More than seven out of every 10 deaths in Korea are caused by chronic diseases. Cancer, heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease top the statistics, and the medical community points to chronic inflammation as their common underlying cause. Inflammation is a normal immune response against bacteria, viruses, and injuries, but when it fails to resolve and persists, it becomes a risk factor for major chronic diseases.
On Wednesday, the international journal Nature Medicine published an analysis identifying chronic inflammation as a key factor that raises the risk of aging-related diseases and premature death.
The academic community has named the chronic low-grade inflammation that appears during the aging process "inflammaging," and views it as a precursor stage to various aging-related diseases. Repeated or prolonged fever, redness, swelling, and pain may be a sign that an inflammatory response is underway in the body.
A sedentary lifestyle, in which most of the day is spent sitting, is cited as a direct factor that raises inflammation risk. When physical activity decreases, energy metabolism declines and the function of muscles involved in suppressing inflammation also deteriorates. A study by the Cancer Council Victoria in Australia found that women with long sedentary hours had about twice the risk of developing breast cancer compared with women who did not.
The researchers said that prolonged sitting simultaneously triggers chronic inflammation and hormonal metabolic abnormalities, raising cancer risk. If chronic inflammation is prolonged, it can lead to compound health problems such as insulin resistance, arteriosclerosis, and muscle loss.
Lack of sleep also raises the inflammatory response. When sleep of six hours or less per day is repeated, the activity of proteins and immune cells that mediate the inflammatory response increases. In a study published in the international journal PLOS ONE, elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines were confirmed in participants whose sleep was restricted for five days.
A separate study found that repeated sleep of six hours or less raises dementia risk by 30%. A research team at UC Berkeley confirmed that fragmented sleep is linked to chronic inflammation in the bloodstream, which leads to plaque buildup in the coronary arteries. The recommended sleep time for adults is seven to nine hours per day.
Chronic stress also triggers inflammation. When stress accumulates, cortisol balance collapses and the immune system's inflammation-regulating function deteriorates. According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the telomeres of women experiencing chronic stress shortened to a level equivalent to someone 10 years older, and when cortisol levels doubled, biological aging progressed about 50% faster.
"They looked so healthy — how could this happen so suddenly?" What is this "thing" that endangers even people who appear perfectly fine?
