The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer

by Elizabeth Blackburn

People who exercise spend less time in the toxic state known as oxidative stress. This noxious condition begins with a free radical, a molecule that is missing an electron. A free radical is rickety, unstable, incomplete. It craves the missing electron, so it swipes one from another molecule—which is now unstable itself and needs to steal a replacement electron of its own. Like a dark mood that is passed from one person to another, each person feeling a little better the bad feelings are dumped onto someone else, oxidative stress is a state that can shear through a cell’s molecular population. It’s associated with aging and onset of the diseasespan: cardiovascular disease, cancer, lung problems, arthritis, diabetes, macular degeneration, and neurodegenerative disorders. Fortunately, our cells also contain antioxidants, which offer natural protection against oxidative stress. Antioxidants are molecules that can donate an electron to a free radical but still remain stable. When an antioxidant gives an electron to a free radical, the chain reaction ends. An antioxidant is like a wise friend who says, “Okay, tell me all your bad feelings; I’ll listen and you’ll feel better, but I’m not going to let you make me feel bad, too. And I’m definitely not going to pass your black mood on to someone else.”