It’s inflammation. Yes, that notorious health villain. Ground-breaking new research shows that if you practise a few simple strategies after your workout, it will actually help you build muscle, boost immunity and fight stress. Learn to harness the benefits.
It’s inflammation. Yes, that notorious health villain. Ground-breaking new research shows that if you practise a few simple strategies after your workout, it will actually help you build muscle, boost immunity and fight stress. Learn to harness the benefits.
Inflammation is one of the hottest health topics of the year. But until now, the focus has been solely on the damage it causes. As it turns out, that’s not the whole story. Researchers have recently discovered that inflammation can actually make us healthier. It has powerful healing effects and is a critical component of the immune system, says Joanne Donoghue, an exercise physiologist at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine. You need it to generate muscle, heal from injuries and even power through a tough day. The way it works is this: “Whenever you strength- train or do cardiovascular exercise, you’re creating mini-traumas in your muscles,” Joanne explains. That triggers inflammation, which prompts the release of chemicals and hormones to repair the affected tissue and leads to stronger muscle fibres. Your bones also benefit, says Maria Urso, a human performance consultant with O2X, a wellness education company in the US. The load placed on your bones during strength training creates tiny divots in their weak areas, and inflammation kicks off a process that fills in those spots with new, stronger bone.
Inflammation is also crucial to recovering from an injury. Say you roll your ankle while running. “Within minutes, white blood cells rush to the injury site,” says Dr Wajahat Zafar Mehal, an associate professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. They assess the damage and fire up clusters of molecules known as inflammasomes, which activate small proteins that make your ankle turn red and swell. These inflammatory symptoms draw immune cells to the area to begin the healing process, Dr Mehal explains. Preliminary animal studies show that workout-induced inflammation may even cause the immune system to operate more efficiently. That means inflammation created by exercise could potentially help to fight colds.
But like most health issues, the process is complicated. Inflammation is healthy only in moderation. “When inflammation is at a high level all the time, it creates chronic wear and tear on healthy tissues and organs,” says Dr Charles Raison, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health who studies the condition. Carrying excess weight, not getting enough rest, or exercising too much all can cause the good-for-you inflammatory response to veer into the danger zone.
The key to reaping the benefits of post-exercise inflammation is to keep it at a balanced level. The following three techniques will help you use its power without allowing it to spiral out of control.
Stretch it out
Rather than collapsing on the couch after a tough workout, take a walk, do some light yoga or use a foam roller. After exercise, your muscles leak out a protein called creatine kinase, which your kidneys need to filter from the blood.
If you sit still, the damaged proteins accumulate, and this may result in more inflammatory-control cells coming into the area and delaying recovery.
“By moving your muscles, you increase blood flow to those areas,” Maria explains. “This helps flush out the waste products so your body can repair itself.”
Embrace the ache
When the soreness from your boot camp class is intense, don’t pop ibuprofen. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Nsaids) such as these prevent normal exercise-induced inflammation from occurring, which could keep your body from building and strengthening your muscles, Maria says. Translation: Your workout is a lot less effective.
Taking ibuprofen might even increase your risk of injury, Chinese researchers report. In studies, they found Nsaids interfere with bone rebuilding, leaving you vulnerable to stress fractures and osteoporosis. Save the medications for more severe injuries like muscle tears.
For regular soreness, try menthol patches like Salonpas Pain Relief Patch ($5.65, leading pharmacies), which have proven analgesic properties but won’t interfere with inflammation.
Take a break
Follow every super-intense workout with an easy or rest day, suggests Dr Chad Asplund, the medical director of athletics sports medicine at Georgia Southern University. Exercise creates free radicals (unstable molecules that damage cells). Normally, the body releases antioxidants to neutralise these, but if you keep pushing yourself to the limit day after day, the free radicals overwhelm your body’s defences, creating a condition known as oxidative stress. This causes harmful chronic inflammation, which tears down muscles rather than build them up.
Watch out for symptoms like plummeting endurance, strength, energy and motivation; irritability; frequent illness; and insomnia. These are signs that you should take at least two full days off, Joanne says, then dial back your exercise schedule by 30 to 40 per cent for the next two or three weeks in order to recover.
