No products in the basket.
Have you ever considered your mitochondrial health? In this article, you’ll learn why your mitochondria are important and how they support your wellbeing. Crucially, you’ll also discover how you can look after your mitochondria.
What are Mitochondria?
Your mitochondria are specialised structures found within your cells. They’re incredibly important yet often overlooked.
Mitochondria have many functions. However, their most important role is to convert the energy contained in nutrients into a form of energy currency used to power your cells. Called ATP, this energy is crucial for you to function and to stay alive.
Mitochondria are often known as the powerhouses of the cell. They work constantly to provide energy every second of the day and night. It’s been estimated that your mitochondria produce up to 80kg of ATP per day, which is constantly being recycled.
The optimal functioning of your cells’ mitochondria is crucial. If they can’t produce energy efficiently, your cells’ biological processes won’t proceed as smoothly. Energy production will then slow, and cells will accumulate damage caused by byproducts called reactive oxygen species. These harm mitochondria and other parts of the cell due to oxidative stress. In turn, they spark off a cascade of destruction.
You can see how important it is for your mitochondria to be operating efficiently. Scientists believe mitochondrial dysfunction – subtle deteriorations in the operation of mitochondria - may be the main driver behind cellular ageing. Mitochondrial function inevitably declines with age, with less energy being provided.
This deterioration is a characteristic of most chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic fatigue syndrome and cognitive issues like Alzheimer’s disease.
Therefore, by supporting your mitochondrial health, you can help optimise the functioning of your cells and tissues.
How to Improve Your Mitochondrial Fitness
- Move More
When you exercise, your mitochondria must deliver energy to power your muscles. This causes muscle cells to produce extra mitochondria in a process known as mitochondrial biogenesis (1). This can help delay the decline in mitochondrial activity naturally occurring with age. While any form of movement is beneficial, the greatest effects are seen with high-intensity exercise.
- Feed Your Mitochondria
Mitochondria need feeding, and certain nutrients are particularly useful in maintaining their health. These include B-complex vitamins, especially B3, needed to make a substance called NAD+. This is crucial in the process of energy production within mitochondria. Also important are vitamin D (2), along with antioxidants like vitamin C, zinc, L-carnitine, alpha-lipoic acid, and coenzyme Q10. These antioxidants can stabilise free radicals that can otherwise damage mitochondria.
Plant-based foods, especially if you eat a wide range of colours, contain a wealth of antioxidants.
- Fasting
Giving your mitochondria a break by not constantly grazing can increase how efficiently they produce cellular energy and repair damage. Time-restricted eating can be a great start because it simply involves shifting your dinner a little earlier and delaying breakfast the following morning.
- Sleep
Sleep allows your body to dispose of toxic waste products accumulating in cells during the process of producing energy. This is known as autophagy, a recycling and degrading of damaged and worn-out cell components. If waste products accumulate in the cell, they will adversely affect mitochondrial function. Therefore, poor sleep damages mitochondria. Good sleep quality includes setting a regular sleep routine.
- Stress Management
Stress can alter the structure of mitochondria because. When your body produces hormones in response to stressful situations, they are sensed by mitochondria and cause dysfunction in their functioning. In fact, when you are stressed, mitochondria enlarge in size, their membranes becoming extended and less efficient (3). In a vicious cycle, the stress response requires extra energy.
However, certain types of stress can actually be beneficial. Exposure to cold, such as ice baths, or heat in the form of saunas, can boost cellular repair and promote autophagy.
Furthermore, relaxation techniques like yoga and meditation have been found scientifically to improve mitochondrial function (4).
- Infrared Light Therapy
It appears certain wavelengths of light can penetrate skin, stimulating mitochondrial function and ATP production, along with boosting cellular repair.
Help and Support Towards Optimal Mitochondrial Health
Supporting your mitochondrial health is an important step you can take to optimise your health and reduce your risk of chronic disease.
Whether you are looking to manage adverse symptoms or support your long-term health, the first step for many is an Integrative Health Assessment. Our medically trained practitioners will assess whether your health concerns may be associated with mitochondrial dysfunction.
Depending on your situation, we can then recommend your best way forward with our extensive team of specialist practitioners. For example, a Functional Nutritionist can formulate an appropriate dietary and supplement regime to support your health. Meanwhile, our range of mind/body therapies can address mitochondrial issues created by the stress response.
It may be beneficial to support your programme with one or more functional tests to reveal your mitochondrial health. The Metabolomix is a urine test exploring how various imbalances in body systems may be contributing towards your ill-health. Examining substances produced by your body during energy production can reveal your mitochondrial fitness. The test will also highlight nutritional or antioxidant deficiencies or toxins impacting your mitochondria’s energy production. This test is available with practitioner interpretation, or standalone, whichever you prefer.
Start your journey today to optimal mitochondrial health by booking a Discovery Call.
References
- Adaptations of skeletal muscle mitochondria to exercise training - Lundby - 2016 - Experimental Physiology - Wiley Online Library
- Vitamin D Receptor Is Necessary for Mitochondrial Function and Cell Health
- Psychological Stress and Mitochondria: A Systematic Review - PMC
- Relaxation Response Induces Temporal Transcriptome Changes in Energy Metabolism, Insulin Secretion and Inflammatory Pathways | PLOS One
