Tired? Optimize your mitochondria for more energy
Summary
TLDRDr. Robin Lewis discusses the importance of mitochondria for overall health, particularly in relation to heart disease. He emphasizes the role of B vitamins, CoQ10, and key minerals like iron, zinc, manganese, and magnesium in supporting mitochondrial function. The video also covers lifestyle factors such as Zone 2 training, cold water therapy, and saunas to enhance mitochondrial health, potentially slowing the aging process and improving energy levels and heart function.
Takeaways
- đĄ Mitochondria are the 'powerhouses' of our cells, crucial for energy production and especially important for the heart, which has a high energy demand.
- đšââïž Dr. Robin Lewis, a naturopathic physician, discusses the importance of mitochondria in heart disease and overall health optimization.
- đą The heart has an average of 5,000 mitochondria per cell, significantly more than the average cell's 1,000-2,500, reflecting its high energy needs.
- đ„ Nutrition plays a key role in mitochondrial health, with deficiencies in certain vitamins and minerals potentially leading to sub-optimal mitochondrial function.
- đ B vitamins, particularly B1 and B6, are essential for the Krebs cycle, a critical energy-producing process, and deficiencies can lead to fatigue and poor recovery.
- đ CoQ10 is vital for the electron transport chain, a late step in energy production, and is often depleted by statin medications, leading to energy deficits and fatigue.
- đż Minerals like iron, zinc, manganese, and magnesium are essential for mitochondrial function, and deficiencies can affect energy production and overall health.
- đïžââïž Exercise, specifically Zone 2 training, can improve mitochondrial health by creating a high demand for energy that stimulates mitochondrial growth and adaptation.
- đ§ Both saunas and cold water therapy induce temperature stress that prompts the body to adapt by improving mitochondrial function, potentially enhancing longevity and overall health.
- đ§ââïž Lifestyle factors, in addition to nutrition, can significantly impact mitochondrial health, with practices like sauna use and cold water therapy showing benefits.
- đ The script suggests that optimizing mitochondrial health through diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes can lead to increased energy, improved heart function, and better overall health.
Q & A
What is Dr. Robin Lewis' profession and where does he practice?
-Dr. Robin Lewis is a naturopathic physician who practices in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
What is the main topic of Dr. Lewis' discussion in the transcript?
-The main topic of Dr. Lewis' discussion is the importance of mitochondria for heart health and overall health optimization.
Why are mitochondria often referred to as the 'PowerHouse' of the cell?
-Mitochondria are called the 'PowerHouse' of the cell because they produce energy for every single cell in the body.
How does the number of mitochondria in heart cells compare to other cells in the body?
-Heart cells have on average 5,000 mitochondria per cell, which is significantly higher than the average of 1,000 to 2,500 mitochondria per cell found elsewhere in the body.
What role do B vitamins play in mitochondrial function?
-B vitamins are essential at different stages of the energy-producing cycles within mitochondria. Deficiencies in certain B vitamins, such as B1 and B6, can lead to sub-optimal mitochondrial function and are associated with heart failure.
Why are CoQ10 and statin medications mentioned in the context of mitochondrial health?
-CoQ10 is a key component of the electron transport chain in mitochondria, crucial for energy production. Statin medications, commonly prescribed for high cholesterol, can deplete CoQ10 levels, potentially affecting mitochondrial function and energy production.
What is the significance of minerals like iron, zinc, manganese, and magnesium for mitochondrial health?
-These minerals are important for various reactions within the mitochondria. Deficiencies in these minerals can lead to mitochondrial dysfunction, affecting energy production and overall health.
What is Zone 2 training and how does it benefit mitochondrial health?
-Zone 2 training is a type of cardio exercise performed at about 70-80% of maximal heart rate. It is beneficial for mitochondrial health because it pushes the mitochondria to increase in number and function without causing oxygen deprivation.
How do saunas and cold water therapy affect mitochondrial health?
-Saunas and cold water therapy create temperature stress on the body, which triggers an adaptive response, leading to increased mitochondrial function and health.
What is the connection between mitochondrial health and the aging process?
-Mitochondrial decline is one of the main theories for why individuals age at different rates. Optimizing mitochondrial health with substances like Resveratrol and NAD can potentially slow down the aging process.
What are some dietary sources of B vitamins and CoQ10 mentioned in the transcript?
-B vitamins can be found in fruits, vegetables, meat, and legumes, while CoQ10 is found in meats, nuts, and vegetables. These foods are important for maintaining optimal mitochondrial function.
Outlines
đ Importance of Mitochondria in Heart Health
Dr. Robin Lewis introduces the concept of mitochondria as the 'powerhouse' of the cells, emphasizing their role in energy production. He highlights the significance of mitochondria in the heart due to its high energy demands and mentions that the heart has a higher concentration of mitochondria compared to other cells. The paragraph also touches on the broader importance of mitochondria for overall health optimization, including its relevance to brain, nervous system, and muscle health.
đ„ Nutritional Support for Mitochondrial Function
The second paragraph delves into the nutritional aspects crucial for mitochondrial health, focusing on the importance of B vitamins, particularly B1 and B6, which are essential for the Krebs cycleâa series of chemical reactions that produce energy. Dr. Lewis discusses common deficiencies that can affect mitochondrial function and lead to symptoms like fatigue and poor recovery. He also addresses the impact of certain medications, such as statins, on nutrient levels like CoQ10, which is vital for the electron transport chain, a key step in energy production.
đ« Overcoming Nutrient Deficiencies for Optimal Mitochondrial Health
This paragraph discusses the role of minerals in mitochondrial function, identifying iron, zinc, manganese, and magnesium as key minerals that are often deficient in individuals with mitochondrial dysfunction. Dr. Lewis explains the bi-directional relationship between these minerals and mitochondrial health, noting how deficiencies can lead to fatigue and other symptoms. He also touches on the impact of depleted soils and certain medications on nutrient levels, suggesting supplementation or dietary changes as potential solutions.
đïžââïž Exercise and Lifestyle for Mitochondrial Health
The final paragraph explores the impact of exercise and lifestyle choices on mitochondrial health. Dr. Lewis introduces Zone 2 training, a type of cardiovascular exercise that is particularly beneficial for mitochondrial health by promoting the use of fat, protein, and carbohydrates as fuel. He also discusses the benefits of saunas and cold water therapy, which create temperature stress that can enhance mitochondrial function through the body's adaptive response. The paragraph concludes with a reminder of the potential for these practices to improve energy levels, overall health, and heart function.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄMitochondria
đĄHeart Disease
đĄNutritional Support
đĄB Vitamins
đĄCoQ10
đĄMinerals
đĄZone 2 Training
đĄCold Water Therapy
đĄSaunas
đĄHealth Optimization
Highlights
Dr. Robin Lewis discusses the importance of mitochondria, often referred to as the 'PowerHouse' of the cell, in producing energy for the body.
Heart disease is statistically common, and the heart's high energy demands make mitochondria particularly crucial for its function.
The average heart cell contains around 5,000 mitochondria, significantly more than the 1,000-2,500 found in other body cells.
Mitochondrial health is not only vital for the heart but also for overall health optimization.
B vitamins, especially B1 and B6, are essential for the Krebs cycle, a critical energy-producing process within mitochondria.
Deficiencies in B vitamins can lead to fatigue and poor recovery, common in heart failure patients.
CoQ10 plays a key role in the electron transport chain, a vital step in energy production within mitochondria.
Statin medications, commonly prescribed for high cholesterol, can deplete CoQ10 levels.
Minerals such as iron, zinc, manganese, and magnesium are crucial for mitochondrial function and can be depleted by certain medications.
Iron's role in heme production within mitochondria is critical for oxygen transport in the blood.
Soil deficiencies in minerals can contribute to inadequate nutrient intake, even with a healthy diet.
L-Carnitine, Resveratrol, and NAD are other nutrients being studied for their role in mitochondrial health and longevity.
Zone 2 training, a type of cardio exercise, is particularly beneficial for mitochondrial health by promoting adaptation and growth.
Saunas and cold water therapy create temperature stress that can improve mitochondrial function through the body's adaptive response.
Adaptation to temperature stress through saunas and cold water therapy can enhance mitochondrial health within a week.
Dr. Lewis emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to mitochondrial health, including nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle habits.
The transcript provides a starting point for understanding and improving mitochondrial health, with potential impacts on energy, health, and heart function.
Transcripts
hi everyone my name is Dr Robin Lewis
I'm a naturopathic physician practicing
in Vancouver British Columbia Canada and
today I want to talk to you about
something super interesting
so statistically speaking the odds of
you or someone that you know having
heart disease is quite High our hearts
have a ton of demand put on them
especially if we exercise a ton we are
highly stressed we put a bunch of toxins
into our body things like that our heart
has to keep up with all of this now
today I'm going to be talking about
something that very much applies to
heart disease but it also applies to
just Health optimization as a whole and
that is because today I'm talking to you
about the mitochondria
so for those of you who do not know what
the mitochondria is it is called the
PowerHouse of ourselves so it is a part
of every single cell
and it produces energy so as you can
imagine it is very important for
everybody every cell inside of our body
but because our heart is such an energy
hungry organ our heart tends to feel it
the most
in fact our heart has on average 5
000 mitochondria per cell which is a ton
and to put that into context the average
cell elsewhere in the body has about a
thousand to two thousand five hundred
mitochondria per cell so our heart
really really relies on mitochondria and
this makes sense right it has to pump
blood to every inch of our entire body
now outside of the context of heart we
also have really famous doctors like Dr
Terry walls who talk about the
mitochondria Health in context of your
brain your nervous system your muscles
realistically every inch of us needs it
so today I'm going to be talking about
some of the fundamental ways we can
support our mitochondria so that we can
support our heart but also the rest of
our entire body because who couldn't use
a little bit more energy today I'm gonna
dive into some of the more lifestyle and
nutritional ways you can support your
mitochondria so we're going to start
with nutrition when it comes to
nutrition for the mitochondria you
really want to be thinking about what it
needs to produce energy so inside of the
mitochondria inside of our cells we have
all of these reactions that are
necessary in order to produce energy
that can be used to fuel the body these
reactions require are a lot of different
vitamins and minerals to work optimally
of course there are so many that it's
impossible to cover them all but I'm
going to talk about some of the more
common deficiencies that can lead to
sub-optimal mitochondrial function
okay so I'm gonna start by talking about
B vitamins
realistically most different types of B
vitamins are used at different stages
throughout these energy producing Cycles
but there are a couple that are a little
bit more prone to deficiencies in
populations where the mitochondria isn't
working very well so heart failure is a
very good example of this it is very
well documented that in heart failure
patients which essentially means that
your heart is not keeping up with the
demands so it's not able to give blood
flow and oxygen to every inch of your
body efficiently so in those people it's
very well documented that they have
mitochondrial dysfunction and oftentimes
you'll find that they're deficient in
things like B1 and B6 which are heavily
used in something called the Krebs cycle
so if you look at this diagram M the
diagram isn't really going to show you
everything that goes into this
particular energy cycle but it is
highlighting some of the B vitamins so
if you take a look at it you can really
start to notice how there's B vitamins
used at most steps in this particular
cycle and this is just one of the many
energy cycles that happen inside of the
mitochondria now outside of the context
of heart failure people might start to
experience fatigue poor recovery from
illness poor recovery from exercise
things like that when they're low in B
vitamins being tired is kind of one of
the Hallmarks of a B vitamin deficiency
now that can mean a lot of different
things
luckily in someone who eats really Whole
Food Rich diet you're usually going to
be hitting those requirements B vitamins
are found in a lot of our fruit our
vegetables meat legumes chickpeas things
like that
the issue arises when there's a higher
demand for those B vitamins so say
you're trying to recover from something
like heart failure or you are highly
highly stressed exercising a ton putting
a lot of Demand on the body and maybe
not eating a whole food diet that's when
you can really start to see the effects
of B vitamin deficiencies and obviously
the longer this goes on the more severe
those symptoms become look at your B
vitamins if they're low if you suspect
you're not getting enough through the
diet you can supplement your way out of
that or change some of the aspects of
your diet because we do not want a baby
vitamin deficiency because it will make
our mitochondria slow down these will be
limiting factors in these energy Cycles
now it's not just B vitamins that are
important for the mitochondria another
key nutrient is something called CoQ10
CoQ10 is a really important aspect of
something called the electron transport
chain which is one of the final steps to
making energy so this is a different
energy pathway that happens after the
Krebs cycle that I just talked about and
if you can see in this diagram CoQ10 is
a key part of this energy producing
pathway
interestingly enough the reason I bring
up CoQ10 specifically is because a lot
of my heart patients are on a medication
that depletes CoQ10 and so statins which
are the number one prescribed medication
for high cholesterol
will deplete your CoQ10 so in these
particular patients even if you're
getting all of the Whole Foods which is
similar to B vitamins lots of meats and
nuts and vegetables and things like that
contained CoQ10 inside of it but if
you're taking a medication that drains
your CoQ10 then you're going to be
deficient no matter how good your diet
is and so this is again another thing to
look at because if it's low it's going
to backlog these Pathways so your heart
won't get enough energy your body won't
get enough energy this is one of the
main reasons why people on those
particular medications can feel really
tired
now it's not always as simple as just
giving CoQ10 but it makes a lot of sense
why you would be tired if you're
depleting CoQ10 so this is another
really interesting nutrient that I will
often supplement people to optimize
their mitochondrial health
next up I want to talk about minerals
now first off I'd just like to say
minerals are also notoriously depleted
by certain medications so it's really
important to look at what is happening
with the medications that you're on do
they deplete certain nutrients and if
they do is that explaining some of your
side effects and these are easy things
to figure out
but more broadly there are certain
nutrients or more specifically certain
minerals that are very important for the
mitochondrial pathways
so four of the key minerals that I find
are deficient in people with
mitochondrial dysfunction are things
like iron zinc
manganese and magnesium
now these are very important for a lot
of the reactions that I've already shown
you and the interesting thing is there
can be a bi-directional relationship so
iron for example heme which is a form of
iron that carries all of the oxygen in
our blood that is actually made in the
mitochondriam so if the iron isn't
working well the mitochondria is not
working well it's not producing the same
amount of iron so this relationship can
get pretty complicated
and it makes a lot of sense because not
only would you feel tired because your
mitochondria isn't working well but also
the heme inside of your blood that
delivers oxygen to your tissues is also
not being produced enough so this can
turn into a really big fatigue picture
and this is very important to optimize
and particularly vulnerable populations
like heart failure
and then the other interesting thing
about minerals aside from medications
our soils are also notoriously deficient
in minerals so I actually did a whole
video about magnesium itself and I talk
in more depth about this issue around
the quality of our soils but that can be
a big reason why even in healthy
individuals you might not be getting
enough of these minerals it's because
you could be eating all of the good
foods that are supposed to supply you
with these things but if the soil
doesn't have it neither does the plant
and also if you want to learn more about
CoQ10 which I forgot to mention earlier
I also did a whole video on CoQ10 the
different forms of CoQ10 which is also
important to know when you supplement
with these particular products so again
we got some additional resources if you
want to reference back to it but those
are like the main things that are very
easy to to start out with check out the
B vitamins check out the minerals check
out CoQ10 some other honorable mentions
would be things like L-Carnitine which
is a shuttle inside of the mitochondria
we have Resveratrol and NAD which are
very popular these days because they're
being studied a lot in longevity so just
as a quick aside one of the main
theories for why we age more rapidly
versus someone else is mitochondrial
decline so they're putting a lot of
emphasis on restoring the health of the
mitochondria so you can slow the aging
process so that's why things like
Resveratrol and NAD IVs or supplements
have become really popular as of late is
because they also are very good for your
mitochondria and if we can optimize our
mitochondria we can slow the aging
process theoretically now outside of the
context of new nutrition there are other
things that we can do to support our
mitochondrial health so if we look at
exercise for example exercise as a whole
is going to be good for your heart for
your whole body and for your
mitochondria but there is a particular
type of exercise that is especially good
for your mitochondria and that is called
Zone 2 training and I've talked about
this one a lot zone 2 training is really
the type of cardio where you're at about
70 to 80 percent of your maximal heart
rate zone 2 training is super good for
your mitochondria because it's right
before your mitochondria will switch its
metabolism so what I mean by that is
generally speaking the mitochondria can
use fat protein or carbohydrates for
fuel and when you lead into zone two
right before it switches out of zone two
you are using all three of those easily
generally speaking though the heart
prefers fat for fuel so it is usually
using about 60 to 90 percent of fat for
energy
but if the demand is high enough it can
easily switch to use carbohydrates or
protein it just tends to prefer fat
when you push past zone two then your
mitochondria is in a state of oxygen
deprivation and that will make it only
able to really use carbohydrates for
fuel and this is not as beneficial for
the mitochondria it's not its preference
so loosely speaking that's how you can
kind of think of it when you're training
in zone two you're pushing your
mitochondria to keep up with a high
demand but it's still in an optimal
state so this is where you will start to
notice increased numbers of your
mitochondria per cell so you can
actually grow more mitochondria the more
Zone 2 training that you do so it's
super beneficial in the long run to
train a couple hours of zone two every
single week so that you're really
ramping up your mitochondrial production
and improving the health of your
mitochondria while also meeting your
exercise goals the last thing that I
want to talk about is cold water therapy
and saunas so this is super fun and
interesting so saunas for example have
been pretty well studied for their
effect on the mitochondria I know
infrared saunas have gained a lot of
popularity as of late but I'm talking
about saunas as a general whole
the reason they are beneficial is
because they create a temperature stress
on the body so that extreme heat will
cause your adrenaline to raise your
endorphins to raise your growth hormone
to raise and eventually that stress will
demand an adaptation inside of the body
and that adaptation is usually seen in
increased function of mitochondria so
it's kind of similar to Zone 2 training
you're putting a demand on the body and
then your mitochondria responds to that
demand and adapts and of course much
like exercise you can take this too far
where it's not good for your
mitochondria but as long as you're doing
it responsibly the extreme heat
temperatures have actually been shown to
improve the health and the function of
your mitochondria and there's some
studies to show that this adaptation
within the mitochondria can actually
happen within a week's time so your body
is super impressive in how quickly it
can adapt to its environment and cold
water therapy is very similar it's the
intense cold that creates a response in
the body that forces a demand and
adaptation and then you will notice
increases in your mitochondria health
and function and numbers and so there's
a really good reason why things like
saunas and cold water therapy have
become really popular as of late they
work to improve the health of your
mitochondria among other things and
that's going to help improve longevity
and just the overall function of every
cell inside of your body again if you
want to learn more about cold water
therapy I have done another video on
entirely just that so you can really
deep dive into it but today I just
wanted to briefly go over all of the
different things that are very easy to
start out with when it comes to
improving your mitochondrial Health
there is no way I could talk about all
the different things that you could be
doing to optimize this but if you take
away some of these basic nutritional
fundamentals some of these exercise
habits and some of these more fun
lifestyle things that you can do you'll
be in a really good place that alone can
make massive shifts in people's energy
overall health heart function all these
great things it's just scratching the
surface of what can be done but it's a
pretty cool place to start so thank you
guys again for listening if there are
any other topics that you really want me
to dive into please let me know if you
have further questions about your
mitochondria or some of the things I
brought up please comment below and have
yourself a great week
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