The Impact of Social Stressors on Chronic Inflammation

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The comparison with influencers and rock stars can lead to chronic stress and feelings of inadequacy.
The high workload in our society contributes to occupational stress.
Caring for cancer patients can be a major social stressor, leading to high levels of chronic inflammation.
There is a clear association between psychological stress and systemic chronic inflammation.
People in poverty or with lower socioeconomic status may experience higher levels of chronic inflammation.

Ian Sample talks to Dr David Furman, an expert on inflammation and ageing at Stanford University. He explains how chronic inflammation is affecting our health and how lifestyle choices can help us fight it. This episode has been updated from an earlier version which stated that dairy is a cause of inflammation. Current scientific evidence suggests dairy has a negligible to marginally positive impact on inflammation in humans.. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod