Ron shared this 2025 AARP article at our weekly Tai Chi Salon discussion. It is science based with references to how cellular mitochondrial drop in activity causes the feeling of fatigue. It's well worth the read, on a scale of 1-10, I give it a 10. It presents a few easy moves that will directly increase our energy level and contribute to a longer and active health span. Easy peezy. Thank you Ron.
FIVE FAST FATIGUE FIXES
Revamping cellular health takes time. These quick hacks don't.
1. Drink a glass of water. Even mild dehydration causes fatigue and tanks alertness. And older adults are more susceptible to the condition.
2. Step outside for a break. Connecting with nature can be restorative-and a good antidote to mental burnout and workday stress.
3. Walk for a few. For every 30 minutes of sitting, take a light, three-minute walk.
This pattern is known to help fight fatigue.
4. Try cold water. Turn on the shower for a cool blast; people report feeling more active, alert, attentive and inspired after a bracing immersion.
5. Give a sniff. Inhaling a scent like peppermint or citrus has been shown to boost alertness, likely because odors have a strong effect on one's emotions.
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2025
HERE'S THE FULL ARTICLE AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2025
YOUR MOVE Aim for the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity, plus two days of muscle-strengthening activity, per week. How do you know if you're working hard enough? "If you do something and find you're breathing harder-going upstairs, walking somewhere, having sex-you're stimulating your mitochondria," says Picard.
Suss Out Sleep Struggles With age, sleep isn't as deep, long or consolidated, says Aric Prather, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Califor-nia, San Francisco, and author of The Sleep Prescription. "Sleep lives in the brain. Like everything else, our brain ages," he says, which may be why we see sleep change in the fifth decade of life and beyond. These changes can make sleep feel less restorative-and there's evidence that sleep loss may also accelerate cellular aging.
YOUR MOVE If you feel run-down during the day despite being in bed for seven-plus hours a night, you need to rule out any relevant medical conditions or disorders, like obstructive sleep apnea, Prather says. Medications can also interfere with sleep or cause daytime drowsiness, so ask your doctor if you should take your pills at different times of day or before bed. Avoid dozing or catnapping by structuring your day with planned activities.
This allows sleep to be pushed into the night, where it can get to work on cellular repair and regeneration.
Narrow Your Eating Window Too much food is an "energetic bur-den" to the body, says Picard, since it has to expend energy to handle additional calories. "Eating more doesn't give you more energy, it actually steals your energy," he says.
Intermittent fasting (IF), which essentially means putting guardrails around the time you eat, has two main benefits. One, restricting eating to an eight-hour window tends to reduce your daily intake of calories.
Two, IF improves autophagy-the process by which cells clear out trash, like free radicals. "Intermit-tent fasting activates autophagy to bring cellular balance back to health by getting rid of damaged mitochon-dria," explains Rajat Singh, M.D., a professor of medicine and director of the Comprehensive Liver Research Center at UCLA.
YOUR MOVE Research suggests there are benefits to a 16-to-8 IF schedule, where you fast for 16 hours and eat within an eight-hour window. However, long-term IF isn't sustainable for everyone, especially older adults. For best results, find a fasting period that works for you and that you can stick with, says Singh.
(And, of course, get clearance from your doctor first.) Maybe that's 12 hours of fasting-from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., for example-coupled with regular exercise. The key is consistency.
Talk to More People
You know how being stressed and overwhelmed can lead to feeling fatigued? That's evidence that your state of mind is affecting your mito-chondria, says Picard.
"People who feel more positive about life have more mitochondria with greater capacity for energy transformation than people who have no purpose and fewer positive life experiences," he says, Positive states of mind may increase biological energy through the mitochondria, helping you feel more alive.
YOUR MOVE Just eight hours of solitude can be enough to drag down your energy. Call a friend, send your kids a text, get together to play cards. "These are all things that keep brain and muscle networks active to diminish the hallmarks of aging," says Christian Leeuwenburgh, a professor at the University of Florida's Institute on Aging. Focus on new activities and breaking routines. Ask a friend or neighbor what they're doing tomorrow-and don't hesitate to ask if you can join them. # Jessica Migala writes about health and lifestyle for Cosmopolitan, Everyday Health and other publications.
