The City has its charms. Whether it is London, New York or Jakarta, everyone wants to be in the centre of the adrenalin rush with its enticing restaurants, bars, nightclubs, shopping and never ending social activities. Carrie Bradshaw and her girl friends in Sex in the City completely epitomize what it is like to live in the city, but there are some points to be kept in mind.

Stress. Living in the city can be stressful. This "fight of flight" response that originally enabled our ancestors to survive in "stressful times" such as the threat of predators has been replaced today by traffic jams, work, financial problems, thriller movies and theme park rides. There is no real threatening situation to our lives, yet we respond with drugs (prescription or otherwise!), alcohol, overeating, stimulants such as tea, coffee and alcohol.

Stress can often result in lethargy, headaches, irritability, changes in appetite, memory loss low-self esteem, changes in behaviour, cold hands, tooth grinding, insomnia, digestive disturbances, high blood pressure, nervous twitches, low sex drive. Anxiety panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorders, phobic disorders are some of the more serious manifestations. In addition, the worst part of stress is that sometimes we don't even know we are stressed because we get so used to living with it day in and day out that it manifests into some other illness Stress can contribute to major illnesses including cancer, cardiovascular disease, endocrine and metabolic disease, skin disorders and infectious ailments

Environmental pollution is another down side of living in the city, especially Jakarta. This does not just come from Jakarta's endless traffic jams, as pollutants are in the foods that we eat. (95% of chemicals come from our food), trans dermal simulation as well as the water that we drink.

Two major consequences of pollutants on the body are free radicals and oxidative stress. Free radicals lead to illnesses and disease states. Sources of free radicals are the environment, the body and free radicals themselves. Environmental free radicals come from car exhaust fumes, smoke, smog, pesticides, radiation, tobacco smoking, alcohol, medication and more. Free radicals from the body originate from cellular energy production, stress, exercise, ageing, liver detoxification and during an immune response, etc. The damage of free radicals is known as oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress is a major contributor to degenerative disease, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, atherosclerosis, diabetes, chronic fatigue, macular degeneration, hormonal imbalances, thyroid dysfunction, behavioral problems and lowered IQ in children as well as to premature aging. Oxidative stress is responsible for over 100 disease states, a lot of them never heard of at the turn of the century. It lowers the immune systems ability to fight the invading chemicals