Energy is made every millisecond of the day in every cell of our bodies.

When you wake up feeling full of life, the trillions of cells that make up our bodies and their organs shift into high gear, producing the right hormones and chemical reactions necessary to complete and perpetuate the process that makes energy.

This process produces the fuel that powers your brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, bowels, stomach — every organ in your body, including every muscle fiber.

Energy is made in cellular organelles called mitochondria, the energy-manufacturing factories of our bodies. The mitochondria receive raw materials like fat, protein, and sugar molecules from the cellular cytoplasm with the aid of amino acids like L-carnitine and other helpers.

The mitochondria then start a complex metabolic chemical reaction known as the Krebs Cycle (also known as citric acid or TCA cycle).

The outcome is the production of high-energy molecules (ATP and NADP), the currency our bodies use to keep our organs functioning and us alive.

The cycle involves a series of chemical reactions that use a certain substrate that changes with every reaction.

Energy is extracted from the molecule known as acetyl-CoA, and there is an entire process that follows to collect the energy controlled by eight enzymes, including coenzyme Q10.

Clearly, when our cells are making enough energy, we glide through the day. All the organs of our bodies work in synchrony, and we maintain a perfect balance known as homeostasis.

When you wake up drained and depleted, your cells are struggling to produce the energy needed to sustain your body and mind.

Overworked, without fuel or hormones to help the cells make energy, the constant depletion takes its toll mentally and in every organ system of your body. You can’t help but worry: “If I feel like this now, what am I going to feel like ten years from now?”

If your cells could talk, they would tell you that your energy crisis will only get worse with each passing year. That is what aging is all about. Too many people believe that this is the way it has to be.

They mistakenly believe that there is no way to improve or prevent the attrition of the mitochondria and the process of depletion that leads to chronic illness and eventually death.

Without optimal energy production and without detoxification and reducing inflammation, our mitochondria die, and we no longer can make the energy necessary to survive.

Your mitochondria can live long lives, producing high-quality energy well into your 90s and even 100s. All you need to do is take care of yourself. Genetics and environmental factors do affect outcome, but you can change that, too.