Peptides. Wearables. Cold plunges. Red light therapy. Continuous glucose monitors. IV drips. Elaborate supplement protocols. Mitochondrial biohacking.
Wellness has become overly complicated.
And somewhere along the way, we've forgotten something important:
There is zero point overcomplicating your health when you haven't got the foundations right first.
This isn't an argument against new interventions, supplements, testing or technology.
There's a place for targeted interventions.
But health has an order of operations.
And we're increasingly starting at step 17.
The foundations aren't sexy, but they matter.
Nobody can patent fresh air.
There's no monthly subscription for going for a walk.
Human connection doesn't come in a $79 bottle.
And "go outside, eat proper food and get some sleep" isn't particularly exciting content.
But your body still requires the same basic inputs it always has.
- Whole, nutrient-dense food.
- Clean water.
- Fresh air.
- Natural light.
- Movement.
- Sleep.
- Rest and recovery.
- Human connection.
- Time in nature.
- And, importantly, periods where your body isn't constantly responding to stress.
These aren't the optional extras you graduate from once you've discovered biohacking.
They're the foundation everything else sits on.
Most people don't realise how stressed they actually are.
This was something I saw constantly during my years in clinical practice.
One of the first questions I'd ask a new patient was:
"On a scale of 0-10, how stressed are you?"
And the question was fascinating.
Most people couldn't answer immediately.
There'd be a pause.
They'd think.
I'd reassure them there was no wrong answer.
Then I'd usually hear something like:
"Oh... I don't think I'm that stressed. Maybe a five?"
Then we'd complete a proper stress questionnaire.
We'd look at their sleep, energy, irritability, muscle tension, digestion, mental load, ability to switch off and how they actually felt day-to-day.
You could almost watch the dots connecting.
That perceived 5/10?
Very often their questionnaire suggested their stress load was considerably higher.
And I'd hear some version of:
"Holy shit. I didn't realise I was THAT stressed."
That's the problem with chronic stress.
When sympathetic activation has been your baseline for long enough, it can stop feeling like stress.
Rushing feels normal.
Being constantly busy feels normal.
Muscle tension feels normal.
Thinking about six things simultaneously feels normal.
Being unable to sit still feels normal.
Constant stimulation feels normal.
Feeling exhausted but unable to switch off feels normal.
You don't necessarily walk around thinking, "I'm incredibly stressed."
You may simply have forgotten what properly calm feels like.
Your body doesn't separate "stress" from the rest of your physiology.
We often talk about stress like it's purely psychological.
It isn't.
The stress response is physiological.
When your sympathetic nervous system activates, hormones including adrenaline and cortisol help prepare your body to respond to increased demand.
Energy needs to become available.
Fuel gets mobilised.
Heart rate can increase.
Attention shifts.
Digestion becomes less of an immediate priority.
This response is brilliant when you actually need it.
The problem is when the message rarely switches off.
Because modern "threats" aren't necessarily something you can physically run away from.
They're your inbox.
Deadlines.
Financial pressure.
Poor sleep.
Overtraining.
Relationship stress.
Doomscrolling.
Constant notifications.
The mental load of running a household.
Trying to squeeze 47 things into a day that realistically fits 25.
Your physiology still has to respond.
And your mitochondria are part of that conversation.
Mitochondria are often described as the powerhouses of our cells because of their central role in cellular energy production.
But they're not passive batteries.
Mitochondria constantly respond to signals from their environment, including nutrients, hormones, oxidative stress, inflammation and metabolic demand.
And stress changes that environment.
During sympathetic activation, cortisol and adrenaline help mobilise fuel so your body can meet increased energy demands.
Again, this is useful during short-term stress.
But chronic stress can create ongoing metabolic demands and influence mitochondrial function, oxidative balance and energy metabolism.
Essentially, your body keeps receiving the message:
WE NEED ENERGY. NOW.
Day. After day. After day.
What is the "cell danger response"?
This is where an interesting proposed model called the cell danger response comes into the conversation.
The theory suggests that when cells perceive ongoing threat or injury, cellular metabolism and mitochondrial behaviour can shift towards defence and protection.
It's important to be clear here.
The cell danger response is a proposed biological framework, not a diagnosis explaining every case of fatigue or chronic illness.
But the broader idea is valuable.
Mitochondria respond to their environment.
So if you're talking about mitochondrial health without talking about the physiological environment those mitochondria exist within, you're missing part of the picture.
Your body may be continually demanding resources while the cellular machinery responsible for meeting those demands is also experiencing stress.
And over time, people can find themselves feeling absolutely cooked.
Tired but wired.
Brain fog.
Poor recovery.
Unpredictable energy.
Mood changes.
Reduced exercise tolerance.
Sleep that doesn't feel restorative.
Then what do we do?
We try to biohack it.
You cannot solve overload by continually adding more.
This is where modern wellness has really lost the plot.
You discover mitochondrial health.
So you add mitochondrial supplements.
You're stressed.
So you add meditation.
You're exhausted.
So you get up earlier to exercise.
Your sleep sucks.
So you buy a wearable and start obsessing over your sleep score.
You're overwhelmed.
So you download another app to track your habits.
Suddenly "looking after yourself" has become another full-time job.
- 10,000 steps.
- Strength training.
- Pilates.
- Morning sunlight.
- Meditation.
- Breathwork.
- Meal prep.
- Protein targets.
- Supplements.
- Sleep tracking.
- Journalling.
- Cold plunges.
And whatever you do...
Don't stress.
Are we serious?
You cannot solve overload by adding more things to do.
Sometimes the intervention needs to be subtraction.
Sometimes you need to do less
As a naturopath, sometimes the most useful question isn't:
"What else should we add?"
It's:
"What can we remove?"
- Less stimulation.
- Less scrolling.
- Less rushing.
- Less unnecessary responsibility.
- Less background noise.
- Less constant information.
- Less pressure to optimise everything.
- Less saying yes when you desperately want to say no.
- Less filling every available minute with productivity.
- Less exposure to people who leave your nervous system chronically activated.
Your body needs periods where nothing is being demanded from it.
No problem to solve.
No decision to make.
No information to process.
No metric to improve.
No person needing something.
Just space.
This doesn't mean lying on the couch all day
Doing less doesn't mean becoming sedentary.
It doesn't mean abandoning exercise.
It doesn't mean cancelling your entire life and watching Netflix for eight hours.
It means intentionally creating moments throughout your day where the demand comes down.
- Get outside.
- Sit in the sun.
- Walk without listening to anything.
- Eat without working.
- Put your phone in another room.
- Stop filling every silence.
- Spend time with people who make you feel safe.
- Change how intensely you exercise when your body isn't recovering.
- Protect your evenings from endless scrolling, stimulation and doom.
- Create periods where you're not achieving, consuming or producing anything.
- Give your body opportunities to shift towards parasympathetic activity.
Your parasympathetic nervous system matters.
The parasympathetic nervous system supports many of the conditions associated with rest, digestion, recovery and energy conservation.
This doesn't mean your body completely stops repairing or digesting whenever sympathetic activity increases.
Human physiology isn't an on/off switch.
But spending your entire day chronically activated isn't the environment we're aiming for either.
We need flexibility.
The ability to respond when something demands our attention.
And the ability to come back down afterwards.
That's the bit many of us have lost.
We're very good at switching on.
We're terrible at switching off.
Stress management isn't another task to complete.
This is also why "nervous system regulation" shouldn't become another elaborate wellness routine.
You don't necessarily need a 47-minute morning protocol involving breathwork, journalling, cold exposure, supplements and six other things before you've even made breakfast.
Sometimes nervous system support looks incredibly ordinary.
- Going outside.
- Walking.
- Taking a proper lunch break.
- Eating enough.
- Getting off social media.
- Going to bed.
- Changing how you train.
- Setting a boundary.
- Asking someone else to handle something.
- Removing a chronically stressful relationship.
- Using targeted nutrients or adaptogens where appropriate.
- Sitting outside for ten minutes and doing absolutely nothing.
That's still health care.
Foundations first. Fancy shit second.
Advanced interventions aren't inherently bad.
Testing isn't bad.
Wearables aren't bad.
Peptides aren't automatically bad.
Biohacking isn't automatically bad.
But they belong further up the hierarchy.
Start with the foundations.
- Are you eating properly?
- Are you drinking enough water?
- Are you moving your body?
- Are you getting outside?
- Are you sleeping enough?
- Are you connected with other humans?
- Do you have genuine downtime?
- Can your nervous system actually switch off?
- Is there space in your life where nobody needs anything from you?
Including you?
Get those foundations in place.
Then look at what's still not working.
Investigate where appropriate.
Use targeted interventions where they're actually needed.
Because sometimes the question isn't:
"How can I make my mitochondria produce more energy?"
It's:
"Why am I demanding so much energy from my body all day?"
Your body doesn't always need another protocol.
Sometimes it needs less input.
Less pressure.
Less rushing.
More daylight.
More movement.
More connection.
More sleep.
More genuine rest.
More opportunities to feel safe enough to switch off.
Support your mitochondria.
Support your nervous system.
Use the fancy stuff when it actually makes sense.
But get the foundations right first.