Semester 4, Week 8, Day 7: Cell Oxidation

The children are eating and I'm less itchy.  I would call this a good start to the day!  Though my son broke the bow off my glasses before I woke up this morning...  I could use an "oculus repairo" spell right now.  Anyone know Hermione Granger?  On the list to get done today is wash my son's diapers and work on my book entry.  I got a few studies added yesterday and was in the middle of reading when my children informed me they wanted me to quit with school for the day.  The going is slow, lots of reading to be done to digest the studies to see if I even want to add them in.   The day has started so late because we slept in this morning. I'm going to leave this here and get some work done!  Love and Light!

On to the discussion!

"Oxygen is necessary for life, but at the same time, it is a toxic substance and a source of damaging free radicals. Discuss how life balances the beneficial and damaging effects of this element and suggest how physical exercises, diet, and herbal supplements can increase or attenuate oxidative stress."
 
It’s amazing how oxygen, an unstable element, is so vital to life yet it can also damage it. Without oxygen, we die. In fact, all life will die. Exercise makes us take more in though I contend not all exercise is equal. I don’t remember the source, but after watching the Dr. Ekberg video below, him talking about high intensity aerobic exercise being too stressful, I remembered one of my text books said the harder the aerobic exercise, the more time you need to rest after.  It makes sense because, like Dr. Ekberg said, exercise is stress and the more oxygen you take in, the more oxidative stress your body is under. It isn’t that somehow oxygen became toxic to humans but that highly reactive ions are produced by oxygen (Hoffman, 2003, p. 165).  In my mind, imagine our cells “rusting”. That is oxidation. “Rust” can be cleaned up, even prevented if you take proper care of your cells. There are a lot of herbs that help alleviate the stress our air puts on our body. They can be added to our diet or taken as a supplement.  In Hoffman (2003), on page 165, he only lists 3 herbs: alfalfa, horse chestnut and witchhazel.  I know this list is much longer so I guess when I update my herbarium entries, I’ll update my list.  Since I post these on my website, I have that cited below as well.  I know my blog will call out other herbs as well.  Tomatoes are, perhaps, one of the best known antioxidant foods. In Natures Prescriptions (2008), they state avocados are also a great source, arguably better than tomatoes. They also call out grape juice and green tea. In fact, green tea is listed as such a strong antioxidant that it stops the formation of cancer cells and shrinks cancer tumors (p. 260). 
 
I haven’t looked into the synergy question yet but the antioxidants and cancer question is obvious. Not ALL cancers are precipitated by antioxidants. That’s like saying all cancers have the same cause.  There are many causes for cancer and those causes vary based on the location of that cancer.
 
Ekberg, S. (2019). 6 Ultimate BENEFITS OF EXERCISE For Diabetes, Insulin, Weight Loss, Your Brain & More Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irq_-gvLw4Y
Hoffman, David. (2003). Medical Herbalism: The Science and Practice of Herbal Medicine. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press. p. 165.
(2008). Nature's Prescriptions: Foods, Vitamins, and Supplements that Prevent Disease. FC&A Medical Publishing. P. 8, 24, 35, 41, 119, 135, 146, 238, 256, 259-60, 319, 330, 331

Have a Great Day!