Vitamins, antioxidants, oxidative stress, free radicals. Maybe those are terms you have never heard before. Many people do not know what all that means, including myself, until I took an interest in my own personal health a few years ago. Of course I know what vitamins and antioxidants are, but free radicals and oxidative stress, I had no clue. Once I discovered what they were I was amazed at the fact that free radicals and oxidative stress had such a tole on humans in general. Not just unhealthy people but also people who think they are in the best shape of their life's. The thing about it is everyone has free radicals and oxidative stress developing in their bodies, its part of life, its also known as aging. Ring a bell? Free radicals are produced by oxidative stress which is the leading cause to many degenerative diseases and cancers (Wikipedia) Free radicals are atoms, molecules, or ions with unpaired electrons on an open shell configuration. Free radicals may have positive, negative, or zero charge. With some exceptions, the unpaired electrons cause radicals to be highly chemically reactive. (Wikipedia) Free radicals running rampart around in your body attack your DNA, similar to what water does to metal if it is in contact with it for a long period of time, it rusts. We know this process as oxidation. Free radicals are caused by doing daily activities like walking, exercising, working, eating and even breathing. It does not matter who you are, if you are alive and breathing your body is creating free radicals. A study done by Dr Joe McCord, found that our bodies create over 26,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, that is septillion, everyday (Protandim). Doctors would tell us to take vitamins and antioxidants to neutralize those...
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...xidant therapy.” pp 341 – 347
Sally K. Nelson a,b, Swapan K. Bose a, Gary K. Grunwald c, Paul Myhill d, Joe M. McCord a,b,d,*
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Everyone needs the same four ingredients to be healthy. The four ingredients are eating healthy and the right amount, exercising regularly, sleeping well, and getting the right nutritious vitamins. The age and sex of each person is a factor in how much of everything you need to consume in a day.
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As American society has evolved in the past 100 years and technology has increased and improved, so has the life expectancy for individuals. Currently, females can expect to live for 81 years on average, while males can expect to live for 75 years, giving an average life expectancy of 78.3 years (Santrock, 2013, p.536). According to Santrock (2013), “since 1900, improvements in medicine, nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle have increased our life expectancy an average of 30 additional years,” but another important factor is the decreasing infant mortality, allowing a larger population of people, including older adults (p.536). Making good choices in diet, regular exercise, avoiding drugs and alcohol, along with getting enough sleep and maintaining a low and healthy stress level can all increase life expectancy. Relationships, emotional well-being, and having purpose all also play an important role in determining how long an individual will live. As people are living longer, more ...
Ellis, B.J., Bates, J.E., Dodge, K.A., Fergusson, D.M, Horwood, L.J., Pettit, G.S., & Woodard, L.
When one hears the three words: vitamins, nutrients, and minerals, they think of one thing-being healthy and noticing what your intake is daily. Nutrition is all about vitamins and nutrients. Firstly, vitamins are an organic compound required by the body in small amounts of metabolism, to protect health, and for proper growth of children. Vitamins also assist in the formation of hormones, blood cells, nervous systems chemicals, and genetic material. There are 13 well-identified vitamins. Some examples of the 13 well-identified vitamins are: A, D, E, and K-fat contained foods, B, C-consumed immediately. A well known and commonly used in commercials for orange juice vitamin is vitamin C. Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is important in the synthesis and maintenance of connective tissues. The lack of vitamin C will result in a sickness called scurvy. Scurvy harms the gums, mucous membranes, and the skin. Another well-known vitamin and is also used to commercial to give more information about this beverage is the vitamin in milk. The vitamin in milk is vitamin D. If you do not drink milk and obtain this vitamin, your bones and teeth will become soft and weak. Lacking one or more of the 13 well-identified vitamins will cause sickness and weakness to your body. Secondly, nutrients are how the body assimilates certain compounds. Nutrients are classified in 5 major groups: proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. One of the five nutrients is carbohydrate. The carbohydrate group principally consists of sugar, starch, dextrin, cellulose, and glycogen. In more basic terms, carbohydrates are sugars needed by human and other living organisms. Some types of foods that contain carbohydrates would be candies, ice cream, fruit juice, soda, chocolate bars etc. Lastly, vitamins are connected to minerals. Minerals are also a very important part of a healthy person. There are 11 major groups of minerals. They are: calcium, chromium, copper, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, selenium, and zinc. All these terms look very familiar if one has taken chemistry. These are the elements of our world. One of the more common minerals that most people have heard of is calcium. Calcium also helps with the structure and strength of teeth and bones. Vitamins and minerals work together to help humans maintain a healthy body. For example, vitamin D works with calcium to help for and maintain the strength of teeth and bones.
The natural process of aging is inevitable and we cannot escape it. The deterioration in health is associated with many factors like genetics and the environment. However, there are precautions and preventative steps we can take to help age healthier. Not smoking can prevent premature wrinkles and some sagging of the skin. A healthier diet and exercise can help maintain a lower weigh and keep your heart healthy. Taking supplements and vitamins can help the body when it’s difficult to receive there from your diet. When a person is not getting enough calcium from their diet they may resort to calcium supplements that can help with bone density loss. Everyone dreads getting old, but being well informed and taking preventative care can help with affect the changes of age.
Do you dream of living a long, healthy life? Fortunately, it is much easier to achieve this dream today, in a world that is more technologically and medically advanced than ever before. Because of these favorable advances, the life expectancies in most countries have increased. It is not enough, however, to solely rely on technology and medicine to increase your life expectancy. In order to make your dream a reality, you need to take a few additional steps. To improve your chances of living a long life, you should eat and drink healthy, have a consistent sleep routine, be physically and mentally active, reduce causes of stress and depression, avoid and/or quit smoking, and abstain from overindulgence.