Oxidative Stress…Can you do something about it?

Many of us have probably read the terms ‘Free Radicals’ or ‘Oxidative Stress’ at some point when buying our nutritional supplements or reading through wellness articles. These websites often tell you what to take to combat free radicals and oxidative stress but very few explain what causes it. In our journey to stay well, it is important to understand what is oxidative stress, what causes it and how we can balance it. In reality, our bodies regularly produce free radicals as part of our metabolic processes. And when we maintain the appropriate balance of free radicals, they play an important role in biological processes such as our immune response to microbes and other pathogens. A common process that produces free radicals occurs when we eat food and our body generates energy by converting glucose into carbon dioxide. However, excessive free radicals can have a negative effect in our health, where we experience damage to our cells and tissues.  That is commonly called oxidative stress. When we feel fatigued, weak and prone to catch infections, and we start to experience memory loss, decreased focus, skin issues, wrinkles, etc, we can attribute some of that to oxidative stress. People typically address oxidative stress with good nutrition and supplements which I will mention here as well. But I think it is also important to understand the lifestyle choices we make to counterbalance oxidative stress.