The Relationship between Age and Oxidative Stress: Does Younger Appearance Mean Lower Oxidative Stress?
In this article, I talk about anti-aging and appearance age. There are people who look younger than their actual age, but do people with such a young appearance also have lower oxidative stress in their bodies?
Aging appearance due to ultraviolet rays
First, there is an interesting example.
A cab driver in the U.S. always has the sun shining on his face from the left side because he drives on the left. On a website, there was a picture of a taxi driver whose face was wrinkled like an old man on the left side on which the sun was shining, but whose face was smooth and wrinkle-free on the right side on which the sun was not shining .
Why does only half of his face look like it has aged? This is due to oxidative stress.
In other words, the sun's rays, or ultraviolet rays, decompose the water components present in the skin to form hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is the cause of oxidative stress that rusts the body. Inflammation occurs in areas where oxidative stress is elevated, and sunburn occurs in those areas.
This is why this cab driver can be said to have elevated oxidative stress on half of his skin and not so much on the other side.
For those who work outside, the increase in oxidative stress caused by ultraviolet rays can lead to inflammation of the skin, or sunburn, which can easily lead to wrinkles and spots.
If you have a lot of wrinkles and spots, your appearance will inevitably look older than your actual age.
Causes of Dry Skin
The increase in oxidative stress in the skin due to ultraviolet rays can lead to dry skin, a condition in which the skin becomes dry.
Dry skin can occur for a variety of reasons, but when the oxidative stress on the surface of the skin is high, inflammation occurs and the skin becomes dry.
When the parts of the body that are exposed to the sun, especially the arms, hands, face and neck, are dry even when wearing clothes, oxidative stress forms in the areas exposed to the sun's rays, causing the skin to become flaky.
Dry and cracked skin will make you look older, and dry skin conditions can also cause wrinkles.
Does Alcoholism Make You Older?
There are also people who are addicted to alcohol. Alcoholism is a condition in which a person drinks a large amount of alcohol for a long period of time. This can make you look old, like you are 70 years old even though you are 50 years old. There are people who look as if they are 70 years old.
Alcohol is broken down into acetaldehyde in the liver. If you drink a large amount of alcohol for a long period of time, you will continue to be exposed to acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is a toxic substance that causes oxidative stress and makes the body very rusty, so the whole body becomes rusty.
About Gray Hair
In addition to wrinkles and blemishes, gray hair can also affect the way you look and age.
In fact, a new theory about hair has recently emerged.
Some people say that human hair is a system that removes waste and toxins from the body. From this point of view, the growth of black hair means that the body is able to metabolize toxins.
When hair that is supposed to be black turns gray, it means that the flow of blood has stopped at the hair follicles. When this happens, waste products cannot be released from the body.
Blood is very important. When the flow of capillaries is collapsed, the flow of blood stops, and the cause of this is oxidative stress. When oxidative stress is present, arteriosclerosis progresses from small blood vessels.
This is an extreme example, but most Japanese people in their teens or so have perfectly black hair. However, by the time they reach their 70s, more and more of them have gray hair or are losing their hair. This is because oxidative stress rises as we get older.
Some people find that their gray hair decreases after taking an antioxidant formula, but this is probably because blood flow has resumed and they have returned to a younger state.
Incidentally, there are people in their twenties and thirties who experience a sudden increase in gray hair. This is due to the fact that when they feel a great deal of fear, their hair turns white overnight, although the number of cases is small.
In the same way, fear and psychological stress may increase oxidative stress and reduce blood flow, resulting in a rapid increase in gray hair. This is thought to be the case.
Finally
As I mentioned in this example, I think it is safe to say that people who look young have less rust in their bodies. Therefore, appearance is as important as physical health, and the Society of Anti-Aging Medicine even holds seminars on anti-aging appearance.
In order to reduce the appearance of age, it is highly effective to always apply sunscreen to avoid sunburn, and to apply creams containing vitamin E to treat dry skin to reduce oxidative stress. It is also important to reduce oxidative stress by taking evidence-based supplements.