Free Radicals: Your Skin's Enemy

Our skin is the largest organ on our bodies and beauty begins with the skin. Lots of people equate the look of radiance with beautiful, glowing skin. You need to be healthy inside and out in order for your skin to reflect that healthy radiance.

For some people, beautiful skin is a gift that is bestowed upon us through our genes, while others need to work at obtaining and maintaining beautiful skin.

Whichever group you fall into, if you want to look your best, you will need to devote part of your beauty routine to your skin.

When choosing beauty products, be careful to select products that are kind to your skin.

Some cosmetics may actually leave your skin dull and dry looking when we take them off at night.

Some of the damage that happens to our faces and skin is as a result of free radicals.

Free radicals are compounds that are highly reactive. They are found in our body primarily in two ways: (1) either they are created in the body over the course of normal metabolic functions; or (2) they are introduced from the environment.

By nature, free radicals are unstable since they contain "extra" energy. To lessen the burden of this extra energy, free radicals react with certain chemicals in the body. During this process, free radicals interfere with normal cell function and attack normal, healthy cells.

Without going into too much detail about the science behind it, we all know that the human body is made up of varied types of cells, which, in turn, are composed of molecules. These molecules consist of atoms of single or multiple elements. All of these are held together by chemical bonds. The chain reaction caused by free radicals helps decompose many substances, especially at high temperatures, but this is not necessarily a great situation for our bodies. These reactions can cause damage to our skin.

Detrimental effects of free radicals

So what type of damage can we expect from free radicals? Our cell membranes are made of unsaturated lipids. These lipids are highly susceptible to the damaging nature of free radicals. Free radicals are known to cause oxidative damage, which can lead to a hardening of our lipid cell membranes. Once the lipids harden, the cells will not be able to properly acquire nutrients.

Hardened cells have difficulty communicating with other cells and the body suffers. Most cellular activities will also be handicapped, and free radicals can cause major damages to biological molecules such as DNA, RNA, enzymes, and mitochondria.

This damage has been linked to cancer, premature aging, Parkinson's disease, arteriosclerosis, emphysema, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and many other illnesses.

Even though free radicals are essential in many functions of our bodies, if they become excessive, then the damage can quickly spiral out of control. As we age, the damages caused by free radicals are more conspicuously felt.

How do we combat free radical damage? The most effective and proven form of protection against free radical damage are antioxidants. Many types of antioxidant enzymes, like super oxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase, are produced in our bodies. These are nature's weapons for fighting free radicals. Oral supplements of these enzymes are available and may help at times when our bodies are not producing as much as we may need.

You can also help to strengthen your body by eating a balanced diet that includes nutrients like manganese, zinc, copper, and selenium. Your diet should also include vitamins C, E, and B2 and minerals like beta-carotene, lutein, and lycopene. Vitamin E prevents heart disease by acting against oxidation and plaque formation. Vitamin C helps protect you from cancers of the mouth, esophagus, and larynx.

Herbs like curcumin, gingko, and bilberry are also powerful weapons in the fight against free radicals. Some health experts feel these herbs are like scavengers, searching out free radicals in the body and preventing damage to cells and tissues. It is important to take these herbal supplements in the correct amount. Recently topical treatments have also been developed that help combat the external affects of these free radicals.

As you age, facial and skin problems can increase in part related to free radicals. Skin discolorations like age spots, sun spots, and freckles can become increasing unsightly. But these problems don't mean you have to look less than your best.

The makers of a new product called Lumnaderm(tm), a topical skin cream, developed it to help reduce the appearance of damage caused by free radicals. Lumnaderm(tm) is cited as a product you may want to give serious consideration in helping you restore your radiant skin and smooth out wrinkles. This product is available from fine online retailers like Amazon.com and the BODeStore.com (http://www.bodestore.com).

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About Kamau Austin

Written by the V-Team, courtesy Kamau Austin, publisher. The V-Team writes articles for the health and fitness enthusiast. Their timeless health and fitness tips are at the Fit After Forty Blog. See more useful news and tips about skin careat http://www.healthandfitnessvitality.com/blogs/fitnessblog.htm


And here is another random article you might be interested in...

9/13

On Thursday, September 13, 2001, I went to facilitate a session with first line supervisors in a company for whom I had been consulting. It was the 6th week of a commitment of 10 weekly sessions.

Most of these supervisors had been promoted from a line position because they were good at their work, mature and smart. I was brought in to teach them better supervisory skills. Management expected them to produce more acceptable results. An earlier survey proved that business objectives and quotas weren't being met, and tardiness and absenteeism were unacceptably high. The company's managers saw this as a crisis and surmised that the first line supervisors weren't skilled enough to promote the company's mission, manage the workers or their work effectively.

The events of two days prior, the Tuesday we will all remember as 9/11, could not be ignored, so my first question to them was, "How is everyone?"

Everyone was all right and in attendance.

My second question was, "How did Tuesday go here at work?" I learned that at the highest level of management, the corporate office in another state, the priority was caring for the staff. They were allowed to take care of themselves and their family's needs first. The company's long distance phone lines were open to anyone to call anywhere in the world to check on their loved ones. Televisions and radios were brought into central common areas and were left on all day. Staff freely came and went between their workspace, the TV areas, the phones or the rest area, at their will.

The staff went into great detail about their families and where they were and what was happening with each of them. They told me how much they appreciated the freedom that management gave them to cope.

I then asked, "With all that autonomy, how much work was done?" They looked at each other, and nodding in agreement, said, "Quotas were met or exceeded."

The supportive reaction of management was out of the ordinary, actually, extraordinary. Staff in this company were always accountable to be in their seats at certain times, they followed rigid rules: no personal phone usage; personal belongings were not allowed in their work areas and on their desks; no calendars with pictures or graphics of any kind, no personal photos; and break and meal times were inflexible. All activities during work hours were normally dictated. There was very little staff self-management occurring in this company.

But in the throes of a dreadful world crisis on 9/11, management changed all the rules. They explained to staff that they had to stay open for business to answer incoming calls from their customers, so they asked their staff to stay and accommodated them in this unusual manner. They treated people respectfully, as responsible adults who were allowed to be accountable for their work while also taking care of themselves. There were numerous distractions from the work that staff were paid to do that day.

And quotas were met or surpassed. The differences were striking.

What part did a country in crisis play in productivity? Were staff just unusually patriotic about American productivity that day? How much was this unusual and unexpected accommodation of staff a contributing factor to the day's business success?

Employees of this company will always remember and be grateful to their company for the fleeting demonstration of support in that time of incredible anguish and fear. But by the end of the 10 weeks that I worked with this group, all the old rules were back in place and the poor outcomes that required calling in a consultant in the first place, existed again. A month later, when our time together was up, no one was surprised or even questioned that quotas weren't being met. I felt like I was in the twilight zone.

This example resolutely confirms that developing and supporting staff to be self-managed has an immediate positive effect on people, thereby creating positive business results. Treating people as if they are doing you a favor by being there, acknowledging their needs and helping to fulfill those, can be good for everyone.

We shouldn't have to wait for a world crisis to have a workplace become a good, safe, healthy and health-full place to be.

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About Linda Lester

Linda LaPointe is the author of The New Supervisor, in which she describes how to develop self-managed staff, which reduces managerial stress and increases worker loyalty. Learn more or subscribe to E-Tools News at http://www.thenewsupervisor.com.
lapointell@yahoo.com