Free Radicals: The Metabolic exhaust that's slowing you down

If you’re serious about optimisation, you’re already tracking sleep, HRV, macros, supplements, and recovery. But behind all of it sits a biochemical force that determines how fast you age, how well you perform, and how resilient your cells really are: Free radicals.

Free Radicals: What They Are and Why They Matter

Every day, your body is engaged in an invisible battle. At the centre of it are free radicals - highly reactive molecules that play a complex role in both health and ageing. You’ve probably heard the term used in discussions of wellness, skincare, or longevity, but what exactly are free radicals, and why do they matter?

Free radicals are unstable molecules missing an electron. Because of this imbalance, they roam the body searching for electrons to “steal” from neighbouring cells. When they succeed, they damage those cells in the process. This chain reaction is known as oxidative stress, and over time it can lead to a wide range of issues, from accelerated ageing to weakened immunity.

Where Do They Come From?

Free radicals are a natural by-product of life itself. Your body produces them during basic processes like breathing, digesting food, and even exercising. However, modern living exposes us to far more free radicals than our ancestors ever faced, such as:

• Airborne toxins (urban pollution, vehicle exhaust)
• Hard training and chronic elevated cortisol
• UV and blue-light exposure
• Processed foods and oxidised fats
• Environmental chemicals and endocrine disruptors
• Cigarette smoke
• Household chemicals
• Stress and lack of sleep

The problem isn’t that free radicals exist - your body actually uses them for important functions like fighting infections. The issue is when production overwhelms your natural defences.

How Free Radicals Affect the Body

When oxidative stress builds up, the cumulative damage affects virtually every system in the body. Key impacts include:

• Cellular damage: accelerating visible ageing, reduced collagen
• Inflammation: a driver of many chronic conditions
• Weakened skin barrier: contributing to dullness, dryness, and sensitivity
• DNA damage: affecting cell repair and renewal
• Reduced energy levels: mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouses, become less efficient
• Poor detox capacity: sluggish liver pathways and impaired resilience
• Neurodegeneration risk: oxidative stress is a major driver of cognitive decline

Over time, excessive oxidative stress can influence long-term health, from cardiovascular wellbeing to cognitive function.

Self Defence: Antioxidants and Hormetic stress

The good news is that your body has a built-in defence system - Antioxidants. These are molecules capable of donating an electron to free radicals without becoming unstable themselves. In doing so, they neutralise free radicals and halt the chain reaction of damage.

Antioxidants come from two places:

• Your body: which produces powerful internal antioxidants such as glutathione.
• Your diet: especially colourful fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins C and E, polyphenols, and other phytonutrients.

But the real key for biohackers is understanding the balance between oxidative stress and hormesis.

Hormesis, or hormetic stress, is a small, controlled dose of stress that triggers a positive biological response, essentially - stress that makes you stronger.

Cold shock therapy, sauna, resistance training, and fasting are examples of ways to create hormesis, activating antioxidant genes which upregulate your internal detox machinery. It’s not about drowning your system in supplements; it’s about giving your biology the right triggers.

How to Biohack Free Radical Balance

In a world where environmental toxins and daily stressors are constantly increasing, taking steps to support your body’s natural balance isn’t optional, it’s essential. Whether your goal is healthier skin, better long-term vitality, or simply feeling younger for longer, managing oxidative stress is one of the most effective strategies available.

Free radicals may be small, but their impact is huge. By understanding them and supporting your body’s defences, you can take meaningful steps toward better health, inside and out.

Smart strategies include:

• Boosting endogenous antioxidants
• NAC - produced by the body when consuming high-protein foods rich in the amino acid like meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy
• Glycine - high-protein foods
• Sulforaphane - cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage
• Alpha-lipoic acid - red meat, offal, beets, carrots, potatoes, spinach, and broccoli
• Improving mitochondrial efficiency
• CoQ10 - fatty fish (like salmon), Beef, Soybeans, Peanuts, Spinach, and Broccoli
• PQQ – fruit and veg such as green pepper, kiwi, papaya, parsley, spinach and fermented foods
• Creatine
• Prioritising polyphenol-rich foods – Plant based antioxidants
• Blueberries, dark chocolate, turmeric red onions, red grapes, olive oil, artichokes, strawberries, green tea, coffee, pomegranate, apples (skin on)
• Cycling hormetic stressors instead of stacking them
• Optimising sleep and circadian rhythm
• Reducing environmental load (air filtration, clean skincare, low-tox living)

Biohacking is about measurable improvement - and controlling free radicals is one of the most leverage-rich variables in the entire optimisation stack.