Improving Mitochondrial Function: Why It’s So Important

Mitochondria are the building blocks of human cells. Every mitochondrion contains multiple living elements inside it designed to do a specific job to help energize and move the cells in which the mitochondria dwell. Your body has the most mitochondria in organs of the body that do the most work to keep you healthy and moving. Without the mitochondria, these organs and parts of the body are not able to do what they are supposed to do. Your heart would find it difficult to beat, your liver could not process your blood and filter out poisons, and your kidneys could not filter out urine and toxins from your blood either. 

So, what else does mitochondria do, and what happens when mitochondria slow down or die? Can you improve mitochondrial function, and if so, what happens then? What does chiropractic care have to do with improving mitochondrial function? These questions are all valid in helping you understand how you can make yourself healthier and live a longer, disease-free life.

The Generation of ATP

Mitochondria generate ATP, which is a molecule of energy that powers the cells in your body. When all of your mitochondria are functioning at their best, they produce a lot of ATP. If they aren’t functioning well, you will feel sluggish, sick, or have an illness you didn’t expect to get. Almost all organs and soft tissues in your body need the ATP, but the body’s most prominent organs like your heart, kidneys, liver, and brain, need your mitochondria to produce a lot of ATP in order to fully and properly function.

Regulating Your Metabolism

ATP via your mitochondria is directly tied to your ability to process fats, carbohydrates, sugars, and proteins. The younger you are, the more ATP you have, which is why your metabolism slows down and becomes sluggish when you hit mid-life. What most people don’t realize is that you can reawaken your metabolism and get it going to the point where you can enjoy eating again without worrying about your weight or developing metabolic disorders.

Rebuilding Cells During and After Exercise 

Mitochondria are also responsible for rebuilding cells and building new cells destroyed during and after exercise. Exercise in turn helps mitochondria recharge and create the ATP the cells need to continue moving and keep tissues functional and healthy.  

Slowing the Aging Process

Mitochondria that aren’t working very well anymore or aren’t producing enough ATP cause you to age faster. When you learn to improve the function of your mitochondria, it slows the aging process and can even help reverse it a little. When you realize how much mitochondria have to do with everything in your body, they become the focus of changing your life for the better.

Stopping Dementia and Alzheimer’s

ATP is directly tied to the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s. In the absence of enough ATP, your brain cells decline and become diseased, resulting in dementia or Alzheimer’s. If you want to avoid these things later in life, you can start right now by increasing the function of your mitochondria and the production of ATP. 

You Can Improve Mitochondrial Function

There are four ways to improve mitochondrial function. Exercise, fasting diets, restricting food intake, and cold laser therapy have all shown to be effective in motivating “lazy” mitochondria to function better and produce more ATP. While no one likes to think about exercise or fasting diets, you can at least get cold laser therapy sessions.

What Does Chiropractic Care Have to Do With Mitochondrial Functionality?

It would seem that these two topics of discussion couldn’t have any possible connection, but they do. Cold laser therapy has been used to speed healing after spinal injuries and spinal surgery. Initially the mechanics of why this worked were not fully understood. Delving into microbiology of mitochondria and the structure of these cell builders led to the understanding of ATP as a cell repair mechanism. Cold laser therapy jumpstarts mitochondria into the production of ATP, which aids in and speeds healing. 

Hence, cold laser therapy treatments to different areas of your body not only help with chiropractic treatments and spinal healing, but also assist in all of the aforementioned tasks and functions of the human body. You could turn back the clock, speed healing, prevent brain deterioration, etc., all just by utilizing the cold laser therapy treatments offered by some chiropractic clinics.