Chronic low-grade systemic inflammation –termed "inflammaging" by researcher Claudio Franceschi in 2000 –is now recognized as the central biological mechanism driving age-related disease and functional decline. It is not a disease itself but a condition that accelerates virtually every pathological aging process.
Unlike acute inflammation (which heals a wound or fights an infection), inflammaging operates below the threshold of clinical symptoms. You cannot feel it, but it is measurably present through elevated biomarkers: C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and others. Over decades, this persistent low-level inflammatory state degrades every system.
The mechanisms are well-documented: inflammaging shortens telomeres (the protective caps on chromosomes that determine cellular lifespan), damages mitochondrial DNA (reducing cellular energy production), disrupts insulin signaling (creating metabolic dysfunction), impairs immune surveillance (reducing the body's ability to eliminate senescent "zombie cells"), and promotes arterial plaque formation.
The primary lifestyle drivers of inflammaging are: poor sleep quality (particularly reduced deep sleep), refined sugar and processed food consumption (which trigger endotoxemia through gut barrier disruption), chronic psychological stress (sustained cortisol → NF-κB activation), sedentary behavior (which reduces anti-inflammatory myokine production from muscles), gut dysbiosis (imbalanced microbiome → immune dysregulation), and visceral fat accumulation (adipose tissue actively secretes inflammatory cytokines).
The longevity solution is not an anti-inflammatory supplement. It is a systematic restructuring of the behaviors that drive inflammation. Every pillar of the Ava protocol –sleep optimization, circadian alignment, metabolic restructuring, movement, stress reduction –targets inflammation reduction as its foundational mechanism.