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Inflammaging has been quite the buzzword, floating around the internet for a few years now. We’ve all seen it, but the science behind it feels so complicated that we may be tempted to keep scrolling.
But the idea behind inflammaging may be more relevant to your everyday life than you think. Stress, inflammation, and aging are closely connected, and the habits that support how your body responds to stress may also play a role in how you age.
So, what exactly is inflammaging, what does chronic stress have to do with it, and what can you do to support healthier aging? Let’s break it down.
The Slow Burn: What Inflammaging Actually Is
Inflammaging refers to chronic, low-grade inflammation that occurs in your body even when there is no injury or infection.
As you get older, changes begin to occur in your body at the cellular level, changing how your immune system responds to infections, injuries, and irritants. Chronic inflammation plays a significant role in this process. Inflammation speeds up aging, and aging, in turn, causes more inflammation. It’s a vicious cycle.1, 2
You may not notice any symptoms at first. But over time, inflammation can damage your body and has been associated with many age-related health conditions, including cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.³
Your Body's Alarm System: What Triggers Inflammation
When your body senses a threat, such as an injury or infection, your immune system kicks into gear. Immune cells, such as white blood cells and cytokines, rush to the area and begin trapping and destroying germs, neutralizing toxins, and repairing and rebuilding damaged tissues.4
Short-term inflammation can be a very good thing. Your immune system is doing what it was designed to do. But if inflammation doesn’t turn off when it should, it can harm your body.
What is Acute inflammation?
Acute inflammation is the body’s short-term response to an injury or infection. For example, if you sprain your ankle, your immune system jumps into action. It sends white blood cells and other immune cells to the site to repair the damage and protect it from further damage. The ankle may become red, warm, and swollen. It may become tender to the touch, and the area may look discolored. This is normal inflammation that protects the area and helps your body heal.
While your body repairs the damage, the ankle may look and feel unpleasant, but the process is beneficial overall. Over time, the swelling, pain, and discoloration slowly disappear as the area heals and the tissues return to their pre-injury condition.1, 3
However, if inflammation does not go away after an injury or infection, or if it occurs without injury or infection, the process can damage healthy tissue.5
What is Chronic Inflammation?
Chronic inflammation occurs when the immune system remains active for long periods and inflammation persists for months or years, even when no injury or infection is present.1
This constant state of immune activity can cause damage throughout the body over time. Chronic inflammation has been linked to a range of health conditions, including cardiovascular, metabolic, autoimmune, gastrointestinal, and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as some types of cancer.
Inflammation is also thought to play a role in many of the health changes and conditions commonly associated with aging.³ But age isn’t the only factor that can influence chronic inflammation. Everyday factors, including ongoing stress, can also affect the body’s inflammatory response.
The Stress-Inflammation Loop: How Cortisol Turns Against You
Stress sets off your body’s “fight-or-flight” response, preparing you to deal with a temporary threat. As part of that response, your body releases hormones and activates immune processes designed to protect you.
One of those hormones is cortisol. In the short term, cortisol helps regulate the immune response and keep inflammation in check. Once the stressful situation passes, cortisol levels typically come back down and the body returns to its normal state.
But when stress becomes chronic, that system can become disrupted. Over time, the body may become less responsive to cortisol’s anti-inflammatory effects, making it harder to properly regulate inflammation. This can contribute to the persistent, low-grade inflammation associated with inflammaging.²˒⁷
So, chronic stress doesn’t just affect how you feel in the moment. Its effects on inflammation may also have longer-term implications for how your body ages.
How Does Inflammation Speed Up Aging?
Chronic inflammation can cause changes on a cellular level. These changes affect several vital areas, such as:
- How your cells divide and replicate
- How your body breaks down and reuses damaged or unnecessary cells
- How your body senses and metabolizes nutrients
- How well your mitochondria work
These changes can make it harder for your body to heal and repair itself at the cellular level.
Inflammation that was meant to promote healing now damages healthy tissues, leading to age-associated changes and more inflammation.1, 2
Slowing the Clock: What Actually Helps With Inflammaging
There is good news. While you cannot control every aspect of inflammation and aging, you can influence several key factors:1, 3, 5
- Avoid exposure to toxins, hazardous chemicals, and pollution.
- Eat a healthy diet filled with colorful vegetables and fruits.8
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Get plenty of exercise.9
- Maintain regular sleep patterns.
- Avoid tobacco and alcohol.
- Practice stress management techniques.
How Can Vagus Nerve Stimulation Help Decrease Inflammation?
The vagus nerve is a crucial pathway stretching between your brain and your body. It affects a variety of essential organs and functions, including the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems, and plays a significant role in regulating emotions.
As research continues, new applications keep emerging. The versatility and convenience of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapies have piqued the interest of many doctors and scientists. Recent research also indicates it can reduce inflammation by activating anti-inflammatory pathways in the vagus nerve.10
Dr. Peter Staats, the Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of electroCore, has extensive experience with VNS therapy. In a study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, Dr. Peter Staats and his associates explored the uses of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation, and their findings were promising.
The study found that the vagus nerve may play a significant role in the inflammatory response.
When the brain recognizes chronic inflammation, it sends a signal down to the spleen via the anti-inflammatory pathway located in the vagus nerve, signaling the immune system to reduce the inflammatory response or stop it entirely. Evidence suggests that external stimulation of the vagus nerve may reduce inflammation through this same pathway.10, 11
Supporting Your Body's Anti-Inflammatory Pathway With Truvaga
Inflammaging isn’t something you can stop entirely; aging and some degree of inflammation are part of being human. However, the pathway connecting chronic stress, cortisol, and inflammation is one you may be able to influence, particularly through the vagus nerve’s role in regulating the body’s inflammatory response.
Truvaga offers a non-invasive way to support this pathway directly. Built on electroCore’s patented vagus nerve stimulation technology, Truvaga delivers targeted stimulation in two-minute sessions designed to fit into a daily routine, without medication or a lengthy time commitment.
Vagus nerve stimulation is a safe and effective treatment for a variety of medical, mental, and practical needs.
Combined with lifestyle factors like sleep, diet, movement, and stress management, vagus nerve stimulation is an additional tool for addressing inflammaging at its source rather than only managing its downstream effects.
Frequently Asked Questions About Inflammaging And The Vagus Nerve:
What is inflammaging?
Inflammaging is chronic, low-grade inflammation that persists in the body even without injury or infection, and it tends to increase with age. Unlike acute inflammation, which resolves once healing is complete, inflammaging continues in the background and is linked to many conditions associated with aging, including cardiovascular and metabolic disease.
How does chronic stress contribute to inflammaging?
Chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated for extended periods. While cortisol initially helps limit inflammation, prolonged high levels can suppress immune function and leave the body more susceptible to both infection and further inflammation, creating a cycle that accelerates cellular aging.
Can inflammaging be reversed or slowed down?
While aging itself can’t be stopped, inflammaging can be influenced. Diet, regular exercise, consistent sleep, avoiding tobacco and alcohol, and stress management techniques, including vagus nerve stimulation, have all been shown to help regulate the inflammatory processes linked to aging.
How does vagus nerve stimulation help reduce inflammation?
The vagus nerve connects the brain to the spleen through an anti-inflammatory pathway. When this pathway is activated, it signals the immune system to reduce or stop excessive inflammatory responses. Research suggests external vagus nerve stimulation may activate this same pathway, offering a non-invasive way to help regulate chronic inflammation.
References:
- Baechle, J. J., Chen, N., Makhijani, P., Winer, S., Furman, D., & Winer, D. A. (2023). Chronic inflammation and the hallmarks of aging. Molecular Metabolism, 74, 101755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755
- Yegorov, Y. E., Poznyak, A. V., Nikiforov, N. G., Sobenin, I. A., & Orekhov, A. N. (2020). The Link between Chronic Stress and Accelerated Aging. Biomedicines, 8(7), 198. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines8070198
- Dugan, B., Conway, J., & Duggal, N. A. (2023). Inflammaging as a target for healthy ageing. Age and Ageing, 52(2). https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afac328
- Noble, D. (2024, January 3). Chronic inflammation: What it is, why it’s bad, and how you can reduce it. Mayo Clinic Press. https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/healthy-eating/chronic-inflammation-what-it-is-why-its-bad-and-how-you-can-reduce-it/
- Cleveland Clinic. (2024, March 22). Inflammation: What is it, causes, symptoms & treatment. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/21660-inflammation
- Cleveland Clinic. (2023, December 1). What Happens When Your Immune System Gets Stressed Out? Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-happens-when-your-immune-system-gets-stressed-out
- Harvanek, Z. M., Fogelman, N., Xu, K., & Sinha, R. (2021). Psychological and biological resilience modulates the effects of stress on epigenetic aging. Translational Psychiatry, 11(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01735-7
- Ease chronic inflammation with groceries. (n.d.). Mayo Clinic Health System. Retrieved September 23, 2026, from https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/want-to-ease-chronic-inflammation
- Lo, C. N., Wong, N. E. J. W., Ho, S., Ang, E. J. H., & Leung, B. P. L. (2025). Evaluating the Effects of Exercise on Inflammation Markers in Musculoskeletal Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports, 13(6), 168. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports13060168
- Lombo, L. E., Tejada-Perdomo, J. H., Ramos-Castaneda, J. A., & Garcia, R. G. (2025). Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Autoimmune Conditions: A Systematic Review. In ACR open rheumatology (Vol. 7, Issue 12, p. e70137). PubMed Central. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr2.70137
- Ingram, N. T., Daniels, C., Riggins, N., Stevane, J. R., & Staats, P. S. (2026). Without getting under your skin: non-invasive stimulation activates the vagus nerve. In Frontiers in neuroscience (Vol. 20, p. 1829474). PubMed Central. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2026.1829474
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