Mitochondria - Small, Yet Mighty

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The mitochondria in your cells are small, yet mighty. You can almost think of them as cellular mighty-chondria in how they convert fat and carbohydrate into usable energy. The quantity and quality of cellular mitochondria directly impact your life, and lifestyle decisions directly impact the mightiness of your ‘chondria.


Moderate-intensity cardio supports cellular health.

In the previous blog posting, I discussed how sweet food, particularly sweet food that is not accompanied by fiber, impairs both the production and vitality of mitochondria. Fiber is good. Sweeteners, whether natural or artificial, caloric or non-caloric, are generally not-so-good. In whatever way that you can, increase your consumption of fiber to benefit your mitochondrial vitality.


In working with mitochondria, another “lever” that can be pulled is physical activity. The human body is built to move, and any physical activity is generally better than sitting on the sofa. Cardio, in particular, is mightily beneficial to your mitochondria. And moderate intensity cardio, as opposed to high-intensity cardio, is the foundation that mitochondrial health is built upon.


I’m a big fan of moderate intensity cardio. While I season my training regimen with regular high-intensity interval training, the bulk of my workouts are performed in a range of about 60-70% of my maximum capacity. This moderate intensity cardio, which is sometimes called Zone 2 training, stimulates the production of mitochondria and the blood vessels that feed them. Increasing muscular mitochondrial and capillary bed densities boosts metabolism, while providing more energy to do the things that you want or need to do.


How much moderate intensity cardio? In my reading of the scientific literature, I’ve not seen an upper limit to the benefits associated with time spent doing moderate intensity cardio. In other words, more seems to be better. However, when it comes to high-intensity cardio, there is definitely such a thing as too much.


One exception - if you live with post-exertional malaise, then the benefits of exercise, even moderate-intensity cardio, are not assured. Whether from the aftermath of COVID or myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), the mitochondria-building benefits of regular low- to moderate-intensity cardio may not hold true. Other than these exceptions, when it comes to cellular/mitochondrial health, more cardio is generally more better.


If you haven’t been active for a while, I’d work my way up to 150 minutes per week of low- to moderate-intensity physical activity, with an emphasis on cardio. This 2-½ hours per week figure has held up really well in the scientific literature, and has been shown to reduce illness and even death in many different people from all sorts of different backgrounds. This is one of the many reasons why I recently resumed offering Mindful Cardio classes. At the cellular level, cardio is one of the best things you can do to add life to your years.

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