Cool Hacks For Your Mitochondria
KIRSTY HUTTON shares her top techniques to strengthen mitochondria – which in turn boosts energy and reduces early aging. Spoiler alert: these hacks involve getting chilly!
Placing the body under mild stress has positive effects on energy and health. Short bursts of cold are the perfect way to safely stress your cells. Mitochondria live in these cells and our goal is to make them stronger. Cold exposure has been shown to kill off weak mitochondria and not only make the strong ones stronger, but also encourage strong mitochondria to multiply. The stronger your mitochondria, the stronger your whole body.
Let’s break it down! Not only does mitochondria have a profound effect on how you feel but is crucial for energy production, longevity, fat loss, maintaining blood sugar levels, improving athletic performance as well as preventing heart disease and neurodegenerative disease (e.g. Alzheimer’s).
Here are my favourite ways to get chilly and reap the benefits of strong mitochondria:
Cold Showers: From now on, get in the shower as soon as the water starts running. That is, when its freezing cold and a little unpleasant. You want to be forced to draw in a sharp breath. Once you’re in, you can add some hot water and shower at a civilized temperature. Before you get out of the shower, turn off the hot tap and aim to stay in the cold water for another 30 seconds. You can build up to completely cold showers if you want to challenge yourself, but the “cold water sandwich” style of shower works really well too.
Cryotherapy: If you have access to a Cryotherapy Chamber where you live (and they’re popping up everywhere), make use of it! At Alchemy Cryo, Whole Body Cryotherapy involves walking into a room at around -110° Celsius for around three minutes. It has awesome benefits including reducing inflammation, increasing energy, burning fat, improving skin appearance and causing a powerful release of endorphins.