People write books on that topic, but I am gonna explain it in about 5-7 min of reading.
Mitochondria are basically little energy factories inside every cell that we have. Brain cells, skin cells, blood cells - they are everywhere. Mitochondria produce sort of an energy currency, that is invested in life quality (ATP). They also regulate cell function, repair and response to stress.
Moreover, mitochondria are control centers: they decide whether the cell is healthy or stressed or inflamed. When mitochondria can't work properly, the entire cell (including brain neurons) shifts into survival mode. That manifests in physical and mental health conditions.
Mitochondrial dysfunction is extremely common. The majority of people are affected in one way or another. The causes of mitochondrial dysfunction vary: diet, poor sleep quality, certain genes expression, life style, nutrient deficiencies and insufficiencies, drugs and alcohol, heavy metals, environmental toxins, unnecessary medications and/or supplements, imbalance of gut microbiom, broken circadian rhythms - staying awake at night, sleeping at day time literally destroys the brain and immune system, especially in susceptible people. As well as bright light exposure in the late evening. Do you remember how I was covering my eyes from headlights in the evening in Hyderabad? I knew it decreases the synthesis of melatonin. I just didn’t know back then, that it has a negative effect on a cellular level (mitochondria).
Side note: specifically blue light by itself doesn’t necessarily negatively affect sleep, as it was recently discovered. It’s not only about the light or it’s temperature, it’s mostly about cognitive overstimulation. Especially from short videos, creating little spikes of cheap dopamine in random unpredictable intervals. That disrupts normal brain homeostasis. Basically reels/shorts are in a way neurotoxins.
Number one contributor in mitochondria dysfunction is in fact stress. Conflicts, day to day tension, too much informational flows, fears, anxiety, etc. Trauma is a massive contributor. Childhood trauma, toxic relationships, betrays, etc.
All that leads to mitochondrial dysfunction as well as to inflammation, which can manifest in different ways and systems of the body: allergies, autoimmune disorders, gut illnesses, brain fog, treatment resistant depressions, severe anxiety, ADHD, memory loss, Alzheimer's, joint pain, chronic fatigue syndrome and the list goes on. And people usually have much more than one contributor involved. So it’s not surprising that the majority of us have mitochondrial dysfunction nowadays, isn’t it?
This is why so many medications and supplements aren't effective by itself. And this is why even good psychotherapy by itself isn't really effective either. They never reach deeper layer (mitochondria), trying to affect the symptom. This is fair enough and can be effective in certain situations. But then even if that temporarily works – results are fragile, because there is no solid base…aka proper functioning mitochondria.
So in order to improve memory, to prevent lots of illnesses, to heal from illnesses, which are present, the number goal is to restore and optimize mitochondrial function. Fully functional mitochondria = higher life quality, less illnesses and overall longer life expectancy.
As crazy as it sounds, among so-called high-performers (businessmen, professional athletes, surgeons, military, etc) improving mitochondria function even by 5-10% often leads to 5-10% improvement in brain energy. Which results in either tens/hundreds of thousands in profits, or precious second to win the race or saving life.
Fixing smth which is THAT complex and affected by THAT many factors isn't simple. It requires creating a complex personalized protocol.
There is no such thing as - take this supplement or follow a specific diet and it's gonna fix your mitochondria. As I say to my clients: there is no amount of ketones or methylene blue that can overcompensate the affect of prolonged insomnia or toxic relationships on mitochondria. But both might help to reclaim cellular energy, including brain energy, so you can finally act differently, get control back and eventually heal.
So restoring mitochondrial function is a complex path with multiple tools involved, including metabolic therapies:
Optimizing the diet (number one) – the body, the brain, neurons cannot recover without being properly nourished. Nowadays people are overfed and undernourished.
Optimizing metabolic function - brain specifically works better on ketones, not glucose – and that switch means rebuilding metabolic pathways. Ketones are not everything. You can load the body with seed oils and raise ketones extremely high. Or starve and raise ketones extremely high. It’s gonna bring nothing but harm. Because source of ketones matter.
Compensating nutrient deficiencies and insufficiencies – same, that’s also the fuel.
Improving gut microbiom - without that, nutrients (fuel) can’t even be properly absorbed and used.
Optimizing sleep quality – the number of people that can have fully functioning effective brain without high quality sleep is ….zero.
Supporting detoxification pathways and reducing exposure to toxins – healing the body and the brain under prolong toxin’s exposure is not really effective, that’s obvious
Restoring HPA axis function - that’s super complex, but the goal is the same – creating safe environment for the brain and body to heal and feel nourished.
Exercises to improve neuroplasticity - brain needs specific exercises same way as the body needs it.
and going as far as trauma processing, ongoing psychological growth, because it all affects mitochondria.
The more areas are covered - the better the outcome is. And my professional goal is to cover as much pillars as I practically can in every individual case. That's the whole theory behind.