it’s no surprise that it gets a big reaction from your immune system. “The problem with alcohol is that it can very actively stimulate what we call ‘pro-inflammatory molecules’ that trigger more inflammation,” says Dr. Bayard.
And if you already have a chronic condition that causes your body to be at an “elevated level of inflammation,” drinking alcohol can make things worse, she says.
Drinking alcohol contributes to systemic inflammation (the kind that causes chronic diseases) by messing with your gut’s microbiome, liver function, and even brain. And all those symptoms you get during a hangover? They’re an inflammatory response, too—and their severity might reflect systemic inflammation caused by drinking, according to a 2024 study in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. The more intense your hangovers are, the more inflammation you’re probably experiencing—and this drinking-inflammation cycle may put you at significantly greater risk of long-term health problems like significant liver damage and tissue damage in your gut, the study found.
If you’re looking to make a change, you don’t have to go cold turkey.
“Reduce in a way that is realistic for you,” Feller says. The less alcohol, the better, but “moderate drinking” for a woman is described as one drink or less per day, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Cut Out Tobacco
Consuming tobacco in any form (cigarettes, vapes, and hookah) harms your gut and lungs, and when it comes to inflammation, smoking can put you at risk for developing chronic health issues. In fact, one of the most well-documented causes of rheumatoid arthritis is smoking. This is because inflammation—your body’s natural immune response—can be found wherever there’s cell or tissue damage, and smoking causes plenty of damage in your body, says Dr. Bayard. “If you’re inhaling something that can be damaging to the tissue, that’s an area where inflammation can then accumulate,” she says.
The bottom line? Stopping smoking will make a big difference on your overall health, and not just your inflammatory markers, says Dr. Gustave.
Get A Good Night’s Sleep
Getting enough quality sleep is easier said than done, but turns out it’s super important for your health and for mitigating inflammation in the body. This is because sleep is a vital part of our immune response. Sleep is restorative, and during sleep, your immune system releases messenger proteins that help healing and fight infections, Dr. Bayard says.
Inconsistent sleep may be associated with higher levels of inflammation, especially for women, according to a 2020 study in Frontiers in Neurology. Sleep disturbances like waking up in the middle of the night could trigger inflammatory responses in the body, the study found. Without deep, uninterrupted sleep, your body won’t have the time it needs to let your immune system regenerate and heal the acute inflammation in your body, says Dr. Bayard.
As for how much sleep you should get? You’ll need less as you get older, but six to seven hours is a good place to start, says Dr. Bayard.
Reduce Stress
Stress plays a role in inflammation, says Dr. Bayard. One major reason is that cortisol (a stress hormone) can cause your body to switch on genes that trigger an inflammatory response. Stress can prompt inflammation in the body and may even lead to conditions like depression, per a 2022 study in the journal Biomedicines. Finally, stress can disrupt your sleep, appetite, and mindfulness, which all play a role in inflammation, Dr. Bayard says.
Get Some Physical Activity In
Exercise can decrease inflammation by releasing proteins that lower an inflammatory response and helping metabolize excess sugars in the bloodstream, says Feller.
While it doesn’t quite matter what you do—just as long as you’re active for about 30 minutes most days—if you’re concerned with inflammation, high-impact exercise might not be the way to go. That’s because exercise that is too hard on your body could cause more inflammation, says Dr. Bayard. (Everyone is different, so pick whatever gets you moving and see how it feels for you.)
If you’re not sure where to start, low-impact exercise might be just what you need to manage inflammation (without going overboard or stressing your body out). Biking, walking with supportive shoes, swimming, or hopping on the elliptical are all examples of low-impact workouts that can help you get all of exercise’s anti-inflammatory benefits.
Be Mindful Of Additives And Processed Foods
Sugar, salt, and processed foods might be hard to avoid, but they can play a role in inflammation. High levels of sugar can promote tissue damage and breakdown, leading to more inflammation, says Dr. Bayard, and eating processed foods pose a challenge to our digestion, which can promote inflammation in the gut.
“We’re learning a lot about how these chemicals that we take in impact our body,” says Dr. Bayard, but striving to eat less of them could help.
Eat The Rainbow
Finally, diet plays a role in inflammation, and WH has you covered with an anti-inflammatory food guide (think: plenty of nutritious whole foods packed with omega-3s and plant-based options). In addition to following that diet, a Mediterranean diet promotes eating limited red meat, green vegetables, and non-processed foods, all of which can be anti-inflammatory, says Dr. Bayard.
Overall, the key to reducing inflammation in your body is prioritizing variety and non-processed foods.
“If people can eat 30 different diverse plant foods over the course of the week, that’s very beneficial for gut health,” says Feller. “And we know that the gut has a big role in terms of immune health and also inflammatory conditions throughout the body.”
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