Have you ever wondered what provides our body with the required energy? While some may believe it is the nutrients we consume through food, there’s more than what meets the eye. When you consume food, your body turns the absorbed nutrients into energy, eventually fueling your body. All body cells have an energy generator called mitochondria that is the source of their life. It is the singular cell part that combines food and air to generate energy through a process called the Krebs cycle.
Since mitochondria are crucial for every biochemical reaction and cellular process, you must improve your mitochondrial functions. It is where mitochondrial support supplements come into the picture. These supplements do an excellent job of boosting your mitochondria, so energy can be efficiently produced. When you support your mitochondria, you support your body’s energy levels and improve them. If you want mitochondria to generate more cellular energy, follow all the effective ways listed below.
1. Stop Eating Refined Carbs
The greatest natural way to improve your mitochondria is by cutting refined carbs from your diet. If you consume a lot of pastries, white bread, soda, etc., it’s time to limit or entirely stop its consumption. According to researchers at Yale, excess refined carbs like sugar can bring drastic changes in your mitochondria’s function and shape, especially in brain cells. The changes can lead to metabolic diseases like diabetes, the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, alteration in hormone production, etc. When you stop consuming refined carbs, your hormone regulation improves, inflammation reduces, and mitochondrial function enhances.
2. Perform at Least 30-minutes of Regular Exercise
Exercising regularly and increasing physical activity levels is the best way to boost oxygen intake and support the Kreb cycle. When your body utilizes more energy during exercise, it will force the mitochondria to keep up with the energy demand. If you don’t use oxygen and expend energy, mitochondria and your body will grow complacent. You can greatly benefit by incorporating balance exercises, strength training, stretching, and core exercises in your workout routine. You can also take mitochondrial support supplements to accelerate the mitochondria-boosting process.
3. Eat Fewer Calories
Eating fewer calories is a time-tested method of improving mitochondrial function and lowering the production of free radicals. Numerous reactive oxygen species are released when mitochondria use oxygen to generate energy. These species, also known as ROS, can be extremely harmful to cellular structures. Extra calories always lead to heightened inflammatory processes and obesity, which raises ROS during the Krebs cycle. The resultant heightened ROS levels cause cellular damage, known as oxidative stress.
Cellular damage triggers mitochondrial changes and leads to dysfunctions which can exacerbate inflammatory processes related to obesity. You can interrupt it by limiting your daily calorie intake and removing inflammation sources.
4. Eat Quality Protein
You can improve your mitochondrial function by consuming quality protein from healthy food sources. You should be eating more food items rich in creatine and L-carnitine, as these are crucial for supplying energy to mitochondria. The best food in this regard is grass-fed beef, seeds, nuts, poultry, eggs, beans, bison, etc. Your mitochondria functions can drastically improve if you consume food rich in omega-3 fatty acids, quality protein, L-carnitine, alpha-lipoic acid, and resveratrol.
5. Reduce Stress with Meditation, Massage, etc.
Stress hormones affect not only mitochondrial function but also disrupt other biological processes in the body. Since stress hormones can influence mitochondrial function, indulging in activities that significantly reduce stress is essential. Relaxation techniques like body massage and meditation reduce the harmful effects of psychological stress.
Special changes can be noticed in the endocrine, immune, and nervous system. If you want your mitochondria to perform at optimized levels, you should make efforts to reduce your stress. Start by designing a personal stress buster routine that is simple, easy to follow, and can be performed consistently. Even a few minutes of guided meditation can help.
6. Get At Least Eight Hours of Sleep
Getting the right amount of sleep is essential to help protect the brain. It protects your brain by clearing all the byproducts of thinking that are built throughout the day. This build-up is called neutral waste and is harmful to the neurons present in mitochondria. There is also a strong link between your mitochondria functionality and circadian rhythm.
If this rhythm gets disrupted, your mitochondrial functions will also be affected, leading to a decline in cellular energy production. A proven way to avoid declining cellular energy production is to create a standard and definite sleep-wake cycle and stick to it. You can also start having mitochondrial support supplements for better results.
7. Other Miscellaneous Methods
In addition to the six methods discussed above, you can also try taking heat therapy to improve the efficiency of mitochondria. The mitochondria’s energy requirements increase when you take heat therapies like the sauna sessions. It leads to better oxygen use in the blood through oxidative phosphorylation. You can start by taking two to three sauna sessions every week. Besides taking heat therapies, you can also eat antioxidant-rich food items like grapes, dark chocolate, pistachios, red, wine, etc., to improve your mitochondria function. However, remember to consume them in moderation.
Improve Your Mitochondrial Function
Mitochondria is the powerhouse present in every body cell, and its proper functioning is crucial to generating the required energy for daily tasks. Mitochondria produces power in the form of ATP and drives energy production, protein synthesis, and metabolism of fatty acids. If you have mitochondria dysfunction, you can experience a lack of energy, weak muscle strength, gross motor delay, low muscle mass, and poor exercise tolerance. If you want to prevent these, follow the mitochondria-boosting ways discussed above. You can also have mitochondrial support supplements for better results.