Fight Inflammation in a Shockingly Small Amount of Time

Twenty minutes, not even a whole episode of Seinfeld, is all it takes to reduce inflammation according to a new study.

Researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine took 47 people, took a blood sample, and then had them walk on a treadmill for twenty minutes. This wasn’t even an intense workout, closer to fast walking than jogging or really getting a sweat going. After twenty minutes getting a fairly moderate, and short, amount of exercise in, the subjects were then given another blood test.

The team looked for something called TNF. It’s a protein that our body produces when inflammation occurs. While inflammation is a healing process for our bodies, the more inflammation we produce often means the worse off we are, especially for those people who have inflammation issues or conditions like arthritis.

The blood tests showed that the participants TNF had a 5% decrease. Now 5% might seem small, but in such a short period of time the scientists considered the findings to be impressive numbers. And this was just the first time. Putting that kind of work in every day may have longer term impacts on inflammation in the body. And – as we learned in Bill Gifford’s Spring Chicken – many problems of aging are connected to an increase in inflammation in the body. Lower inflammation – and you may slow down the aging process.

So we always recommend hitting the gym – especially a HIIT gym, make sure you fit in 20 minutes of some type of exercise or movement every day. Get your blood pumping a little faster than usual, and you’ll still reap some benefits.

-Shane M.