In this article, aging and anti-aging will be explained from the perspective of oxidative stress.

About “aging”

“Aging” means that an organism gets older, but aging is not simply a process of getting older. Some people may think that aging means the death of cells in the body, but while aging and cell death partially overlap, aging does not mean death.

As we age, we often feel that we are aging, that we are more tired than before, that our memory is deteriorating, etc. However, this does not mean that we are going to die immediately, and even if we are aging, it is possible to slow down the process.

What is anti-aging?

Recently, we often see words such as “aiming for anti-aging” and “effective in anti-aging” in magazines and advertisements. In this article, I briefly explain anti-aging.

The term “aging” refers to aging, or adding age. 

We all age, but if we can slow it down as much as possible, we can postpone the aging process. In other words, anti-aging means “to age youthfully and prolong one’s life”.

We believe that this “anti-aging” will lead to “contribution to a healthy society with longevity”, which is the ultimate goal of our research on the elucidation of the mechanisms of oxidative stress and oxidative stress-related diseases conducted at the Antioxidant Research Division, Joint Research Department, Gifu University.

Fast-acting anti-aging lifestyle

Daily habits are very important for fast-acting anti-aging. Here are a few ways to do this.

First of all, in order to increase your body’s antioxidant capacity, you should consume a variety of foods that are recognized as having antioxidant properties.

For example, colored fruits and vegetables. The “pigments” in fruits and vegetables are effective for antioxidants.

The red color of tomatoes contains lycopene, blueberries contain anthocyanin, and carrots contain beta-carotene.

Please refer to my previous article about diet.

What is a good anti-aging diet?

Another thing you can do is to exercise.

When the muscles of the body are moved moderately, oxidative stress is released from the muscle cells. Therefore, the oxidative stress level in the body will increase at that time. But at the same time, the antioxidant capacity also increases.

What kind of exercise is effective? Rather than doing strenuous exercise every day, it is recommended to do moderate exercise three days a week, walking three to five kilometers at a fast pace with a maximum stride length. This kind of exercise will increase the body’s basic antioxidant capacity and help train the antioxidant power.

The most important thing is to avoid things that rust the body.

In our daily life, direct sunlight with ultraviolet rays, radiation, electromagnetic waves, car exhaust, and mental stress are all things that can rust the body.

There are also some foods that can rust your body. For example, drinking a lot of alcohol. It is well known that smoking cigarettes, especially cigarettes in paper rolls, can also cause the body to become rusty, but recently it has become clear that high blood sugar, or high glucose in the blood, can also cause the body to become especially rusty. Therefore, limiting carbohydrates is a very effective method.

Finally

In this article, I introduced aging and anti-aging from the perspective of oxidative stress. A lifestyle that lowers oxidative stress will lead to anti-aging. In addition, knowledge of the mechanism of oxidative stress can help protect the body from oxidative stress. The research results and data of the Antioxidant Research Division of the Joint Research Department of Gifu University will be posted on this website, so please refer to it.

You can read about lifestyle habits that cause oxidative stress in my previous article here.

What lifestyle habits can cause oxidative stress?