Frictionless Living?

Inflammation is a key medical concept that has been incorporated into a useful illustrative idea in Longevity Science and Wellbeing. The four facets of inflammation in medicine are captured by the Latin terms rubor, dolor, tumor, and calor: redness, pain, swelling, and heat. The analogy of a bodily system heating up describes the friction caused by less-than-optimal operation of cellular machinery, resulting in excess energy requirements and wear at the interface.

Some inflammation is a necessary part of life. Living involves interacting with our surroundings, which inevitably involves give and take. At a cellular level, where the cell membrane ends, the outside world begins. This fine line negotiates the exchange of useful materials in both directions. This interface between “you” and “non-you” causes friction across that differential.

Thus, we live along a spectrum of inflammation and expend energy to operate within that level of friction, much like any other object on our planet. However, our aspiration can still be to mitigate and minimize this friction, moving ourselves in an anti-inflammatory direction along the spectrum, away from pro-inflammatory influences.

Pro-inflammatory Influences vs. Anti-inflammatory Influences

	Pro-inflammatory Influences		Anti-inflammatory Influences
Daytime state	Stress Sedentary or inactive lifestyle		Peak of stress-performance curve & strategies to prevent over-reaching beyond it High levels of activity, mostly gentle movement (eg standing desk) with a mixture of aerobic and anaerobic exercise, outdoors where possible
Diet	High sugar, UPFs, refined carbs, alcohol, tar		Wholegrain foods, home-cooked from reliably sourced ingredients High protein, sourced from mostly vegetables/nuts & minimal meat Adequate hydration
Sleep	Interrupted, sedated (alcohol or medication), shortened duration, jet lag/shift work		Sufficient good quality
Physical state	Tiredness, limited exercise tolerance, obesity, diabetes, pain		Energy, flexibility eg through yoga, strength and endurance, able to sense the right pace for your body (interoception)
Emotional state	Anxious, agitated, angry, depressed, pessimistic/negative, fearful		Positivity, gratitude, awareness, good-humoured and able to laugh,  confidence, joy
Social state	Isolated, outsider feeling, weak or insecure connections/attachments		Adaptable, strong sense of connection and belonging, Love.

We are often told about the Anti-Inflammatory Diet, and it is an attractive idea to hold our diet accountable for the whole of our lifestyle. However, it cannot be as simple as focusing on just this one aspect, given the multi-faceted variables in our busy lives. Even when considering the gastrointestinal tract, what we ingest is only one part of what influences its health: stress hormones affect gut motility, sleep affects appetite hormones (ghrelin and leptin), and activity levels influence the absorption rate of sugar and even how quickly we ingest it—all of which go on to affect our gut microbiome. This, in turn, impacts our gut lining and communicates back to our bodies through neurotransmitter secretion.

We are far better off to address our lives as a whole, overwhelming as this might initially seem. But tackling each aspect gradually in a prioritised way, with the help of a coaching style conversation if you need, this becomes our life’s work: to maintain the foundation of our physical and mental wellbeing.

It is important to note that there are only a proportion of factors affecting our level of inflammation that are under our control, and many factors are beyond our influence. Bearing the responsibility of trying to change what we cannot control is a contributing factor to high stress levels, leading to distress, mediated by emotions such as regret, recrimination, anxiety, and shame. Paradoxically, these negative emotions and the hopelessness that arises from embarking on a futile task escalate our levels of inflammation and undermine our foundations.

So we have to be clear about those inflammatory factors we can change and those we have to accept. In doing so we conserve our energy to modulate our pace and rhythm, reducing the friction as we navigate as consistently as possible to keep to the slipstream of flow as we encounter the inevitable turbulence of life.