How Fish Oil Helps Recovery and Joints
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How Fish Oil Helps Recovery and Joints
If you’re one of many people who don’t get enough oily fish in their diets; then taking fish oil supplements is the next best thing. As one of the most widely used supplements, it is high in Omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for health and wellbeing.
What Exactly is Fish Oil?
Fish oil is the oil or fat that is extracted from fish tissue. Typically, it is derived from oily fish, including mackerel, herring, tuna, or anchovies. In some cases, it is actually produced from the livers of other fish; this is where ‘cod liver oil’ gets its name from!
Most organizations advocate the regular consumption of fish oil. According to the World Health Organization, they advise that 1-2 portions a week is ideal. There is a huge range of benefits of taking fish oil; in this post, we look specifically at how fish oil helps with recovery and joints.
Fish Oil for Joints
Fish Oil is proving to be an effective alternative to traditional pain relief medication for people across the globe. Because it is high in Omega 3 Fatty Acids, it doesn’t just help the joints, and from helping to balance cholesterol, weight loss, eye health, healthy skin and more, it has whole body benefits for those who use it regularly.
Most notably, due to its ability to combat issues with inflammation, it is tremendously effective for dealing with joint problems and joint pain.
In this section, we explain in more details about the connections between Fish Oil and Joints.
#1 Fish Oil Can Be Supplemented or Consumed Through Cold-Water Fish
It doesn’t matter where you get your fish oil from, taking it in supplement form is just as effective as preparing some fish-based meals to eat from home.
If Buying Fish Oil Supplements – READ THIS
The only things you need to watch out for when buying fish supplements is that they should contain EPA and DHA. Some fish oils are infused with various PCBs, pesticides, or even traces of mercury; none of which are actually any good for you.
You should also check and confirm that there are less than 3 grams of fish oil per capsule.
If you want to choose the regular route of getting more fish oil into your body, then simply adding some cold-water fish dishes to your weekly meals will make all the difference. Both wild-caught and cold-water fish are great sources of natural fish oils. Here are just a few examples:
· Anchovies
· Salmon
· Sardines
· Shad
· Smelt
#2 Fish Oil Can Help Reduce Inflammation
Because fish oil is high in Omega-3 Fatty Acid content; specifically, these are EPA and DHA; these are the two specific types of fatty acid that promote decreased inflammation across all joints in a person’s body. Aside from this, they also limit the formation of specific proteins in the body that is classified as negative as they can induce arthritis.
Although inflammation is a good way for your body to treat injuries and fight infection, when chronic inflammation sets in, it can often be connected to serious diseases, such as depression, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. By reducing inflammation in your body, not only is this going to help your joints significantly, but it may also help to treat some of the symptoms of these diseases.
In a person who might be suffering from stress, anxiety or depression; fish oil is highly effective at reducing the gene expression, and production of specific molecules called cytokines; these are specific to inflammation, and fish oil inhibits their production.
#3 Fish Oil Can Reduce Joint Pain
Taking anything between 1-3 grams of fish oil is a day can help to alleviate the intensity of joint pain. For many who suffer from this, getting up in the morning, staying active throughout the day, sitting down for long periods, getting up from their chair, and so many more tasks are all made painfully challenging when joint pain sets in. Symptoms such as swelling, tenderness, stiffness, and general discomfort have all been reported to be positively impacted by taking regular fish oil supplements. Another way in which fish oil benefits the joints in the body is by helping to increase the blood flow during periods of exercise; this further helps with swelling and joint pain at large.
Aside from this, the regular supplementation of fish oil has been proven to help decrease stiffness, reduce joint pain, and lessen the dependency of people with arthritis on their medication.
#4 Fish Oil Fats Help You Maintain Healthy Cells
In this post, we’ve already covered the importance of some of the essential Omega-3 fatty acids that are naturally present in fish oil. These fats are counted as healthy fats, and they play a fundamental role in helping to preserve the health of your joints by supplementing and restoring joint tissues. They help provide joints with additional lubrication, and this can reduce further from occurring as the joints will not rub together as often. This can help to reduce some of the strains and pains that are so often connected with joint pain in a person’s body.
Fish Oil for Muscle Recovery
As you can see, there are so many compelling reasons why people take fish oil for joint pain, and for a long time, this was considered to be the key advantage for its addition to a regular diet / supplement regime. However, muscle recovery has also emerged as one of the other great advantages of taking fish oil. In this section, we explain why that is.
Taking Omega-3 has long been associated with bodybuilding and other forms of sports recovery, and a quick search online supports the effectiveness of this supplement for these purposes. New research suggests that fish oil is actually proving to be highly effective for muscle recovery and for decreasing muscle soreness too.
The science behind this statement is that fish oil, which is enriched with omega-3 acids, can actually boost the integrity of cell membranes while helping to prevent protein from leaking out of the cells. This increased stabilisation of the muscle cells results in lower levels of muscle damage following periods of exercise, which equates to lower levels of muscle soreness overall.
Additional research into fish oil suggests that it could also help decrease muscle loss; for instance, following surgery or a prolonged period of muscle disuse. Because the omega-3 can boost muscle protein synthesis, this helps to remodel key muscle proteins.
In Summary
Taking Fish Oils, whether through supplements or by adding oily fish into your diet, can help with joint pain, joint stiffness, and joint soreness. It can reduce inflammation in the body, and for people who are inactive for a prolonged period of time, it can help to reduce muscle loss. For anyone who works out on a regular basis, science supports that fish oil helps with reducing muscle soreness and helps with muscle recovery as well.