Oxidative stress and physical exercise

There is a direct link between oxidative stress and physical exercise, which we will explore in this article. There is no question that physical exercise and a healthy diet are essential for good health and well-being. However, the intensityof your exercise can increase the production of free radicals in your body, leading to oxidative stress.

But what does this mean? Why does it have this effect?

What is oxidative stress?

Oxidative stress is an imbalance between the physiological mechanisms responsible for producing and neutralising reactive compounds that are capable of causing oxidative molecular damage.

Put more simply, oxygen is essential for life, but it can also be converted into reactive oxygen species by cellular processes such as respiration, immune function, etc. Under normal conditions, these reactive species are neutralised by the body thanks to its antioxidant defences (enzymes, vitamins C and E, proteins, etc.), but when too many of these reactive oxygen species are produced, the defences become overwhelmed and ineffective, resulting in damage to the body’s cells. Among other common detrimental effects, they usually cause damage to the cell membranes of skeletal muscle cells (myocytes), which leads to an inflammatory response, resulting in muscle pain and fatigue.

What is the link between oxidative stress and physical exercise?

As a general rule, exercise increases oxygen consumption. This increase in oxygen can become harmful or beneficial, depending on the intensity and duration of the exercise:

• Intense (prolonged/one-off) exercise makes you consume 10-15 times more oxygen than when you are at rest, to meet your energy demands. This causes oxidative stress, which leads to the production of free radicals and lipid peroxidation, as well as tissue depletion of vitamin E (an antioxidant). This leads to fatigue, muscle damage and a weakening of the body’s defences.

• However, regular moderate exercise provides small stimuli, such as low/moderate concentrations of reactive and other oxidative species, which increase the activation and synthesis of antioxidant enzymes in the muscles, blood cells and plasma. In other words, protein-coding genes with antioxidant or macromolecule-repairing functions are activated in the cells.

How to combat oxidative damage.

As we have seen, regular moderate physical exercise plays an important role in neutralising free radicals and preventing and/or reducing the damage caused by oxidative stress. Antioxidants also protect the body from oxidative stress, aiding faster muscle recovery after highly strenuous activities, and even slowing down the premature ageing processes they cause. They also strengthen the immune system, reducing the frequency of illness symptoms and muscle weakness.

For people with very heavy training loads, it may be necessary to increase their intake of antioxidant-rich foods like berries, citrus fruits, avocados, olive oil, cinnamon, tomatoes, broccoli, dark chocolate, etc., or even take food supplements with vitamins C and E and minerals such as zinc, which help to protect cells from oxidative damage.

Thanks to its additive-free physical extraction process, Keriba Sport, which contains vitamin B6, magnesium and natural whole pomegranate extract, is high in the antioxidants found in pomegranates – punicalagins – so as well as delaying the onset of exhaustion and fatigue, reducing muscle pain and inhibiting the breakdown of cartilage in the joints, it protects against oxidative stress.