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The_rationalist | 3 years ago

An open question would be wether the baseline inflammation level could be lowered if we implemented a periodic but rarer higher inflammatory level. So a ~flatline vs a sinusoid. It could be pharmacologically simulated.

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dashmeet|3 years ago

Sounds like exercise or maybe a dry sauna would be a cost effective non pharmaceutical way, short term increase in inflammation that results in a long term decrease in inflammation. Same thing with injuries and fractures but that’s more unrelated.

hirundo|3 years ago

Hormesis and the hygiene hypothesis suggest that "working out" can be good for the immune system too. Unfortunately variolation has become a difficult topic.

The_rationalist|3 years ago

I don't think doing exercise trigger an inflammatory (immune) response although I might be wrong. Either way your point stand regarding its paradoxical effect on oxidative stress.

toshk|3 years ago

Somewhat related to your idea, they seem to have some success with parasitic therapy with things like Crone. Introduce a "harmless" parasite (worm) and the body's immunesystem to trigger it. Not sure how long they keep it in the body, seems to be mostly for a longer time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helminthic_therapy

andreareina|3 years ago

I don't think I've seen any serious suggestions that inflammation per se causes beneficial adaptations. Rather, <some activity> imposes a stress and the recovery/adaption process is mediated by inflammation, i.e. the why of the inflammation is important.

epgui|3 years ago

The basal inflammation level is in fact in large part periodic due to the cortisol cycle.