Close Banner

Women's Health

These 3 Everyday Habits Could Be Raising Your Inflammation Levels

Author: Ava Durgin

March 31, 2026

Assistant Health Editor

By Ava Durgin

Assistant Health Editor

Ava Durgin is the former Assistant Health Editor at mindbodygreen. She holds a B.A. in Global Health and Psychology from Duke University.

March 31, 2026

Our 2026 Revitalize event was packed with research-backed insights, honest conversations, and the kind of takeaways that stay with you long after the panels end. It’s where clinicians, researchers, and wellness leaders come together to connect the dots between what we’re learning in science and what people are actually feeling in their bodies.

Across conversations, one theme kept resurfacing: so many women are doing the “right” things and still not feeling like themselves.

But one discussion in particular stuck with me. In a conversation on chronic inflammation, Jila Senemar, M.D., an OB/GYN and women’s health expert, cut through the noise and narrowed it down to three drivers she sees over and over again in her patients. Not fringe factors or niche biohacks, but the everyday forces shaping how women feel…

Hormones, sleep, and stress.

The overlooked drivers fueling inflammation

We tend to think of inflammation as something external, triggered by diet, toxins, or illness. And while those factors play a role, Senemar made it clear that some of the most powerful drivers are internal and often normalized. She pointed to three in particular: fluctuating estrogen, poor sleep, and chronic emotional stress.

On their own, each one can raise inflammation. Together, they don’t just add up; they amplify each other.

It helps explain why inflammation can feel so persistent and hard to pin down. You’re not dealing with a single trigger. You’re navigating overlapping systems that influence one another in real time.

Estrogen’s role in inflammation is bigger than most realize

Estrogen is usually discussed in the context of reproductive health. But its impact extends far beyond that.

“Estrogen is anti-inflammatory,” Senemar explained. When levels are steady, it helps regulate immune function and keeps inflammatory pathways in check. The challenge is that for many women, especially during perimenopause and menopause, estrogen isn’t steady. It fluctuates.

Those swings matter just as much as the decline. As estrogen rises and falls unpredictably, the body loses a consistent anti-inflammatory signal. The result is often low-grade, chronic inflammation that shows up in ways that feel frustratingly vague—things like joint stiffness, fatigue, brain fog, or changes in body composition.

It’s one reason midlife can feel like a moving target. The body isn’t just changing; it’s recalibrating without one of its key stabilizers.

And understanding that shift can change how symptoms are interpreted. Instead of seeing them as isolated issues, they start to look like part of a broader hormonal pattern that deserves attention.

The real cost of skimping on sleep

Sleep is often the first thing to give when life gets busy. It’s also one of the fastest ways to push the body toward inflammation.

Senemar pointed out that insufficient sleep, especially a lack of deep, restorative REM sleep, directly increases inflammatory markers while raising cortisol levels. Over time, that combination signals the body to operate in a more stress-driven state. She described it as a kind of “metabolic crisis mode.”

In that state, the body prioritizes short-term survival over long-term repair. Blood sugar becomes harder to regulate. Hunger and satiety cues shift. Recovery slows. Inflammation builds as a downstream effect.

Because of this, Senemar emphasizes that consistent, high-quality sleep isn’t just about feeling rested. It’s one of the primary ways the body keeps inflammation in check.

The kind of stress that’s hardest to recognize

Stress is easy to normalize because it’s everywhere. Especially for women juggling work, family, relationships, and the invisible labor that fills in the gaps.

Senemar pointed to a specific kind of stress that flies under the radar: chronic emotional strain. The people-pleasing. The constant mental load. The sense that there’s always something left undone. It doesn’t always feel acute. But biologically, the body reads it the same way.

Chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated. And just like with sleep deprivation, that persistent elevation feeds inflammation. Over time, it amplifies hormonal imbalance and metabolic dysfunction, creating a feedback loop that’s hard to break.

What makes this tricky is that many of these stress patterns are socially reinforced. Being “on top of everything” is often seen as a strength. But internally, it can come at a cost.

What actually helps move the needle

Senemar’s framework shifts the focus away from chasing isolated fixes and toward supporting the systems that regulate inflammation in the first place.

With hormones, awareness