Activate your energy & your wellbeing with this

'It's not the years in your life but the life in your years that counts'
​​​​​​​ ~ Adlai Stevenson

When I first meet many clients, a common complaint I hear is, 'I just feel exhausted'!

With the festive season around the corner, and for many of us, a stressful time ahead.  Let's fire up our precious energy, make the most of every day and avoid racing into the holidays shattered...

Energy is a great barometer of our wellbeing, but what actually creates energy within us?

It lies within almost every cell in our body.  It's our mitochondria.

Our Mitochondria and what we need to know. 

For those who aren't so familiar...  Mitochondria reside inside almost every cell in our body.  They are vital for our good health and our energy.  Infact they are our primary energy source.

They help turn our food and oxygen into cellular energy which we use for everything e.g. walking, breathing, pumping our blood, even thinking.

​​​​​​​Our mitochondria are needed for a wide range of other functions e.g. balancing our hormones, our metabolism and the efficient use of minerals in our cells.

So for our bodies to be healthy and energetic it comes down to having strong mitochondria and lots of them, producing good energy.

​​​​​​​New mitochondria grow all the time and simple lifestyle changes can stimulate the growth of mitochondria and our energy.   Yet as we age, they can decline in their activity.

Which brings me to some fascinating new research.  A particular type of exercise activates not only our genes, but our mitochondria too - no matter our age!  It's great news.

Activate your mitochondria & your energy.

In brief, the study covered 4 different types of exercise i.e. no exercise (couch potato), walking, resistance and High Intensity Interval Training (HITT) across two age groups. Under the age of 30 and over the age of 60. Unsurprisingly the research showed that activation of genes and mitochondria occurred in both age groups with all forms of exercise, although not the inactive group.

Interestingly, the greatest activation occurred with the HITT exercise and in the over 60 age group, with over 400 genes activated over a 12 week period! Then in the under 30 age group there was an activation of over 240 genes!  So no matter what the age it's significant, but especially for the older age group! from the article Published in Cell Metabolism, Vol. 25 Issue 3, 7th March, 2017.

To feel more energetic, it's imperative to keep YOU and your mitochondria moving.

It doesn't need to be as strenuous as HIIT (yet), it can be anything, preferably outside. Walking is a perfect place to start. It's what got me moving. I started following The Happiness Hunter and then we started a walk here in Perth!  Even if it's a quick walk around the block, it matters and it makes a difference - whatever your age or stage in life.

And a couple more fascinating facts about our mitochondria:

1. Originally they're thought to have derived from bacteria! Highlighting again the vital, intimate and critical evolutionary relationship we have with bacteria. (Refer to previous post 'Is our microbiome guiding our evolution'? ~ 07/16)

2. All mitochondrial DNA during reproduction are inherited from our female side i.e. rather than the DNA coming from both male and female, mitochondria are only accepted from feminine DNA. Giving rise to the theory of a 'Mitochondrial Eve', a woman from whom all people inherit their mitochondrial DNA (our energy source) from one generation to the next.

The science is unclear as to what this actually means but what it does show is the fundamental importance of our Mitochondria and that perhaps it was one of the first cells in our bodies to kick off our evolution as we know it today AND why our energy is an important barometer of our well- being.

The above information is from my ebook, '7 simple steps to regain your energy...' It shares simple lifestyle tips to activate your energy. It's free to download on my website.

And this is a post I shared a little while ago that might help too, '4 simple things I did to get my mojo back'.

What kind of movement can YOU do to get more of your mitochondria energised and moving?