The Silent Fire Behind Chronic Disease—and How to Put It Out

Inflammation is the body’s natural way of healing, but when it
becomes chronic and hidden, it quietly drives many of today’s most
common health problems—heart disease, diabetes, dementia, cancer,
autoimmune conditions, and more. Unlike the redness and swelling
from a cut or sprain, this “silent inflammation” often goes
unnoticed while slowly damaging tissues and speeding up aging.
Modern life fuels the fire: processed foods, food additives,
pollution, plastics, chronic stress, too much sitting, and poor
sleep. The good news is inflammation can be calmed by simple daily
choices—eating colorful whole foods like berries, leafy greens,
beans, nuts, seeds, and omega-3 rich fish; adding herbs and spices
like turmeric and cumin; moving regularly; practicing relaxation;
and repairing gut health. Even small shifts, like climbing stairs,
eating within a shorter window, or reducing sugar, can make a big
difference. By lowering inflammation, the body finds balance again,
opening the door to more energy, resilience, and healthy aging. In
this episode, I discuss, along with Dr. Shilpa Ravella and Dr.
David Furman, why it’s important to be aware of systemic
inflammation and how to address it. Dr. Ravella is a
gastroenterologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia
University Medical Center. She is the author of A Silent Fire: The
Story of Inflammation, Diet & Disease, which investigates
inflammation—the hidden force at the heart of modern disease. Her
writing has appeared in The Atlantic, New York Magazine, The Wall
Street Journal, TIME, Slate, Discover, and USA Today, among other
publications.  Dr. David Furman is Associate Professor and
Director of the Bioinformatics Core at the Buck Institute for
Research on Aging, as well as the Director of the Stanford 1000
Immunomes Project. He obtained his doctoral degree in immunology
from the School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina,
for his work on cancer immune-surveillance. During his postdoctoral
training at the Stanford School of Medicine, Dr. Furman focused on
the application of advanced analytics to study the aging of the
immune system in humans. He has published nearly thirty scientific
articles in top-tier journals such as Cell, Nature Medicine, PNAS,
The Lancet, and others.  This episode is brought to you by
BIOptimizers. Head to bioptimizers.com/hyman and use code HYMAN to
save 15%. Full-length episodes can be found here:What Causes
Inflammation And How Can You Treat It? The Silent Killer:
Inflammation And Chronic Disease How Silent Inflammation
Accelerates Aging