Weekly Blog

Jan 9

With the holiday season whirlwind in the rearview for most of us and the new year solidly here, the 2026 blank slate is already starting to accumulate markings. While we're still very much at the start, the next few weeks are a critical time for anyone who is seeking growth and change this year. Moving from the "fun part" of generating ideas and a vision of what's possible to the part that actually gets the results, the day-to-day execution of habits that work, is where many can lose energy...which, interestingly, may actually be the root we've been looking for.

I did some traveling this week, which usually means books or podcasts or both. This time, feeling exceptionally proud of myself that I was able to stave off my near compulsion to buy a book every time I get through airport security, I finished the one I had with me and got a few podcasts in, too. I stumbled onto a discussion with Martin Picard, a Columbia University professor in the department of Neurology who, in addition to other areas, is an expert on mitochondria, the small bits of our cells known to play a large role in energy production and cellular communication. He was promoting his forthcoming book and the fundamental ideas that drove him to write it. 

Although WAY oversimplified when compared to this 2025 paper, which provides more detail, the idea that really caught my attention was how he defined health. He suggested that we might be best to think of "health" as the natural state we experience when our energy systems (the metabolic pathway) and communication systems (nervous system, hormones, etc) are working well within a physical structure that has integrity (cells, tissues, and organs). Or, in the podcast version, health is a state in which energy flows effectively through the body, influencing how we think, feel, and age...a state that almost always entails fighting through resistance to achieve it.

15 minutes of walking after a long day of sitting is a perfect example. There is resistance, which might be physical, psychological, or both. Despite feeling exhausted because of NOT expending energy (sitting), we tend to want to sit because we feel tired. An object at rest tends to stay at rest, perhaps. Yet, for those who can overcome this inertia and get themselves moving, there is often a point when we feel energized from doing so. The mental fog lifts, and we feel less tired. 

Of course, less tired from expending energy makes no sense...unless the "tired" we were feeling wasn't the fatigue of energy depletion but the fatigue of energy stagnation...an energy log-jam in the normal production and use schedule. As a bonus, we might also feel less distressed, which is a simple explanation of why exercise is such a powerful lever for both anxiety (high energy) and depression (low energy). It might also explain why we sleep better when we are adequately (but not overly) drained of energy, which we can call "good tired", and why exercise is therefore a critical aspect of the energy management plan for anyone, but especially those who don't expend enough during the day.

It's a lens that helps us to understand a lot of what we see and one that I will continue to explore in the weeks to come, but for now, let's leave it at the main points: (1) there is increasing evidence that energy production and transformation is one of the major roots of health. (2) This is far more than "metabolism". 

The foods we consume and the environments in which they grow, the efficiency with which we can transform the stored energy in those foods into the kind that drives our physiology (ATP, etc), and all of the great other benefits we gain when it's flowing smoothly results in something that looks a lot like the thriving most people hope for. 

It's not easy. There is resistance. However, like a spring or a rubber band, we may be most powerful when we are storing just the right amount, not too little and not too much...so let it flow. 

More to come.

Have a great weekend,
Mike E.