At Hello Joyous we are committed to supporting your health inside and out through both educational articles and beautifully crafted, plant-powered organic beauty products and wellness teas.

Today we want to look at how chronic inflammation accelerates the aging process, especially when it comes to the structure and tone of your skin. In this post we’ll outline everything you need to know about what inflammaging is, how it messes with your skin, what factors contribute to inflammaging, and our top diet and lifestyle tips to help you age with grace!

What is inflammaging?

Inflammation is often associated with pain, redness and swelling, typically in response to a stressor such as spraining your ankle. This process is your body's way of healing or fighting off infections, injuries, or toxins and is associated with an acute reaction. That means the inflammatory response is temporary– your body releases chemicals that trigger a healing response and once the stimuli is gone, the inflammation resolves as well.

However, when we’re talking about inflammaging, what we’re concerned with is chronic inflammation. This is characterized by the body continuously producing inflammatory chemicals, leaving your body in a constant state of alert.

Enter inflammaging, defined as chronic inflammation that accelerates the aging process. It is associated with chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis, heart disease, type II diabetes, and cancer.

From the outside, it's associated with declining skin structure and function (aka aging skin). Now we are very much pro-aging at Hello Joyous. But we want you to age as healthfully and gracefully as you can, by supporting the health of your skin starting on the inside! The best way to do that is to learn what causes inflammaging and then to take small steps every single day to lower your likelihood of experiencing chronic inflammation.

What factors increase inflammaging?

When it comes to factors that can contribute to chronic inflammation and inflammaging, there are a few things to be aware of. The following factors can cause or exacerbate inflammaging:

• Environmental pollutants
• An inflammatory diet that is high in omega-6 fats, refined carbohydrates, and sugars and low in anti-inflammatory fruits, veggies, healthy fats, and fibre. 
• Chronic stress 
• Smoking 
• Blood sugar imbalances and obesity 
• Radiation exposure  
• Excessive alcohol consumption 
• An imbalanced gut microbiome
• Lack of high quality sleep 
• Inflammatory or drying skincare products

Another cause is cellular senescence. This means that cells permanently stop dividing, but they don't die. They hang out inside the body stimulating pro-inflammatory chemicals to be released.

Aging is a normal biological process that happens to us all as we get older. Unfortunately, our foods and habits can speed up this process by providing the perfect storm for inflammation to occur. The good news is there are many things we can control from our dietary patterns to our lifestyle habits to slow down and dampen inflammaging.

Top diet and lifestyle tips to prevent inflammaging

Based on the list above, there are lots of things within your control that you can shift in your daily life to help prevent inflammaging. Below are our top diet and lifestyle tips to inspire you to age gracefully, sporting healthy, glowing skin through each decade of life!

1. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet

The foundation for many other healthy habits is often built upon an anti-inflammatory diet that is nourishing for the body. Not only does eating this way help lower your risk of chronic inflammation, many of the best anti-inflammatory foods are super nourishing for your skin as well. This list of foods reduces inflammaging because they contain anti-inflammatory properties such as certain vitamins and minerals or phytonutrients that can calm inflammatory chemicals. Many of them also support the gut microbiome, which plays a role in inflammation, thanks to polyphenols and other prebiotic properties.

Build a diet rich in the following:

• Leafy greens–spinach, kale, arugula 
• Fatty fish rich in omega-3s–salmon, sardines, mackerel 
• Avocados 
• Berries–so rich in antioxidants and low in sugar!
• Nuts and seeds–walnuts, almonds, macadamias, pumpkin seeds, hemp hearts, flax
• Herbs and spices–ginger, turmeric, mint, lemon balm
• Collagen–so important for gut, skin, hair, and nail health!

You can boost your antioxidant intake by sipping on teas rich in anti-inflammatory herbs and spices, like our bestselling Rise & Shine Tea that has a base of ginger, turmeric, and cinnamon. You can also support your gut health while improving your body’s detox capacities by incorporating the liver-loving, super delicious Everyday Detox Tea into your routine!

2. Get high quality sleep

When we sleep our body is hard at work clearing up the debris from the day, lowering our blood pressure, and otherwise making sure everything is staying balanced on the inside. If we are consistently missing out our deep, healing rest we can experience higher levels of inflammaging.

We suggest developing your own end-of-day routine to start unwinding and preparing your brain and body for deep rest. Make sure you’re eliminating blue light from your cell phone and laptops in the evening (you can use the Night Shift setting!) and if you watch a lot of TV after dark, you might want to invest in a pair of blue light blocking glasses.

You might enjoy some gentle stretching, meditation, deep breathing, reading, a warm epsom salt bath, or other activities to help you unwind. The important thing is that you give yourself time to transition from the busyness of the day to the calmness needed for restorative rest.

You’ll find us sipping on a cuppa T.L.C. Tea every evening because the floral, honey-sweet blend of organic chamomile, lemon balm, passion flower, and lavender are designed to help you relax and unwind at the end of your day.

3. Move your booty

Research finds that as little as 20 minutes of lower intensity exercise a day helps lower inflammatory chemicals in the body. The key to daily exercise is to find something that you love doing and feel you can regularly incorporate into your life. If you hate doing it, chances are it will be the first thing you drop from your schedule when life gets busy. And remember that more isn’t always better! Too much exercise without adequate time between to allow your body to rest and repair can actually increase inflammation. So find your sweet spot and don’t push yourself to the edge!

4. Manage your stress

This step is always easier said than done because who amongst us in this modern world isn’t battling some form of stress on the daily? With that said, try focusing on the things that you can control in your day. Can you take a few minutes to practice some deep breathing to help activate your rest and digest, parasympathetic nervous system? Maybe you incorporate some mindfulness practices into your day. Or you can combine movement with stress reduction and try yoga, pilates, tai chi, or qi gong. Whatever it is, find something that you can commit to regularly to help lower your stress response, thereby decreasing inflammatory markers.

5. Sip up skin-soothing nutrients

To prevent inflammaging we can also take a targeted approach to skin health. Start on the inside by sipping on an organic wellness tea specially formulated to support gut and skin health: Pure Radiance Tea! Sip your way to glowing skin with an antioxidant-rich organic blend of functional skin-loving herbs including nettle, rose and moringa. Green and white tea provide loads of beauty-boosting benefits and a gentle hit of caffeine, while also being rich in antioxidants to help manage inflammation. You'll feel more radiant with every sip!

If you want to boost your intake of anti-inflammatory herbs and spices simply and deliciously, try our Tea Rituals Bundle! You can save 10% when you order all four of our healing, organic wellness teas at once. Find your favourite or make a moment in your routine for each unique cuppa!

6. Support and soothe your skin, naturally!

Finally, what you put on your skin can impact its vibrance, suppleness, and tone. If you are constantly using harsh products that strip your skin barrier or disrupt your skin microbiome it can lead to inflammatory skin conditions and premature aging.

That’s why we formulated a gentle, but effective organic skincare line loaded with anti-inflammatory plant botanicals and soothing oils. Each product is designed to ensure your skin stays hydrated, moisturized, and infused with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants to support healthy aging and a natural glow. Caring for your skin is the ultimate act of self-love and we've made it easier than ever by curating a bundle that contains our entire organic skincare line. It's the perfect way to truly nourish your skin with pure organic botanicals that are rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds.

In four simple steps, you can cleanse, balance, hydrate and nourish your way to healthy glowing skin, naturally. Start by gently cleansing your skin with our Fresh Face Cleanser, made with a base of organic golden jojoba, comfrey root, and chamomile extract. It helps promote a healthy skin tone leaving your skin supple and fresh.

Next give your skin a spritz with our Magical Mist Toner to help balance your skin’s pH and provide a dewy surface to apply your Hella Hydrating Serum! This blend of two simple ingredients, organic cold-pressed rosehip oil and hyaluronic acid, is designed to brighten and deeply moisturize your skin, while nourishing it with anti-inflammatory fatty acids. The combination helps reduce the appearance of fine lines for a hella good glow!

Finally, the eyes never lie! Help reduce dark circles and increase the smoothness and suppleness of the delicate skin around your eyes with our Eye Elixir. It’s Super rich in antioxidants that prevent premature aging and fatty acids that soften and increase the suppleness of the delicate skin around the eyes. 

If you want to dive in to more educational posts, please check out how hormonal imbalances can impact your skin, the best ways to support peri-menopausal skin, and lifestyle tips for acne-prone skin.

We hope these tips will help you support the natural, healthy aging process of your skin so that you can meet each day rocking your natural glow for each decade of life!