As we age, our body changes. We become less of the person we were in our thirties, forties, or fifties. It becomes more difficult to maintain a youthful-looking body. Even more difficult to maintain a healthy and high-performance body. The more we advance with our age, the more complicated our health problems might be.

While there is no exact formula to predict how our bodies are going to change, there is one underlying process in the body that occurs as we age. This process is known as inflammation.

Inflammation is the immune system's response to injury or any compromise that our bodies experience. In the short term, it can be beneficial, and necessary, in the long run, it can be detrimental ⁷ .

However, during the aging process, most of us run the risk of increased, long-term (that is, chronic) inflammation ¹⁷ . This type of inflammation is low-grade; it develops slowly over time as we age ¹⁴ . Unfortunately, this aging-related process has also been associated with hastening the biological process of aging ¹⁴ .

Such age-related, chronic, low-grade inflammation is known as Inflammaging ⁸ .

Critically, inflammaging can also contribute to and worsen various age-related diseases, including cancer, chronic heart diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, or conditions such as Alzheimer's ^14,12,10,5 . It also contributes significantly to the increased mortality risk as we age.

Inflammaging was first coined in 2000 by the Italian immunologist Claudio Franceschi ¹¹ . Over the past two decades, scientific research has made significant progress in understanding better what inflammaging is, how it differs from acute inflammation, and how it is related to age-related diseases.

Inflammaging & Age-Related Diseases

Inflammaging can precede a variety of age-related diseases. Scientific research has revealed that:

• Chronic low-grade inflammation has been associated with aging and plays a causative role in several age-related diseases such as cancer, atherosclerosis, and osteoarthritis ^9,5,2 ;
• Chronic low-grade inflammation can also contribute to and worsen various age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, type II diabetes, and chronic heart diseases ^14,12,10 ;
• Last but not least, age-related chronic low-grade inflammation has been recognized as a significant factor for sarcopenia (muscle deterioration). As we age, our tissues accumulate high levels of inflammatory cell signaling molecules (cytokines). These molecules, signaling inflammation contribute to the degeneration of our muscles ^{1, 6} .

Light Therapy can counteract some inflammatory cytokines ¹⁵ since they can be induced by oxidative stress and Light Therapy alleviates oxidative stress .

Inflammaging & The Immune System

Inflammation may be beneficial to your body, as long as it triggers the immune system to fight pathogens or to promote wound healing ⁷ . This would require the body to produce new cells and repair damaged tissue. In contrast, inflammaging opposes the body's immune system. Inflammaging creates a chronic, low-grade, persistent background of inflammation that leads to poor tissue repair, and degeneration ¹⁸ .

Inflammation also relates to the production of senescent cells, aging cells that are unable to divide ⁴ . Senescent cells normally occur throughout our entire lifetime. They can have beneficial roles in a variety of psychological and pathological processes, including embryogenesis (the embryo formation out of the fertilized egg cell), wound healing, host immunity (e.g., protection from infections), and tumor suppression ⁴ .

However, the steady accumulation of senescent cells with age also has adverse consequences. The cells begin to occupy key cellular niches and stimulate the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (signaling molecules), which contribute to aging-related diseases and morbidity ¹³ .

While inflammaging may be an ongoing background process in your body, remember that you can always ease it down by eating healthy food and engaging in regular exercise and physical activity. By taking steps to live a healthy lifestyle, you will also reduce the risk of age-related diseases ¹⁹ .

Mitochondria & Inflammaging

Mitochondria are the powerhouses of your cells and your body, providing you with energy, and maintaining your health . But aging and decline of your immune system mean that your mitochondria are inevitably affected, too.

Your body begins to accumulate cell debris, which is inappropriate and incomplete cell destruction and clearance that is a byproduct of the aging process ³ . Cell debris consists of damaged cell organelles (a cell's subunits). Generally, the immune system leads the charge of cleaning up cell debris. However, when the body retains cell debris, it's more prone to persistent inflammation.

For instance, aged and damaged mitochondria (organelles) releases DAMPs (mitochondria-derived damage-associated molecular patterns). Since these signal to the body that the mitochondria are failing, scientific research has associated DAMPs with inflammaging and age-related diseases ²⁰ . Healthy mitochondria are absolutely essential for preventing inflammaging and promoting healthy aging.

Can You Limit Chronic Low-Grade Inflammation?

Chronic low-grade inflammation is harmful. It can accelerate age-related diseases, lower the quality of life, and, ultimately, speed up the aging process. However, there are a few things that we can do to limit inflammaging and its consequences.

Scientists are already developing therapies that can selectively destroy senescent cells (cells that stopped growing) to reduce inflammation. This could be a clinical intervention for managing inflammaging.

There are a number of lifestyle choices that you can personally do to reduce inflammaging. One key step is to make sure you get enough sleep ¹⁶ . Sleep is essential in helping your body recover and rejuvenate; lowering the negative side-effects of aging and inflammation ¹⁶ .

Proper nutrition is also vital. Such as adjusting your diet with food choices that can reduce oxidative stress or background inflammation in your body. Making sure that you eat food rich in antioxidants such as vegetables and fruits is always a good idea.

Finally, you can always opt-in for Light Therapy treatments. Light Therapy reduces inflammation and oxidative stress . It also heals the body at the cellular level, thus strengthens it or helps it to recover faster from a vast array of conditions. Always feel free to reach out to our team via Facebook or Twitter to discuss the benefits of Light Therapy for your health.

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