What Is Oxidative Stress?What is oxidative stress, how does it affect your health and cells and is stress and aging intrinsically linked?
Well according to a recent study at the University of California, it suggests that stress does accelerate cell aging, and unfortunately this is especially true for women.The report also states greater levels of oxidative stress caused by free radicals were found in highly stressed women. An especially reactive atom or group of atoms that has one or more unpaired electrons, especially one that is produced in the body by natural biological processes or introduced from outside (as in tobacco smoke, toxins, or pollutants) and that can damage cells, proteins and DNA by altering their chemical structure.free radical. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary. Retrieved July 07, 2011, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/free radical What Causes Oxidative Stress and Aging?Your cells are constantly sharing oxygen atoms in a process known as redox, a shortened word meaning reduction-oxidation and this complicated chemical reaction alters the acidity level of a cell. But the real harm is done when some cells are left with unpaired electrons, resulting in destabilised, feeble cells -- free radicals, which ricochet wildly around the body causing a lot of damage to cells. Free radicals create oxidative stress and inflammation in the body and antioxidants fight the effects of oxidation.
To understand how it affects your cells and tissues, think of what happens when oxygen combines with iron -- the result is rust -- and to understand how this affects your living tissues think of a raw potato cut into slices. If you let it sit in the air, it begins to turn brown; like rusting, it's a form of oxidation. But if you coat the potato slices with oil in order to fry them, then you have protected it from the open air and stopped the process of oxidation. Of course your body doesn't rust, but free radicals and oxidative stress does a lot of damage to your cells and tissues and has a dramatic effect on your health and how well you age. What is Oxidative Stress: Antoxidants are the SolutionAnd that's where antioxidants come in. They're like an infusion of strength in your body, helping to mop up the damage caused by free radicals as well as helping to combat inflammation, which is probably the most damaging result of oxidative stress. The many benefits of antioxidants are well known and that's why choosing a healthy lifestyle and eating an abundance of antioxidant rich foods or, if your diet is lacking, supplementing with some all natural health supplements to counteract the effects of oxidative stress and aging, is so important.
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