However, it is important to note that women have hormones that are specific to women.

There is a period of time when oxidative stress is more likely to rise in women, so I will briefly explain it here.

When women should pay attention to oxidative stress

Women have a period called menstruation. During menstruation, female hormone levels are high and oxidative stress is elevated. It has been shown in various papers that women who drink alcohol during this time are more likely to get drunk.

And when a woman is pregnant, the situation is naturally different from that of men.

Pregnancy and Oxidative Stress

Some of the unique symptoms of pregnancy may be related to oxidative stress.

First, pregnancy results in the formation of the placenta. The placenta is where blood is pumped to the baby.

In fact, the placenta releases hormones that cause a large amount of oxidative stress to be released at the same time. Normally, this is not a big problem. However, if there is too much oxidative stress from the placenta, it can cause various problems in the body.

One is morning sickness.

Morning sickness varies from person to person, but if you have very strong symptoms of morning sickness, the oxidative stress in your body is very high.

And one of the most common symptoms of “morning sickness” is pruritus cutis causa (pruritus of pregnancy). This is a condition in which the skin all over the body becomes itchy and unbearable. The symptoms are itchy and unbearable.

If you go to a dermatologist, he or she will say, “We can’t give you any medication because you are pregnant”. Some people find it more painful than morning sickness. 

Another symptom unique to pregnancy is high blood pressure.

・Pregnancy-induced hypertension

There are people who were normally healthy, but suddenly developed high blood pressure after pregnancy.

It used to be called “malignant hypertension”, but now it is called “gestational hypertension”. The characteristic of this disease is that the blood pressure is normal when not pregnant, but it becomes high after 20 weeks of pregnancy. This is due to the increase in oxidative stress caused by pregnancy, which causes blood pressure to rise.

Why is oxidative stress elevated during pregnancy and why does “gestational hypertension” occur? This mechanism has been clarified. It is because the endothelium of the arteries of pregnant women is damaged by oxidative stress. When the endothelium of the blood vessels is damaged, the arteries become harder and harder. This causes the blood pressure to rise.

This is a very unique phenomenon, but if you measure the oxidative stress of people with gestational hypertension, you will find that oxidative stress peaks during pregnancy and childbirth.

However, after giving birth and the placenta leaving the body, the oxidative stress in the body returns to normal in about one month. In other words, oxidative stress is released from the placenta, which causes high blood pressure.

・Maternity Blue

One of the unique symptoms of pregnancy is the so-called “maternity blues”, which can cause pregnancy-related depression such as irritability, depression, sudden anxiety, and sleeplessness. It is said that this is probably due to the accumulation of oxidative stress substances and inflammatory substances in the brain, causing an unusual reaction.

Therefore, if you are pregnant, lowering oxidative stress may reduce the symptoms of maternity blues, such as irritability, depression, and insomnia.

Menopausal disorders

Menopause is a common problem for women of all ages.

Currently, it is still unknown why menopause occurs. It is said that the symptoms of menopause often appear around the time when menstruation ends and menopause occurs.

In this case, hormone replacement therapy is used to replace the hormones that have been depleted. However, not everyone gets better with hormone replacement therapy. Therefore, there are still a few things that we don’t know about menopause.

However, in terms of age, menopause occurs between 45 and 60 years old, and considering that this is the age when oxidative stress tends to rise and is rising, I think it can be said that oxidative stress as well as hormone decline are related.

Therefore, there is a high possibility that oxidative stress is related to swelling and fatigue, which are common problems among women.

In addition, although there is no evidence in the form of data, irregular menstruation, a common problem unique to women, is often related to the hormonal balance of the individual.

Finally.

The fact that oxidative stress is very likely to rise during menstruation and pregnancy, which I mentioned in this article, is a difference between oxidative stress in men and women.

In addition, the unique symptoms during pregnancy may be related to oxidative stress, so it is recommended to actively take foods that lower oxidative stress or use supplements in such cases.