According to fitness author, Jay Campbell, “fully optimized health involves every facet of your body, and supreme health requires conscious awareness of your physical meat suit. From a person’s organs to his or her cells, people are as optimal as their weakest link, and for many the weakest link is their mitochondria. Simply put, mitochondrial health is directly linked to accelerated aging and your overall health.”

7 Steps for Better Health

Step 1: Improve Your Diet

Reduce or eliminate processed foods, refined grains, sugar, fats high in Omega-6, and consume more vegetables, e.g., spinach (leafy greens in general), carrots, tomatoes, peppers, peas; fruits, e.g., cherries, apples, pears, grapes, pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple; protein, e.g., lean grass-fed cuts of meat (chicken, beef, lamb, etc.), fish with near-zero levels of mercury, free-range eggs, beans; healthy fats, e.g., coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, almonds, sunflower seeds; and complex carbohydrates, e.g., sweet potatoes, brown rice, oatmeal.

Step 2: Exercise Consistently

As Jay Campbell suggests, Scientists are now touting what bodybuilders have been saying for ages: The best exercise plan involves intense weightlifting and rigorous cardiovascular movement, which can be as simple as extensive walking every day, coupled with stretching to keep the body flexible and mobile. As Jay says, “there’s no point in being a bodybuilder who gasps for air after climbing a flight of stairs, nor a cardio bunny who struggles to pick up light weight.”

Step 3: Prioritize Sleep

In NaturoDoc’s reposting of Jay Cambell’s full-length article titled, 7 Science Backed Steps to Optimize Mitochondrial Health, Mr. Campbell underscores the importance of sleep, noting a study on malfunctioning mitochondria that states, “both nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA mutations are associated with abnormal sleep patterns,” and cites another study that shows sleep loss causes a significant decrease in some cognitive functions including creativity, divergent thinking, decision making, short-term and working memory, and execution of tasks.

Step 4: Sun Exposure

Citing studies to affirm his claims, Jay Campbell suggests, “UV light, specifically UVB, increases NRF2, an antioxidant gene, which spurs the body’s natural antioxidant processes. This, he notes, has been shown to protect against various forms of cancer. NRF2, he continues, also increases mitochondrial function. Like chloroplasts (the green parts of plants), mitochondria have the ability to photosynthesize (convert light into energy), increasing energy (ATP) .”

Step 5: Lower Inflammation

Inflammation is the body’s response to injury and stress. Chronic inflammation damages the mitochondria . From excess sugars to lack of sleep to exposure to toxins to the daily stress of life, there are many causes for inflammation, and it is in everyone’s best interest to limit this natural yet damaging process,. So take time and ground yourself in nature, and hold steady to a constructive diet as outlined above.

Step 6: Limit Toxic Exposure

As detailed in the article, 7 Science Backed Steps to Optimize Mitochondrial Health, Campbell cites a study by The Endocrine Society defining EDC's as “an exogenous, (non-natural) chemical, or a mixture of chemicals that interferes with any aspect of hormone action,” and notes “EDCs may act as hormone system agonists, antagonists or both, not only decreasing testosterone production but also interfering with its signal transduction, i.e., androgen receptor binding, transcription, and translation. Significant increases in environmental pollutants, contaminants, and particulates in the air produced by industrial factories, smog, emissions from cars,” he says, “bombard our biological systems.”

Step 7: Use Targeted Supplements

In summary, Campbell, suggests, “whether you are in poor health or looking for a Level 10 lifestyle, you may find that natural means of restoring mitochondrial health are not enough to get you the results you want. Offering product recommendations, he cites supplements found in several of NaturoDoc products. These include Orasal, U-Fn, Modifilan, SuperSulfur, and EDTA.