Oxidative Stress as a root cause behind chronic diseases
Welcome to Active Human’s 13th newsletter.
As you know we are learning about the root causes behind our lifestyle diseases.
5 major root causes behind the most common chronic and lifestyle diseases are:
Bad Gut health (Leaky Gut and Dysbiosis)
Insulin Resistance
Inflammation
Oxidative stress
Oversensitive Nervous system (Stress and Anxiety)
Most of the time they coexist or get interlinked or by the time you come to know about them, one builds another. But the good thing is they are the measurable root causes that can be corrected. Advanced blood tests help a lot these days.
We have already covered root causes like Gut health, Insulin resistance, and Inflammation in our previous newsletters.
Today, I want to deep dive into Oxidative stress as a root cause.
But one thing, Oxidative stress should not be confused with psychological stress, even though psychological stress increases oxidative stress in our body, but both are not the same. Good news is Oxidative stress is measurable and can be reduced which can prevent many chronic diseases later. At Active Human Healing program, we are very attentive to it, quickly pick on it, and start working towards its causes.
Also, before we understand oxidative stress, quickly we need to know about free radicals.
Free radical: Every atom and molecule ultimately wants to have its electron in pairs, which is the most stable form for it. But sometimes during processes, it is left with only one electron in its outer orbit. In that state, it is called free radical. Now, This is a very unstable form for any molecule or atom and they become very reactive, meaning they quickly want to either donate one electron or gain one electron to become stable.
The good news is, that our body also has other molecules called antioxidants that can stabilize these free radicals. See the below image.
- - -
So what is Oxidative Stress: Simply put, when our body has more free radicals than antioxidants, our body is in oxidative stress. These free radicals then attack our healthy cells and try to make them dysfunctional.
- - -
Again, There are two kinds of oxidative stress: Acute and Chronic. More than a billion reactions going on in our body at any given time, and many reactions make and destroy free radicals during those processes. When we get viral infections, our body also makes some kind of free radicals to kill those viruses. Some foods which are inflammatory in nature also cause a lot of free radicals in our body which then require an extra amount of antioxidants to neutralize. These free radicals and antioxidant reactions keep on going in our bodies.
The problem is when you have a continuous supply of free radicals and less supply of antioxidants, or when your body does not know how to neutralize certain free radicals. Then those free radicals do continuous damage to our cells. see the image below:
There are some known reasons why we develop chronic oxidative stress. A few top of the charts are:
Inflammatory food: Frequent intake of inflammatory foods that have refined carbs, seed oils, preservatives, binders laded processed foods, dairy products, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, and artificial taste enhancers increases free radicals in our body which gives us chronic oxidative stress.
The absence of good antioxidants in our diet creates chronic oxidative stress.
Toxicity of some kind like heavy metals, mycotoxins, and chemicals in our daily personal care products which are not so friendly to our body creates continuous oxidative stress.
Stress and sleep patterns increase oxidative stress.
Frequent Alcohol consumption, Smoking, and environmental pollution like Air Pollution give us a lot of oxidative stress.
Insulin resistance causes obesity which is an increment of the number and size of fat cell that produces cytokines that increases oxidative stress in our body.
Our body’s dysfunction where it does not know how to neutralize a free radical creates oxidative stress.
Exposure to regular radiation increases oxidative stress.
---
So, how do you check if you have chronic oxidative stress?
Prolonged oxidative stress can be observed through body energy levels, Muscle loss, Certain organ dysfunctions, brain fog, Liver dysfunction, Memory loss and frequent sickness.
Blood markers like Uric acid, Homocysteine, Selenium, Vitamin A, C, and E levels, and Bilirubin help us see oxidative stress levels.
There are some simple proven hacks to keep chronic oxidative stress low:
Reduce or remove things that your body is sensitive to and cause you discomfort.
Increase antioxidant-rich seasonal wholesome foods like green vegetables, and citrus fruits, including herbs like turmeric, and cinnamon. Try to procure organic foods as much as you can. Pesticide in our food is the biggest contributor to oxidative stress in our bodies.
Reduce artificial sweeteners and highly refined sugar food items and alcohol items.
Reduce your exposure to environmental pollution like smoke, and air pollution. N95 mask works, use it.
Opt for fasting if possible for the body to clear out toxins and focus on bringing balance. we eat too much and too frequently these days.
Reduce obesity and insulin resistance.
Work on sleep patterns, spend time in nature with access to fresh air, and do breathing exercises in such an environment to increase cell rejuvenation.
Check and monitor for blood parameters and work on your root cause to reduce your inflammation and oxidative stress. Active Human Team can help you identify your source of oxidative stress and support healthy body cell functions.
-
Hope the above helps and that you start taking care of the chronic oxidative stress.
-
At Active Human, We work on 150+ kinds of Chronic disorders including Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Obesity, Thyroid Issues, PCOS, IBS, Migraines, High Cholesterol, Autoimmune Diseases, Anxiety, Joints Pain, Muscles Pain, Heart health issues, and Hormonal Imbalance issues. We have started “Reverse Your Chronic Disease (RYCD) Module where we take a scientific approach to arrive at your root cause using blood reports (advance tests) and then set protocols to reduce and cure your root cause. It is a process and not a quick fix and it takes 3-6 months to understand and work on the root cause and start seeing results. If you know someone who has any kind of lifestyle disorder. Please help me spread the word and help them reach out to me at manishkbhagwani@gmail.com.
Happy living, my awesome Active Humans.
See you next Saturday.
Manish Bhagwani,
Human → Active Human