Powerhouse

DedicationFor Judith, Ingrid, and Adam ContentsCoverTitle PageDedicationIntroductionAn Upward Spiral of WellnessBreatheBreath, Oxygen, and the Source of Energy for LifeMoveMovement, Optimal Health, and Exponential WellbeingEnergizeHealing, Fuel, and Power for Sustainable Human EnergyThriveCrafting Your Life of Health, Wellbeing, and PerformanceThe 100-Day Mitochondrial ChallengeA Simple Daily Plan for a New YouAcknowledgementsNotesIndexAbout the AuthorAlso by Greg WellsCopyrightAbout the Publisher IntroductionAn Upward Spiral of WellnessWe are not made up of successively enriched packets of our own parts. We are shared, rented, occupied. At the interior of our cells, driving them, providing the energy that sends us out for the improvement of each shining day, are the mitochondria.—DR. LEWIS THOMASOur health and wellbeing are four billion years in the making.Around four billion years ago, vents on the ocean floor pumped heated water out into the relatively cooler ocean. The temperature gradient from hot to cold led to the creation of chemical and electrical gradients as well. These differences in temperature, chemistry, and electrical charge were the foundation for the development of membranes that exist in every life form on planet Earth today. We humans retain these gradients in all our cells.Three billion years ago life had evolved to the point where oxygen began to be created. Another billion years of development led to the emergence of the first single-cell life forms.One and a half billion years ago, an event happened that would change the course of all life on Earth forever. One single-cell organism engulfed another. The engulfer was a microbe that relied on sugar for energy. The engulfee was a smaller organism that used oxygen to create energy. Once the oxygen-using organism was absorbed into the sugar-using organism, a symbiotic relationship was created, and complex life on Earth exploded.1After the two entities got together, the oxygen-using organism evolved over time into organelles (smaller structures within a cell) that are now known as mitochondria. I know you’ve heard of mitochondria because you probably went to high school. They are commonly referred to as “the powerhouse of the cell,” a phrase first published by Philip Siekevitz in 1957. Most adults today remember this.The symbiotic relationship between the oxygen-loving and sugar-loving organisms gave the new cell an uncommon and powerful evolutionary advantage: it could create far more chemical energy than other bacteria or archaea that existed at the time, and it could do so under more conditions.2 This energy advantage enabled simple creatures to evolve and grow bigger, express more genes, and develop great complexity, leading eventually to humans arriving on the scene.Almost all our human cells (except for red blood cells), whether brain, muscle, bone, or skin, have mitochondria powering them. Nearly every other life form on the planet also has mitochondria powering its cells. As your science teacher said, mitochondria are the cellular powerhouse of all life on the planet.Quite simply, mitochondria are the key to life on Earth. They are the key to the energy we use to fuel our lives3 and thrive. Humans have about 100,000 trillion mitochondria, and we make about two billion mitochondria every second throughout our lives.4Our mitochondria are equally implicated in our good health and in the development of the diseases that plague us. The challenge for all of us in today’s world is that our modern lifestyle and environment don’t do our mitochondria any favours. Lack of exercise, nature deficits, chronic stress, pollution, industrial agriculture, and unhealthy chemicals in our environment all damage our mitochondria.Mitochondria in Health and DiseaseIn addition to giving life, mitochondria are also modulators of illness and disease.5,6 Here are some—not all—of the health conditions caused or aggravated by mitochondrial dysfunction: Alzheimer’s diseaseAutismCancerCardiovascular diseaseChronic fatigue syndromeDementiaDiabetesHuntington’s diseaseLiver diseaseMigrainesParkinson’s diseaseMost of us have, or know someone who has, one or more of these conditions. They are shockingly common, especially as we age.7 And they are linked to how well our mitochondria function.Here’s why. Mitochondria are called power plants or powerhouses because they provide over 90% of the ATP (adenosine triphosphate) required for cell metabolism. In simple terms, ATP is what provides energy for all the processes our cells engage in. ATP captures the energy from the food we eat and then releases it to fuel everything our brains and bodies do. We need so much of it that a healthy person at rest produces their body weight in ATP every day.8When our mitochondria perform optimally, they generate all the ATP we need to support our cell health, with our brains requiring about three-quarters of that energy. This is why mitochondrial dysfunction is linked to neurodegeneration, among other issues, which basically means the deterioration of the nervous system and especially the neurons in the brain. When our mitochondria underperform—which I believe is increasingly common as modern life advances—we open ourselves up to in-the-moment issues like fatigue and to chronic ill health and disease that can afflict us for years.Too many people are on a downward spiral of illness because they do not protect and strengthen their mitochondria, which creates health conditions requiring interventions that then lead to further damage.It is time for humanity to create an upward spiral of wellness.From the Primordial Past to a Reimagined FutureSince mitochondria are implicated in most illnesses that afflict us, we need to consider a new path forward.Healthy mitochondria = a healthy, thriving you. This simple human truth can help us get past all the noise and confusion in the health and wellness field. It’s a lighthouse in the information storm that will light the way toward your best life—energized, productive, creative, calm, loving, and long-lived—with an extended health span, not just lifespan.I’m a scientist, so I could talk about the science all day. And I will write about it at times throughout this book—in ways that, I hope, will inform, inspire, and excite you. But science doesn’t exist in a vacuum and neither do our lives. We must take science and use it to elevate ourselves as we respond physically, mentally, and emotionally to the powerful forces around us, ranging from troubling issues like climate change and global pandemics to the