What’s Oxidative Stress?

5 minutes read.      

In this article:

Oxidative stress

How does oxidative stress affect your body?

Risk factors , Prevention

Conclusion

What’s Oxidative stress?

Oxidative stress is an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in your body. Free radicals are oxygen-containing molecules with an odd number of electrons.

The odd number allows them to easily react with other molecules. Free radicals can cause large chain chemical reactions in your body because they react so easily with other molecules. (1, 2)

These reactions are called oxidation. They can be beneficial or harmful.

Antioxidants are molecules that can donate an electron to a free radical without making themselves unstable. This causes the free radical to stabilize and become less reactive.

Read on to learn how oxidative stress affects the body and how to manage and prevent this imbalance.

How does oxidative stress affect your body?

Effects of oxidative stress on the body.

Oxidation is a normal and necessary process that takes place in your body. Oxidative stress, on the other hand, occurs when there’s an imbalance between free radical activity and antioxidant activity.

When functioning properly, free radicals can help fight off pathogens. Pathogens lead to infections.

When there are more free radicals present than can be kept in balance by antioxidants, the free radicals can start doing damage to fatty tissue, DNA, and proteins in your body. (3, 4, 1)

Proteins, lipids, and DNA make up a large part of your body, so any damage to them can lead to a vast number of diseases over time.

These include:

• diabetes
• atherosclerosis, or the hardening of the blood vessels
• inflammatory conditions
• high blood pressure, which is also known as hypertension
• heart disease
• neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s
• cancer

Oxidative stress also contributes to aging. (5)

Risk factors

What are the risk factors for oxidative stress?

Everyone produces some free radicals naturally in their body through processes like exercise or inflammation. This is normal and part of the body’s intricate system of keeping itself healthy. (6, 7, 8, 1, 9, 10, 11 )

However, you may also be exposed to free radicals in the environment.

Some sources include:

• ozone (a toxic oxygen gas generated from oxygen by electrical discharge)
• certain pesticides and household cleaners
• cigarette smoke
• radiation (smartphone radiation)
• pollution (from industries and automobiles)
• A diet high in sugar, fat, and alcohol may also contribute to free radical production (12, 13, 14 )

Prevention

Managing and preventing oxidative stress

It’s impossible to completely avoid free radical exposure and oxidative stress because most of the things around us including some of the things we use on daily basis generate free radicals.

However, there are things you can do to minimize the effects of oxidative stress on your body. The main thing you can do is increase your levels of antioxidants and decrease your exposure to the risk factors.

One method of preventing oxidative stress is to ensure that you’re obtaining enough antioxidants in your diet. Eating five servings per day of a variety of fruits and vegetables is the best way to provide your body with what it needs to produce antioxidants. (15,16)

Examples of fruits and vegetables include:

• berries
• cherries
• citrus fruits
• prunes
• dark leafy greens
• mangoes, cashew, oranges, pawpaw,
• broccoli, banana, plantain
• carrots, avocado, cherry, pears, bullet pears(ube), coconut,
• tomatoes, pumpkins fruits (ayu)
• olives
• nuts and seeds

Other examples of dietary antioxidant sources include:

• fish and eggs
• vitamin E
• vitamin C
• turmeric
• green tea
• melatonin
• onion, garlic, cinnamon

Other healthy lifestyle choices can also prevent or reduce oxidative stress.

Here are some lifestyle choices that will help:

A regular, moderate exercise routine: This has been associated with higher natural antioxidant levels and decreased damage caused by oxidative stress.

Regular exercise has been linked with a longer lifespan, fewer effects of aging, and decreased risk of cancer and disease.

Don’t smoke. Avoid exposure to secondhand smoke as well.

Use caution with chemicals. This includes cleaning chemicals, avoiding unnecessary radiation exposure, and being aware of other sources of chemical exposure, such as pesticides used on food or in gardening.(17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)

Be environmentally conscious. Environmentally friendly initiatives like carpooling help reduces free radical production for you and your community.

Wear sunscreen. Sunscreen prevents ultraviolet light damage to your skin.

Decrease your alcohol intake.

Take time off to rest. Ample sleep is very important for maintaining balance in all of your body systems. Brain function, hormone production, antioxidant and free radical balance, and a host of other things are impacted by sleep. (23, 24)

Avoid overeating. Studies have shown that overeating and constant eating keep your body in a state of oxidative stress more often than if you eat at appropriately spaced intervals, and eat small or moderate portions.(25)

Conclusion

While free radicals and antioxidants are part of your body’s natural and healthy functioning, oxidative stress occurs when free radicals and antioxidants are out of balance.

Oxidative stress can cause damage to many of your tissues, which can lead to a number of diseases over time.

While you can’t completely avoid exposure to free radicals, you can make lifestyle choices regarding diet, exercise, and environment to help keep your body in balance, and prevent damage and disease to your body tissues.

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