SHOULD YOU BE CONCERNED WITH OXIDATIVE STRESS ?

Being concerned with staying healthy is nothing new, but it may be more important in this day and age with the probability of living longer. Statistics bear out the fact that more people are likely to live to a very old age than ever before in our history. This makes it prudent and necessary to give particular attention and care to the physical and mental aspects of aging. You cannot start too young. The medical and technological advances which help to make living longer a likelihood are truly amazing. When you pay a visit to a doctor’s office or a hospital, you see all kinds of machines being used to measure your vital signs and all types of medical signals which help the doctor to know about any medical problems you may or may not have. There is a government website (www.pubmed.gov) at which much medical information may be gleaned. The information may understandably be quite technical, and there are lots of words which the lay person might not understand. However, medical information of all types is available for the checking. With the aging process comes a breakdown of the physical body which can be accompanied by mental deterioration as well. When the cells wear out due to age, a corresponding imbalance usually occurs in the body. Something called oxidative stress is a part of that wearing down of the cells to some degree and could be a contributor to other medical problems and diseases. Oxidative stress is said to happen in varying degrees, but it is considered to be a natural part of aging. The oxidation in the body and the outside stresses which the body endures cause the production of free radicals which cause strain on the body’s healthy cells and is called oxidative stress. With the health and nutrition industry growing by leaps and bounds, many products are available on the market which could possibly be beneficial when growing old. Anti-aging products of all types are being sold to all ages of people from those who are still young and want to stay that way to those who are older who want to stop the ill effects which often accompany aging. Natural supplements, which are not regulated by the FDA such as prescription medications are, do not make medical claims to fight disease, but they often profess to have benefits for the body and mind. Fighting the free radicals which attack the body and damage the cells is said to be helped by the use of antioxidants which many of these products claim to have. It may be well worth investigating the issue of oxidative stress and to try to combat the bad results of it. The aging process could be helped along with the assistance of various products which help to keep a person’s body functioning better longer. Finding something that works for the individual person could be highly beneficial. (By Irene Mori)