3 min read
YOU MIGHT KNOW them as the “powerhouses of the cell,” but that’s selling mitochondria short—these microscopic MVPs play a role in almost everything that makes you healthy. With the right lifestyle adjustments, you can help them do it all.
What Mitochondria Are
Mitochondria are like subcontractors that do jobs for your cells. In fact, scientists believe these organelles were once separate bacteria that formed a symbiotic relationship with an ancient ancestor of our cells. Mitochondria have their own ways of communicating and can even move between cells. And while they indeed make energy, they’re also “true multitaskers,” says Stanford professor Daria Mochly-Rosen, PhD, whose new book, The Life Machines, looks at what mitochondria do for us now.
What they Do For Us
They give us energy
You’ll find more mitochondria where more energy is needed: Ceaseless heart muscle cells, for example, are 30 to 40 percent mitochondria by volume. Mitochondria process food—mainly fats and carbs—and make ATP, the fuel that drives cellular activity. ATP stores lots of energy in its molecular bonds, and your body releases that energy to contract muscles, fire signals down nerve pathways, and make DNA, among many (many) other things.
They fight illness
Mitochondria are key to triggering the innate immune system. That’s the body’s first line of defense, which recognizes, isolates, and kills invaders in your body. (The adaptive immune system, by comparison, tailors its response to pathogens it knows that get past the innate system.) So mitochondria help battle the common cold and are also part of the process for killing damaged or cancerous cells that they live in.
They keep things running
Mitochondria govern a “recycling” process that rebuilds ailing bits of cells into new working parts. They can also leave one cell and move to another to provide manpower that struggling cells need. And when free radicals are traveling around the body looking to do damage, mitochondria help negate their harmful effects—effects that are linked to illnesses as varied as neurodegenerative disease and kidney disease.
What You Should Do for Your Mitochondria
Work out
“There’s a straight relationship between fitness and mitochondrial function,” says Iñigo San Millán, PhD, a physiologist who has done extensive clinical, applied, and research work on mitochondria. Working out requires your body to burn fuel more efficiently, and because that process happens in the mitochondria, they get a workout too. When your body demands more energy than your mitochondria can generate, your cells create more of them and make the ones you already have stronger. San Millán has found that an exercise intensity in which you can barely maintain a casual conversation (famously known as “zone 2”) improves mitochondrial function the most. He recommends spending roughly 80 percent of your workout time in zone 2; the rest should be hard enough that you don’t want to talk.
Eat well
Barraging mitochondria with fats or sugars can overtax them and train them out of their ability to make energy from a variety of foods—a skill important for keeping your metabolism running smoothly and your chronic disease risk down. Per usual, lean proteins, complex carbs, and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are good for your mitochondria. Fiber is also important, particularly for specialized mitochondria in your colon.
Rest up
Nighttime is when mitochondria recover too, shifting from energy production to recovery and maintenance. There’s also evidence that dreaming helps flush mitochondria waste products out of the brain. So getting enough sleep—seven to nine hours a night—keeps mitochondria running well.
What Else Healthy Mitochondria Might Do
Because mitochondria have so many jobs, they hold sway over a ton of different diseases. If they’re not functioning effectively, it could make illnesses—including type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, and cancer—worse. Helping your body build a stronger mitochondrial workforce won’t necessarily cure medical conditions yet, but it could reduce their burden and potentially prevent them. According to Mochly-Rosen, building mitochondria could be at the root of cures scientists develop in the future.
Kevin is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn. In past lives he’s been an economist, computer salesman, mathematician, barista, and college football equipment manager.
