I’m Nicolas, and I help entrepreneurs improve focus and avoid burning out by mastering their mental energy.

Last week, we learned how mitochondria are essential for energy in the brain.

But does it actually really influence you in your daily life?

Does having healthier neuronal-mitochondria improve your ability to sustain focus?

To make better decisions? 

And, if so how do you keep your brain-mitochondria healthy? 

This is what we will try to look closer into today.

🧠 Brain health follows the same rules as muscle: stress + recovery = growth

Short-term challenges improve mitochondrial quality through processes like mitophagy, antioxidant defenses, and calcium regulation.

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In the scientific review article Raefsky & Mattson, 2017 the authors argue that, from an evolutionary perspective, the brain evolved in an environment where access to food was often limited.

And where physical activity was a much larger part of daily life.

For that reason, the brain responds positively to these conditions.

To small, manageable stressors.

The authors’ argument is that because the brain responds positively to short-term stress, it should be treated like a muscle.

One of the key factors behind this positive response to short terms stress is the mitochondria.

As we learned last week, mitochondria are vital for energy production in the brain.

In fact, the brain has a very limited ability to produce energy outside of the mitochondria.

But Mitochondria do more than just provide energy for neuronal activity.

They help regulate calcium and oxidative stress in the brain, and play a key role in learning, forming new synapses, and developing neurons.

Factors such as BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) stimulate mitochondrial biogenesis and synaptic plasticity.

👉Mitochondria are important! Check out this guide of 10 things you can do to keep your mitochondria healthy. 

Looking at exercise, studies in mice show that it increases both the number of brain mitochondria and the levels of key mitochondrial enzymes, by stimulating BDNF.

While it’s harder to show in humans, this aligns with the well-known increase in muscular mitochondria from exercise.

Exercise also appears to stimulate the secretion of SIRT3, which reduces oxidative stress in the brain—a major contributor to cellular damage.

Additionally, it increases UCPs, mitochondrial membrane proteins that limit oxidative stress.

Low levels of UCPs have been linked to anxiety, impaired cognition, and excessive glutamate.

Similarly, just as periodic fasting and calorie restriction can be beneficial for muscle health, they have also been shown to support neuronal mitochondrial function.

Periodic fasting and calorie restriction appear to increase BDNF levels and activate processes such as autophagy, mitophagy, and antioxidant mechanisms. This is important because these processes help maintain mitochondrial quality and protect neurons against stress and age-related decline. 

Lastly, intellectual stimulation - in other words, challenging brain activity - also plays a key role in brain health.

When you push your brain, it increases activity at the synapses, which are the connections between neurons.

This triggers calcium signals inside the cells, which then turn on special “master switches” called transcription factors, such as CREB and NF-κB.

These switches help the brain adapt by strengthening connections between neurons (plasticity) and making cells more resistant to stress.

So, by keeping our brain - and especially our neuronal mitochondria - healthy, we can support energy, learning, and overall development. And by challenging our brain, we can actually strengthen it and reap the benefits.

In simple terms, the brain should be treated like a muscle: short-term, manageable stress or challenges are beneficial — just like for the rest of the body. Exercise, periodic fasting, and mental challenges all work.

But balance is key. Just like a muscle, the brain can be pushed too far and burn out. Managing the “load” is essential.

If you want to learn more about how too much cognitive stress can harm the brain, check out this longer article I’ve written.

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