The process of aging: How antioxidants, free radicals, and oxidative stress play a role

Readers note: Ok, secret time. I was halfway through with a blog post about collagen (not supplements, just collagen in general) and how amaze-balls it is. 

One of the key functions of collagen is its ability to act as an antioxidant. This led to articles about antioxidants and free radicals. One rabbit hole led to another (just call me Alice), and I ended up with 17 tabs open about freaking antioxidants. So rather than giving you a white paper on cellular function, collagen, and anti-aging, I’m breaking them down into a few separate posts! 

Me: 34 years old My Daughter: 9 months old. She’s my mini me but you can clearly see the role of aging, of a life lived, on my face compared to hers. Fine lines, acne scars, discoloration are all evidence of the losing battle between antioxidants and free radicals.

“If we’re lucky, we’ll all grow old.” – unknown

As we age, there are obvious and not-so-obvious changes that occur. Hormones shift, joints ache, and skin starts to become less vibrant and plump. Your risk for most diseases increases as you age – heart disease, diabetes, cancer. 

The million-dollar question is “why?”

The ten-million-dollar question is “how do you stop it?”

This article isn’t meant to solve all your aging woes but is meant to provide some info and tools to help you encourage healthy function and longevity on a cellular level. 

You’ve probably heard or seen the terms antioxidant, free radical, and maybe even oxidative stress. But what do these terms mean and more importantly – why do they matter?

What are free radicals and why do we hate them?

You may think free radicals are bad things (especially if you’ve ever seen or read a beauty product advertisement). But free radicals are just naturally occurring molecules that are created when your cells use oxygen. 

Simply put, free radicals are the by-product of your cells using oxygen. 

Free radicals don’t always come from within – there are external free radicals found in the environment. Examples of free radicals in the wild include:

• Pesticides and certain cleaners

• Cigarette smoke

• Radiation – from the sun and medical devices 

• Air pollution

• Radon exposure

• Alcohol (yup)

Certain scenarios or conditions can also promote excess free radical formation. Some of these include:

• High blood sugar levels

• Infections

• Prolonged or intense exercise

• Antioxidant deficiency 

As you can see, it’s hard to fully avoid external free radicals, but that’s not the point. Telling you to hide from the sun, don’t work out, and never get an infection is as realistic as telling your cells to not use oxygen. 

Like everything in life, it’s all about balance. Once free radicals are created, your body uses antioxidants to remove them. Wanna know what else antioxidants are called? Free radical scavengers. Isn’t that the coolest name ever? 

Antioxidants prevent and repair any damage caused by these free radical rebels to keep your cells and body healthy. If there are more free radicals running around than there are antioxidants to keep them in line, oxidative stress can occur. 

Oxidative stress: the real troublemaker. 

Oxidative stress happens when there is an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants. When oxidative stress is around, it bullies and beats up your cells and can cause damage.

Damage on a cellular level carries all kinds of consequences. Damage from oxidative stress can lead to a variety of diseases including heart disease, diabetes, eye diseases like cataracts, and cancer.  

Oxidative stress is thought to play a crucial role in aging as well. When skin cells become damaged or altered, common signs of aging can appear. Oxidative stress also makes it more difficult for your skin to repair from damage caused by oxidative stress.

One example is signs of sun damage. If you’ve spent a life worshiping the sun, your body eventually can’t keep up and this is when discoloration, uneven skin texture, and skin cancers can occur. Another is the natural loss of moisture in our skin as we age. Typically, collagen and antioxidant actions would replenish your dehydrated skin and plump it right up.

This is why you still looked refreshed, glowing, and rejuvenated after a night of drinking Everclear out of a Rubbermaid cooler in your 20s. 

But eventually, the lack of hydration wins, and fine lines and sunken skin can set it. This is why two glasses of Merlot while you watch Bridgerton make you look like you haven’t slept in 5 days when you’re in your 30s. 

Now take these examples for the skin, and apply them to every organ, tissue, and muscle in your body. An imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants causes stress in these areas, making it more difficult for cells to repair and protect themselves.  

Since antioxidants scavenge and regulate free radicals and when they do this, oxidative stress is reduced, where can you find antioxidants?

I thought you’d never ask.

Where to find antioxidants. 

Your body creates a few antioxidants on its own like alpha lipoic acid and glutathione. Collagen isn’t technically considered an antioxidant, but it can act like one to support free radical control. 

Antioxidants are found in food – mostly food made from plants (fruits and veggies). Some pack a bigger punch than others based on the phytonutrients (plant-based compounds) in them. When shopping around to find antioxidant-rich foods, it all comes down to these nutrient compounds. 

A good rule of thumb is to eat the rainbow. Most fruits and vegetables that are rich in color are also rich in antioxidants. Carrots, tomatoes, peaches, and sweet potatoes all get their bright orange and red colors from carotenoids like carotene and lycopene. Carotenoids are a huge class of antioxidant-containing plants. 

Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and gives things like lemons, bananas, and pineapple their yellow hue.  

Lutein is another antioxidant and its name is the Latin word for yellow but foods with high levels of lutein are usually bright green (don’t ask me why). Kale, spinach, peas, and lettuce all have significant amounts of lutein. 

I know black and brown aren’t in the rainbow, but we can’t forget the power couple coffee and dark chocolate. Both of these guys are high in antioxidants like polyphenols which have been shown to help reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers. 

If you’re colorblind or have never seen a rainbow, here are some examples of antioxidant-rich foods:

• Basically any berry

• Cherries

• Citrus fruit like lemons and oranges

• Prunes

• Dark leafy greens like kale and collards

• Carrots

• Broccoli

• Tomatoes

• Olives

In addition to fresh fruits and veggies, fish, nuts, onions, garlic, and cinnamon all contain antioxidants. Green tea and turmeric also have a high amount of these free-radical fighting fellows.  

You can increase your collagen (and increase antioxidant activity) by eating foods rich in collagen or taking a high-quality supplement. Things like bone broth, bone marrow, fish skin, and the gristly bits of meat have the highest collagen content. 

Non-dietary ways to increase antioxidant levels.

If you’re turning blue from blueberries or can’t stomach any more golden turmeric tea – don’t fret. There are ways to increase antioxidant activity and reduce oxidative stress that don’t include a trendy acai berry bowl every day. 

Regular physical activity can boost natural antioxidants. “But wait – you said earlier strenuous exercise causes free radical formation?” This is true, but moderate exercise has been linked to boosting antioxidant activity. Strenuous exercise leads to tissue damage (as you build big ol’ musckles) which isn’t a bad thing – but it’s good to be aware that constant tissue and muscle damage and breakdown take a toll on your body.

Don’t smoke and avoid exposure to secondhand smoke. The same goes for exposure to cleaning chemicals and pesticides. If you’re going to use nuclear level cleaning chemicals, wear gloves and open a window to increase ventilation. Try and buy organic foods to reduce pesticide exposure if possible and make sure you scrub your fruits and veggies when you get home from the store.

Wearing sunscreen limits oxidative stress effects from ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Some indoor lights also emit UV light so using a daily moisturizer with SPF can be helpful (in addition to heavy-duty sunscreen at the beach).

If you’re looking for a deeper reset to boost anti-oxidant activity, check out this guide by my friends at ivee!

Take caution with antioxidant supplements.

Naturally, there are a million different supplements on the market containing antioxidants. Supplementing with a high-quality antioxidant product can be helpful (especially if you don’t get enough fruits and veggies in your diet or have allergies), but make sure you find a balance. 

Taking something that says MEGA, ULTRA, INTENSE, INSANO amounts of antioxidants is probably not the best thing for you. Just like there can be too many free radicals in your body, there can also be too many antioxidants. 

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health warns against taking high-doses of antioxidants as there can be harmful reactions. Studies have shown high doses of certain antioxidants can actually increase a person’s risk for certain cancers or increase a person’s risk for bleeding. 

And like any supplement or medication – there is a risk for interaction. Just because something came from a plant, doesn’t mean it can’t cause harm (ever heard of poison ivy or hemlock?). 

If you take prescription medications and want to add an antioxidant supplement, talk to your healthcare provider. They can check if there are any interactions known between the two as well as suggest alternatives if needed. 

A couple more thoughts about antioxidant supplements:

1. The vast majority of trials done with supplements have not found them to be extremely useful – researchers note this could be due to the additional health effects found when patients eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables

2. There is no evidence of harm or ability to over-consume dietary sources of antioxidants

In the end, free radicals and antioxidants are both parts of the continuous process our body is in to find balance, grow, and restore function. As we age, this process becomes more complex and increasing antioxidants in your diet can help reduce some of the effects of oxidative stress. And finding natural sources of antioxidants in foods, drinks, and establishing healthy habits is most effective. 

tl;dr:

• Free radicals are created when your cells use oxygen

• Antioxidants are free radical scavengers and prevent free radical excess

• Oxidative stress occurs when there is an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants

• Oxidative stress is linked to skin aging and several diseases

•  Antioxidants are made in the body but most people get them from their diet

• Fresh fruits and vegetables contain different antioxidants to help reduce oxidative stress

• Take caution when using antioxidant supplements 

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Copywriters Do The Work For You - 7 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Copywriter

Hiring a copywriter for your business can be extremely valuable. They’re often the unsung heroes behind every Google search, Pinterest blog, or newsletter.

Great business owners know using a copywriter saves time, builds authority, and expands the reach of a brand.

But what exactly can hiring a copywriter do for your business? They write words, but how do those words work for you? Read on to uncover seven scenarios why having a good copywriter in your back pocket might be the key to unlocking your brand’s potential.

1) You have a website for your business

If you don’t have a website for your business, you need one. It’s just that simple.*

Websites don’t take nights, weekends, or holidays off. Websites are always open. Websites are there 24/7 to share your product, service, and content, just waiting for your ideal client to come along.

Plus, websites help streamline nearly every aspect of running your business.

The problem with websites is they don’t make themselves. Website designers help you create your theme, your logo, and create a basic layout for your user journey (the experience your future clients have on your website).

But once that is done – there is still something missing.

The content.

The content of your website is your voice. Your website content is how you connect with your future clients and customers – it’s how they get to know you.

A good copywriter finds your voice and writes the content of your website as if you wrote it yourself. But you didn’t because who has time for that? You have a growing business to run.

2) Your business utilizes email lists

A client or customer purchases a product or opts in for a service.

They have now given you access to their email address – sacred access you better not take for granted. Their email address isn’t just to confirm shipping and ask for a review. It’s a way to create a relationship.

Writing emails to address pain points, show empathy, and inform takes time. You can’t send a basic email with a lame subject line and expect people to open it or click if they do.

People are getting wiser when it comes to shallow messages and boilerplate emails.

Hiring a copywriter who knows your message, knows the relationship you want to build saves you the time and effort it takes to write email sequences for your funnel or drip campaign.

Copywriters know what to write in the subject line to get people to actually open them (and they know what to avoid getting pushed into the dreadful promotions tab).

3) Your business uses Google

When you Google something, how many pages do you go through before you select a link?

Probably only one.

How many results do you scroll past before selecting?

Probably just a few.

Google owns over 90% of the search engine market share. Millions of people use Google every day to find answers and to find information. *

Google analytics are all speculative. They keep the true algorithms safer than Fort Knox. But thankfully there are plenty of tools to measure a website and webpage’s performance, or Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Hiring a copywriter means you’ve hired someone who keeps a pulse on the evolving ways of SEO. Using software and good ol’ fashion research, copywriters create content that pushes your website higher and higher on Google search pages.

4) Your business uses social media

Ugh, social media. It’s exhausting enough having a personal account – but managing a business account too? Oof.

But you can’t avoid it. There’s far too much potential on social media to dismiss it.

Working with a copywriter to plan and curate your social media content can save you the headache of staying on top of algorithms and hashtags. Copywriters can batch your content into a social media Rolodex, ready whenever you are to post promos, news, and updates.

5) You write articles, newsletters, and blogs for your business

Hubspot researched the top-performing blog posts in 2019 to answer the question “how long should a blog post be?”

Naturally, the answer was ‘it depends’. But for SEO, blog posts should be at least 2,000 words. Pillar pages (your all-encompassing knowledge page) should start out at 4,000 words. Listicles and shorter How to articles can be in the 1,500 range to reach your inbound marketing goals.*

How long would it take you to write a 2,000-word blog post? Even if it’s on your business, your bread and butter, your wheelhouse, writing decent articles that are focused on SEO and enjoyable to read take time and energy.

Hiring a copywriter frees up your time and energy so you can focus on your business (and not writing). This can look like providing a topic and letting the copywriter research the keywords and writing the content. Or maybe you know what keywords you want to rank for and you supply those to your copywriter.

Even if you don’t have time to come up with the topics but you know you want to increase your business visibility to the right audience – your copywriter can help you with that too (especially if you hire one that specializes in your business or niche).

6) You want to grow your business but are unsure how to target potential clients

Piggybacking (fun word) on blog posts – copywriters are great assets to help with market research in addition to content creation.

Copywriters help you create an ideal client avatar, essentially creating the perfect customer for your business. Once this avatar is made, your copywriter targets their pain points and also finds where they like to spend their time on the internet.

Even if you’re targeting many types of people, you have to focus your efforts to reach them. Broad posting may not be enough.

For example, say you sell collagen and you want to target women aged 40-50 years old. Using phrases like ‘anti-aging’ and ‘joint paint relief’ should be in your content.

If you now want to target athletes this month, let’s say men aged 20-30 years old – focusing on phrases like ‘build muscle mass’ and ‘recover faster’ are more likely to pull them in than anything related to anti-aging benefits.

7) You want to build credibility and brand authority

Doing all of the above helps you build credibility in your niche. Potential clients want to trust your brand and be confident you can solve their problems. By having a website that informs and educates, sharing regular blog posts hitting their darkest pain points – you set yourself up to be a thought leader.

Potential clients will start to lean on you for expert advice, visiting your content in their times of need. Even if they don’t purchase anything the first time (or ever), the fact they’re visiting your page frequently shows Google your content is important.

The baby bassinet company SNOO might be the best example of this. Their website doesn’t contain the word SNOO at all.

Their website is www.happiestbaby.com.

Who doesn’t want a happy baby?

SNOO has an in-depth blog and article page covering nearly any infant or toddler related problem or parental fear.* You don’t know even you’re on a company website for the most part. But those clicks and visits, those saved and shared pages grow their reach and increase their buyer exposure.

Hire a Copywriter and Watch Your Platform Grow

In today’s world, people don’t want to support a faceless company anymore.

They want to support someone they trust. They want to believe in someone.

Even if you’re the most educated and equipped person to solve their problems – if your voice and brand do not convey on a screen – your message will be lost.

In a time where digital media is not only more convenient but often the single point of contact to your potential clients, hiring a copywriter might be the best thing you do for your business this year.

If you’re looking for a copywriter to help your business grow – fill out the contact form below so we can chat about you and your goals!

Stephanie Klein is a licensed nurse practitioner and freelance medical copywriter at The Klein Creative and can be reached at thekleincreative@gmail.com.

Resources:

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2020/02/03/why-every-business-needs-a-website/?sh=7cd5f1526e75

• https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share

• https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-long-should-your-blog-posts-be-faq

• https://www.happiestbaby.com

Seasonal Affective Disorder: 5 Ways to Fight The Winter Blues

As we enter into the depths of winter and the end of the holiday season – we enter a new level of literal darkness.

The days are the shortest (although slowly getting longer each day) and the bright lights of Christmas trees and NYE sparkle are all gone. Many people get sad or blue this time of year and it’s not an original issue.

These feelings of seasonal depression can lead to a clinical diagnosis of Seasonal Affective Disorder – or aptly abbreviated, SAD. Not everyone who feels blue during the winter months has SAD, but many of the same tools used to manage SAD can be helpful to nearly everyone.

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

Seasonal Affective Disorder (also called seasonal depression) is a type of depression typically occurring in the fall and winter months. Some people experience it in the spring and summer, but typically Seasonal Affective Disorder occurs in the cooler, darker seasons. 

Seasonal Affective Disorder can cause many of the same symptoms seen with clinical depression, including:

• Feeling depressed most days

• Loss of interest in once-loved activities

• Fatigued, sluggish

• Sleeping too little or sleeping too much

• Appetite changes

• Trouble concentrating

• Feeling hopeless or worthless

You can have varying degrees of any of these symptoms, some more severe than others. Symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder typically show up once days become shorter and there is less natural sunlight during the day. 

According to a 2012 American Family Physician article, about 5% of the U.S. population experiences Seasonal Affective Disorder each year with symptoms for about ⅓ of the year.

How Do You Treat Seasonal Affective Disorder?

There are many ways to address Seasonal Affective Disorder ranging from natural remedies to taking prescribed medication. Even people without an official diagnosis can benefit from some of the common interventions and here are five ways to battle the winter blues. 

1. SAD Lamps 

Not actual SAD lamp, but an adorable one.

There’s a reason tanning bed salons are so popular in northern states and it’s not just to maintain a tan – the light and warmth help with seasonal depression. 

But! Tanning beds cause cancer so that doesn’t really outweigh the benefit. This is where light therapy boxes come in.

Light therapy boxes are an easy way to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder and are considered a first-line treatment for patients with SAD. Their purpose is to mimic sunlight in an effort to improve your mood and reduce symptoms of SAD. They’re usually affordable and something you can use year after year making SAD lamps a cost-effective treatment option for seasonal depression. 

Choosing your favorite style as well as light intensity are a couple of things to consider when shopping for a light therapy box, or SAD lamp. According to Mayo Clinic, you want a lightbox that provides exposure to up to 10,000 lux of light while emitting as little UV light as possible. You can usually find this info in the fine print of the product deets.

Using a SAD lamp in the morning for 20-30 minutes is ideal, think of it as a way to help wake up your brain and improve your mood. You don’t need to be staring directly into the lamp, you just want it to be around you. A few ways you can use your SAD lamp include:

• Turn it on in your bathroom while you get ready in the morning

• Do something you enjoy with it nearby like baking, knitting, or watching TV

• Have it on while you study and use it as a desk lamp

You can find them in various shapes and sizes, so find one that works for your personal style or preference. SAD lamps aren’t FDA-approved, but there is very little risk to using them if you’re using a light therapy box that filters out most or all UV light. 

2. Physical Activity

Although exercise as a form of mental health treatment has mostly been explored with general depression rather than seasonal depression, there’s no denying the benefit being active has on your mood. 

There have been a few studies looking at the specific benefits of exercise on Seasonal Affective Disorder. One study compared the effectiveness of light therapy versus physical activity in patients with SAD found them to be equally beneficial. 

Being active in the morning rather than later in the day can be more helpful when it comes to SAD. This can include walking, biking, weight lifting, or doing yoga to name a few. Pretty much anything that gets your heart rate going and breaking a sweat helps boost your mood and fight off the wintertime blues. 

3. Social Connection

Spring and summer are usually filled with festivals, concerts, and vacations. November and December are full of reasons to gather and celebrate. These holiday months are rife with gathering, merriment, and annoying your favorite family members.

But as the champagne flattens and balloons deflate – January, February, and March can leave a larger than normal social gap. 

Big group gatherings lessen in the colder months too because it's harder to get together when you have to stick to indoor settings. 

And when you’re depressed or blue, feeling lonely comes with the territory (even in a room full of people). This is why cultivating good social connections can help battle depression. It’s been proven when people feel connected and part of something bigger, they’re happier. 

Your social group doesn’t have to include a large number of people, you just have to find your people. This can be a text thread where you send silly memes and check in on each other. Or a once a week wine and dine group. Or an accountability partner helping you focus on a passion, hobby, or side hustle. 

But by staying connected and finding people you trust and feel safe with – you’re more likely to share when things aren’t going great. You can talk about hard stuff with your people. They help you carry the weight of whatever is going on or simply sit with you while you carry it. 

4. Medications for SAD

Antidepressants can be used in addition to SAD lamps for the treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder. There isn’t a ton of evidence supporting the use of antidepressants alone in the treatment, so it’s important to continue using light therapy even if you’ve started a medication.

Many patients start medication for Seasonal Affective Disorder in the early fall to prevent symptoms as it takes a few weeks for the full effect of the antidepressant. Once spring comes along and the days are longer, people will often slowly taper off for the spring and summer. 

If you think you need medication as a tool to get through the winter months, reach out to your healthcare provider.

Working with a healthcare professional means you can have a candid conversation about what you’re feeling and how you’re coping. They can also help you find a counselor or therapist to try additional therapy options so you can feel confident heading into the seasons.

5. Listen to the Rhythm of the Seasons

Now that you know a little more ways to manage it – hopefully you feel more at ease about how emotions change with the seasons. 

That being said, also allow some grace to experience those feelings – it’s natural to slow down in the fall and winter months. After all, many animals hibernate during the winter. They sleep, their heart rate and breathing rate slow way down, their body temperature drops, and their digestive system nearly stops (if you want more cool facts about hibernation, check out this article by the Australian Academy of Science).

Animals are recovering, surviving, and planning for the spring ahead. So take some advice from the animals and allow the slower pace to soothe rather than irritate your soul. 

Take more time for reflection (New Year’s resolutions ring a bell?), celebration, and recovery. This can look like a long walk, a hot yoga class, or taking an extra 2 minutes in the steamy shower ‘just because’. 

Look, Here Comes the Sun

If you find yourself in the depths of winter depression, hopefully, this list sheds some proverbial light on ways to feel better. Some days will be easier than others, and that’s just how life goes.
We can’t escape the ebb and flow of nature, no matter how much we try (unless we spend our year traveling across the hemispheres).

As time has shown for thousands of years, winter will eventually turn into spring and summer. The days will become longer and warmer. The air will be less harsh with less bite. 

But until then, stay warm, cozy, and comforted. 

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