What is Cellular Stress?
Cellular Stress is microscopic cell damage. You may not feel the effects of cellular stress until it’s too late. Cellular stress is the microscopic damage to our cells caused by free radicals that disrupt normal function. Researchers have associated cellular stress with potentially negative effects in the human body.
Cellular stress is inevitable, and it arises from rogue, unstable molecules called free radicals. Free radicals have an unsatisfied electron pair, and they roam the body in search of other compounds and molecules from which they can capture electrons in order to become stable. When free radicals steal electrons from other molecules, the attacked molecule itself becomes a free radical, starting a chain reaction that can damage cells, proteins and DNA.
Sometimes, the body deliberately makes free radicals in order to neutralize viruses and bacteria. But often, they are inadvertently created through external sources such as oxygen, cigarette smoke, pollution and radiation. Physical activity or exercise, eating and even breathing can produce free radicals. No matter where they come from, free radicals violently collide with functioning cells and can damage them to the point they no longer work. Cellular stress has been the subject of tens of thousands of research studies and papers. It has also been linked to hundreds of health conditions.
Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to completely stop the production of these. The good news is the body is equipped with antioxidants to detoxify them. SOD and another enzyme called catalase, along with glutathione, are deployed to eliminate free radicals, and they do so very successfully. However, as we age, the body produces fewer of these antioxidants and more free radicals. The results of this imbalance can be severe. When free radicals overwhelm the underproduction of antioxidant enzymes, oxidative stress occurs.
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