What Is Cellular Health? Why Strong Cells Are the Key To Optimal Health (+ Exactly How to Improve Them)

Your body contains almost 37.2 trillion cells and produces 25 million new cells every single second. If I’ve learned anything in my years as a functional medicine practitioner, it’s that the health of your cells is the driving force behind your overall health. Everything from your energy levels to chronic diseases starts and ends with your cells. The awareness around cellular health and its importance to overall wellness is finally starting to grow and get the recognition it deserves, but there is still a long way to go. Here’s exactly what you need to know about cellular health, why it matters for your long-term healthspan and wellbeing, and what you can do to improve your cell’s health and function. 

What does cellular health mean?

Cellular health focuses on and understands the importance behind the health and proper function of your cells. Known as the “building blocks of life,” the human body contains over 200 different types of cells that combine together to form your muscles, bones, and organs. While most people think of health in terms of organs or systems — like your thyroid, gut, or immune system — these systems wouldn’t even exist without your cells.

Each one of your trillions of cells work together to perform vital functions such as:

• Helping your body absorbing nutrients 
• Producing adequate energy
• Repairing damaged DNA
• Eliminating toxins
• Maintaining healthy inflammation levels

Ultimately, the health of your cells determines your overall health. That’s why we put so much emphasis on improving cellular health in functional medicine — is the foundation of your entire wellbeing.

What are the signs of poor cellular health?

Cellular dysfunction rarely appears overnight and is different for each person. Symptoms can seem subtle at first and are often dismissed as a “normal” part of getting older. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Since your cells are responsible for keeping every system of your body functioning properly, damage can lead to a wide variety of symptoms, such as:

• Brain fog
• Weight gain
• Fatigue
• Mood issues
• Accelerated signs of aging (wrinkles, etc.)
• Metabolic problems, including imbalanced blood sugar and glucose levels

And when these symptoms are left unchecked, they can lead to more serious health conditions:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Heart disease
• Diabetes
• Hormone imbalances
• Autoimmune conditions

What damages cellular health?

There are many lifestyle factors that can impact the health of your cells. But we need to understand how these triggers specifically damage your cells. These are the key factors that ultimately lead to cellular damage and what we look at in functional medicine to better determine how we should improve how our cells function.

Aging

Getting older is a fact of life, and your body’s natural aging process is going to result in a slight decline in cellular health and function. (1) That is completely normal! However, studies have found that the longer cellular damage is allowed to occur, the more cellular function is impaired, giving way to the accumulation of even more damaged cells. (2) It’s a vicious cycle! And why it’s so important to take a proactive approach to your health rather than a reactive one.

Mitochondria dysfunction

Mitochondria are often called the “powerhouses” of your cells. They are responsible for taking in nutrients and oxygen and turning them into ATP — your body’s energy source. Each one of your cells has its own life cycle, and over time can become damaged and weak, including the mitochondria itself. While this is a normal part of the aging process, certain lifestyle factors can speed up this damage. Supporting mitochondrial health is one of the fastest ways to improve energy production and cellular function overall.

Oxidative stress

Oxidative stress occurs when there is an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants at the cellular level. While free radicals themselves aren’t necessarily bad, the problem happens when your body produces more free radicals than your body has antioxidants to neutralize. When everything is working as it should, antioxidants stop free radicals in their tracks, keeping the balance in check.

In today’s world though, we are constantly bombarded with lifestyle factors—from cell phone radiation to environmental pollutants—that trigger free radical production that your body just can’t keep up with. Some things that increase oxidative stress include:

• Pollution and environmental toxins (3, 4)  
• UV light
• Chronic stress (5)  
• Poor diet (6)
• Mold toxicity (7)
• Poor sleep 
• Lack of exercise (8)

Over time, this oxidative stress can damage your cells and drive up chronic inflammation — another key factor in cellular dysfunction. 

Chronic inflammation

If oxidative stress is allowed to continue, it can lead to chronic inflammation in your cells. As most of us know, chronic, low-grade inflammation has been linked to almost every health problem from weight gain to cancer, and it plays a unique role in cellular health as well.

Cellular senescence happens when cells stop dividing the way that they should, staying alive, and damaging healthy cells. These are known as senescent cells and have been shown to release inflammatory molecules that trigger even more cellular senescence. (9) And because everything in our body is so interconnected, it becomes yet another vicious cycle with inflammation causing cellular damage and that cellular damage triggering more inflammation.

READ MORE: Inflammaging: The Inflammation-Aging Connection

How do I improve cellular health?

The good news is that your cells are remarkably adaptive. While we can’t completely prevent getting older (although we love to try) or avoid all lifestyle stressors, we can give our cells a much-needed boost through two key processes — autophagy and mitophagy.

Autophagy: This is your body’s cellular recycling process that works to break down and remove all aspects — proteins, organelles, etc. — of old, damaged cells from your system. Doing this gives your body room to produce new, healthy cells.

Mitophagy: Similar to autophagy, mitophagy differs in that it only cleans out damaged mitochondria from your cells. Think of it as a more targeted form of general autophagy.

Thankfully, there are many ways to activate both of these to enhance your overall cellular health.

Practice intermittent fasting

Giving your body a break from food for extended periods of time is one of the best ways to trigger autophagy. When nutrients are scarce, your body ends up reusing the existing useful cellular resources and discarding the potentially harmful parts. Multiple studies have found that intermittent fasting can significantly boost autophagy and improve overall cellular health. (10)

Target your supplements

While whole food is foundational, supplements can help give your body that needed boost to get to the next level with concentrated dosages of beneficial compounds.

• Urolithin A: This is the same byproduct that is produced by your gut when you eat certain foods rich in ellagitannins like pomegranates and has been directly linked to activating mitophagy. Since only a small percentage of people can actually convert ellagitannins into usable Urolithin A, supplementation is the best way to take advantage of this nutrient. (11)
• Spermadine: Known for its role in enhancing autophagy, researchers are continuing to learn how it also activates mitophagy by stimulating the PINK1/Parkin signaling pathway. (12)

In addition to supporting mitophagy, it’s also key to support mitochondria health as a whole. That’s why I specifically formulated Longevity RX MitoMultiply to support healthy aging and energy from the inside out. This clinically inspired blend works to fuel your mitochondria, the power plants of your cells, with ingredients that enhance detox, brain function and resilience to help your body stay sharp, strong, and energized.

LISTEN: Jess Kane: Cellular Healing Masterclass (Seed Oils, Postbiotics, Autism, Fertility, Brain Optimization & More)

Other ways to improve cellular health

In addition to enhancing cellular function through autophagy and mitophagy, you can work on alleviating the other key drivers of cellular dysfunction — inflammation and oxidative stress — through various lifestyle changes.

• Enhance your diet: In functional medicine, food is foundational. Focusing on eating more antioxidant-rich foods is a great way to mitigate oxidative stress. Some of my favorites include, pomegranates, goji berries, cranberries, and apples. Doing an elimination diet is also a great way to find out what foods are specifically triggering inflammation in your body and my favorite cellular superfoods have been shown to boost cellular health and function.
• Lower stress Chronic stress plays a huge role in inflammation levels. Find a mindfulness practice that works for you whether that is journaling or meditation or seek out a counselor who can help you work through stressful situations. 
• Heal your gut: A healthy gut has been shown to improve cellular health by lowering inflammation and boosting your immune system.

The takeaway

We can’t have optimal health, without optimal cellular health. As the building blocks of our body, your cells lay the groundwork for how each system of your body is to operate. If your cells are functioning at a level 3 out of 10, the rest of your body is going to follow suit. In my telehealth functional medicine clinic, we specialize in identifying and addressing the specific lifestyle triggers leading to your cellular dysfunction. Our goal is simple — get your cells healthy so we can get you healthy.

As one of the first functional medicine telehealth clinics in the world, we provide webcam health consultations for people around the globe. 

Photo: Unsplash.com

Sources

• da Silva, P. F. L., & Schumacher, B. (2021). Principles of the Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Aging. The Journal of investigative dermatology, 141(4S), 951–960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jid.2020.11.018
• Sukhorukov, V., Voronkov, D., Baranich, T., Mudzhiri, N., Magnaeva, A., & Illarioshkin, S. (2021). Impaired Mitophagy in Neurons and Glial Cells during Aging and Age-Related Disorders. International journal of molecular sciences, 22(19), 10251. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms221910251
• Araujo, J. A. (2011). Particulate air pollution, systemic oxidative stress, inflammation, and atherosclerosis. Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, 4(1), 79–93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-010-0101-8
• Gassman N. R. (2017). Induction of oxidative stress by bisphenol A and its pleiotropic effects. Environmental and molecular mutagenesis, 58(2), 60–71. https://doi.org/10.1002/em.22072
• Aschbacher, K., O’Donovan, A., Wolkowitz, O. M., Dhabhar, F. S., Su, Y., & Epel, E. (2013). Good stress, bad stress and oxidative stress: insights from anticipatory cortisol reactivity. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38(9), 1698–1708. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.02.004
• Aleksandrova, K., Koelman, L., & Rodrigues, C. E. (2021). Dietary patterns and biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation: A systematic review of observational and intervention studies. Redox biology, 42, 101869. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2021.101869
• Doi, K., & Uetsuka, K. (2011). Mechanisms of mycotoxin-induced neurotoxicity through oxidative stress-associated pathways. International journal of molecular sciences, 12(8), 5213–5237. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms12085213
• Laufs, U., Wassmann, S., Czech, T., Münzel, T., Eisenhauer, M., Böhm, M., & Nickenig, G. (2005). Physical inactivity increases oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction, and atherosclerosis. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, 25(4), 809–814. https://doi.org/10.1161/01.ATV.0000158311.24443.af
• Li, X., Li, C., Zhang, W. et al. Inflammation and aging: signaling pathways and intervention therapies. Sig Transduct Target Ther 8, 239 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-023-01502-8
• Jamshed, H., Beyl, R. A., Della Manna, D. L., Yang, E. S., Ravussin, E., & Peterson, C. M. (2019). Early Time-Restricted Feeding Improves 24-Hour Glucose Levels and Affects Markers of the Circadian Clock, Aging, and Autophagy in Humans. Nutrients, 11(6), 1234. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11061234
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