When you think of stress, you might turn to the family drama that kept you from sleeping at night or an overwhelming, heart-racing panic about an anxiety-inducing work project. However, there could be another type of stress occurring in your body that you likely aren’t aware of, and it has some long-term health effects. Fortunately, there are ways to reduce it and keep your body healthy.
Oxidative stress, also sometimes called oxidative damage, is an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants in the body that can have a negative effect on your cells and tissues. As a result, this can increase your risk of chronic diseases, according to rheumatologist Richard Loeser. Those can include cancer, diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and other inflammatory conditions.
Meet the experts: Richard Loeser, MD, a rheumatologist and director of the Thurston Arthritis Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Trevor Cates is a naturopathic physician in Utah and the founder of The Spa Dr. skincare line. Thara Vayali is a naturopathic physician in Vancouver and the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of the women’s wellness brand hey freya. Melinda Ring, MD, is the Director of the Osher Center for Integrative Health at Northwestern University.
What Are Free Radicals?
Free radicals are unstable oxygen molecules created from the body’s normal functions, like metabolising food, says naturopathic physician Thara Vayali. They can also come from environmental exposures, like spending too much time in the sun without skin protection, adds naturopathic physician Trevor Cates. Free radicals do their damage in your body when there aren’t enough antioxidants to keep them in check, explains Vayali.
That might sound scary, but free radicals aren’t all bad – it’s the amount of them that determines the extent of the damage, says Loeser. A certain amount of free radicals are necessary to keep our bodies functioning normally, but it’s “when these become increased to excessive levels that oxidative stress occurs,” he says. That’s when you’re in danger of those chronic health issues.
The concept of oxidative stress has been a topic in the health industry for decades, but current discussions in the news about preventing chronic disease make paying attention to oxidative stress more important than ever. Here’s what to know about oxidative stress, including how it occurs and how to fight it, according to experts.
Why Oxidative Stress Can Be Damaging To The Body
In a nutshell, free radicals are unstable molecules that are missing an electron. To get the right amount of electrons to be complete, they might take them from other complete molecules in your body. In the process, they damage those complete molecules.
That’s why free radicals need antioxidants, which normally neutralise free radicals by providing an electron, says Vayali. The body needs both free radicals and antioxidants, but having too many free radicals creates oxidative stress, Dr. Loeser says.
Oxidative stress occurs through:
Ageing
The natural process of getting older (unfortunately) produces free radicals. Oxidative damage can also speed up the ageing process. The damage accumulates and can cause age-related disease earlier in life.
Diet
The body needs healthy, antioxidant-rich food, like colourful fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and spices, to maintain a healthy balance between free radicals and antioxidants, says Melinda Ring.
READ MORE: What Is The 30 Plants Per Week Challenge?
Environmental Exposures
Chemicals and pollution can be found in our air, water, (ultraprocessed) food, alcohol, personal care products, and cleaning products, Cates says. After encountering these, your body will repair damage from the exposure – but it forms free radicals in the process, leading to oxidative stress, she says.
Excessive UV
Spending too much time exposed to UV rays without proper protection can cause skin damage from oxidative stress. That shows up as sunburn, premature ageing, hyperpigmentation and even skin cancer, says Cates.
How Do You Know If You Have Oxidative Stress
Unfortunately, there’s no way to know for sure if you have oxidative stress because there are no specific symptoms, Dr. Loeser says. Some signs could include inflammation, aches, chronic pain and wrinkles, but having these symptoms doesn’t necessarily mean you have oxidative damage. And when someone develops a chronic condition like cancer, there’s no definitive way to prove that it was caused entirely by oxidative stress, Vayali adds. Still, there are ways to control oxidative stress in your body.
How To Reduce Oxidative Stress
1. Eat an antioxidant-rich diet.
While your body naturally produces antioxidants, consuming additional antioxidants through your diet is “the best way” to combat oxidative stress with our current understanding of it, says Dr. Loeser.
Any naturally colourful fruit, vegetable, or legume is likely a quality source of antioxidants, Cates says. She recommends consuming at least three to seven servings of colourful vegetables and one to two servings of colourful fruits, legumes and grains daily.
Cates recommends adding these foods into your diet because they’re the most antioxidant-rich:
- Blueberries
- Black beans
- Wild salmon
- Pomegranate seeds
- Turmeric
- Walnuts
- Chia seeds
- Flaxseeds
READ MORE: How To Add More Vegetables To Your Diet, Even If You’re Busy
2. Get enough sleep.
Having a sufficient amount of rest, between seven and nine hours per night, can help repair the body, especially with oxidative stress, says Vayali. The brain’s glymphatic system, a “sanitation system that cleans up those free radicals,” only works when you’re sleeping, she says. So, make sure you’re getting those Zzz’s in – they don’t call it beauty sleep for nothing.
READ MORE: Fall Asleep Faster With These 7 Hacks For Better Sleep
3. Avoid environmental exposures as much as possible.
Staying away from alcohol, ultraprocessed foods, environmental pollutants, and excessive UV will decrease chronic inflammation caused by excess free radicals, says Vayali. Tweaking your lifestyle to make healthier choices when possible – like avoiding time in direct sun and exposure to chemicals in cleaning products – can help maintain a healthy balance between antioxidants and free radicals, says Cates.
Remember, oxidative stress is bound to occur in your body within the shuffle of everyday life, and some is okay. Just find little ways to minimise oxidative stress and keep excess free radicals in check to help your body do what it needs to do for you.
