Secrets of Your Cells: Discovering Your Body's Inner Intelligence (21 page)

Cells Teach Renewable Energy

Our cells, though not 100 percent efficient, attempt to reuse their resources again and again. Let’s look at a molecular energy dance that involves changing energetic partners to see what I’m talking about.

To do their work, our cells generate ATP. What makes ATP useful is the release of energy held in its bonds. But after ATP’s energy is released, it becomes ADP (adenosine diphosphate) which must be recycled back to ATP. Each cell is in a constant state of having to recycle “spent” energy, having used up about a billion molecules of ATP every few minutes. An intricate exchange takes place between ATP, ADP, and another high-energy molecule called creatine phosphate (see
plate 11
in the color insert), which can be thought of as a kind of energy storage facility; our muscles and brain store creatine phosphate to have it readily available for quick bursts of energy. When ATP releases energy from one of its phosphate bonds, the energy is replenished when creatine phosphate provides a high-energy phosphate to reform ATP from ADP.

This chemical dance shows how resourceful the cell is. It wastes as little as possible and reuses whatever it can. Talk about environmentally aware and fuel efficient! Our cells are the original hybrids and recyclers.

ATP Production and Your “Real Life”

The magnitude of ATP production in our bodies is stunning. Our cells must generate about half our body weight in ATP every day. A cell uses about a million molecules of ATP that must be replenished every few minutes.

The biggest energy producers are our muscle cells, so they have the most mitochondria. A contracted, tense muscle cell produces only two molecules of ATP for every molecule of glucose “burned” because it’s taking in very little oxygen, while a relaxed muscle in an aerobic state churns out about thirty molecules of ATP. If you are tired all the time, it could mean you’re under a lot of stress; the cells become inefficient when making ATP anaerobically. Also, one of the by-products of such anaerobic metabolism is lactic acid, which builds up and accounts for why our muscles hurt after a lot of exercise and why we may feel anxious when our brain cells are saturated with it.

If you are under a lot of stress, what then? Take it as a sign that you need to take care of your cells. Take them for a brisk ten-minute walk, meditate, do deep breathing, or get a massage. It’s said that a ten-minute walk can generate enough ATP for another ninety minutes. Relax and your cells will reward you with more energy as you bring them more oxygen. Soften your cells and remember that with relaxation, the tension of the cell’s scaffolding eases, breathing deepens, and more energy is produced.

Large muscles are the primary source of energy; it may seem paradoxical, but the more you work them, the more energy you will have. At the same time, the more they work, the more mitochondria they will need. The paradox is solved when you consider that hardworking cells can produce more energy-producing mitochondria. Physical exercise relieves muscle tension and provides the cells with more oxygen. In essence, inputting energy to exercise, you are rewarded with more energy. In addition to giving you an infusion of energy, a regular exercise regimen can also reduce stress and help you achieve balance.

The Radical Nature of Energy Production

Energy production involves removing electrons from one molecule and passing them on, like a game of “hot potato.” Sometimes during this game an electron escapes, and if not trapped it can damage the cell. Such unpaired electrons give rise to potentially dangerous free radicals, reactive molecules that can attack the structures of our cells in a process called
oxidative stress.
Wrinkles are one physical sign of oxidative stress. DNA mutations, macular degeneration of the eye, and even heart disease may be due in part to these oxidizing radical agents.

Mitochondria are one source of these reactive substances and are the first structures to be clobbered by them. Other cellular sources of free radicals are immune cells when they are hard at work attacking microorganisms. But besides being potentially dangerous, free radicals also serve as important signaling molecules for killing microorganisms.

In our cells’ inherent wisdom, they are able to protect themselves from the danger of free radicals. They produce their own supply of protective
antioxidants:
molecules that can squelch or eliminate free radicals. Antioxidants that our cells make include lipoic acid, melatonin, superoxide dismutase, glutathione, and coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). What our cells can’t produce to protect from damaging free radicals, our food can provide, bringing other antioxidants to the rescue. Antioxidants in our food include vitamins A, C, and E, minerals such as selenium, and the polyphenolic pigments in red wine and deeply colored fruit like blueberries and prunes. In fact, the aging of wine is the result of oxidation, and the very substance that protects red wine from aging too quickly, resveratrol, may also protect cells in those who enjoy a glass of red wine.

In the partnership between plants and people, our food choices not only nourish us, they also protect our cells. One explanation for why people who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables tend to experience less chronic illness than those who do not is that they are consuming substances that protect against oxidative stress. In fact, a current theory for a cause of chronic illness is that free radicals cause inflammation, which in turn damages the cells.

Medical Molecules Mismanage Our Energy

One downside of modern medicine is that some common drugs have a side effect of suppressing the amount of ATP our cells can produce. This is especially a concern for people taking statin drugs, which inhibit the liver from making coenzyme Q10, an essential ingredient for ATP production.
⁴
Two side effects of statins are muscle pain and fatigue, most likely because of depleted levels of CoQ10.

Why is coenzyme Q10 so important? Because it has several roles in energy production—it is an essential ingredient in the electron transport process of ATP production, and it also acts as an antioxidant. If there is not enough CoQ10, less ATP is made. In addition, CoQ10 protects the mitochondria from damaging free radicals. One solution
for the statin problem is to take a dietary supplement of CoQ10. Have a conversation with your physician if you are taking these medications. In clinical studies of people taking statins, a daily dose of 50 to 100 mg of CoQ10 helped remedy the problem of muscle pain and extreme fatigue.

Increased Requirements for Energy

Our bodies demand extra energy at certain times during our lives. Especially pay attention to what you eat and do, and how you replenish yourself, during these times:

• During growth and development of children, teens, and pregnant women

• When healing from wounds after surgical and dental procedures

• During chronic or acute illness

• When engaging in vigorous exercise

• When under stress

DEFINITION

Stress:
One definition is any situation that we perceive we don’t have the resources to handle.

Stress and Tension Use Up Energy

You may be surprised to learn that scientists do not agree on what stress is.
⁵
(Then again, perhaps it’s a given that scientists do not all agree on any definition.) Yet in terms of the physiology of stress, there is major acceptance that the hallmark of the fight-or-flight stress response is rapid mobilization of lifesaving energy. That means getting glucose into the bloodstream and getting tissues to produce more ATP. We need quick bursts of energy to get us out of a dangerous situation. Yet if that
response lingers too long, leading to chronic stress, our energy stores will be depleted—and that compromises us on many levels.

Without enough energy, neither immune cells nor their potions can protect us against infection. If we have insufficient ATP in the brain, our mood and mental agility will suffer. If we are flooded by too many stress hormones, bones, heart, and gut all suffer. You get the idea: long-term stress simply drains us.

Stress causes physical tension and shallower breathing, and it gets the heart pumping more rapidly. Tension, be it physical or mental, is a major factor in unnecessary energy loss. As we have seen in this chapter, tense muscle cells use energy quickly and replenish it inefficiently. The very acts of thinking and coping consume energy, and when our energy is used up, we have greater difficulty solving problems and meeting challenges; we may simply lack the mental “juice” to handle the situation.

In teaching this concept to thousands of people, I have consistently seen that people instinctively know what their energy level is without any prompting or definitions of energy from me. You can answer the key question right now, just as they have: on a scale of 1 (
lowest
) to 10 (
highest
), how would you rate your energy?

When I began testing this question, I’d ask it first thing in the morning of a daylong seminar. Most people responded that their energy was pretty high. After lunch—that was another story. More than 75 percent of them reported very low energy, and the solution for getting them through the rest of the afternoon was to teach a short energy-enhancing qigong practice that you will have the opportunity to explore later in this chapter.

Energy Awareness Mapping

The energy graph shown in
figure 5.3
is adapted from psychologist Robert Thayer’s fascinating studies on the roles of energy and tension in coping with life.
⁶
People challenged by an unrelenting problem with no clear end in sight—going through divorce, losing a job, or putting a parent in a nursing home—were asked to graph their energy, mood, and tension throughout the day. They also indicated on the graph the severity of whatever problem they were grappling with. Universally, at high tension–low energy times of the day, in the subjects’ minds problems loomed large and catastrophic. The problem itself had not changed; their perception of it had. When their energy was drained by tension, people felt overwhelmed, helpless, and pessimistic. In other words, the combination of high tension and low energy weakens our ability to cope with stress and life.

Figure 5.3
Energy graph with sample data: energy (squares), mood (circles) and tension (triangles) plotted throughout the day

OK then, now we know. So what can we do about it? The first step is knowing when we are vulnerable. Energy mapping is an effective strategy for becoming more aware of your typical daily energy patterns.