What’s the Best Way to Fight Fatigue?
Perky Passionate. Powerful. How much do those words describe you? In a 2025 meta-analysis, 3 out of 5 adults over 60 described themselves as being easily fatigued after doing normal activities. This slowdown isn’t healthy. Age-related fatigue is associated with increased mortality risk, due to the likelihood of physical decline and the development of conditions that impair your ability to do daily tasks.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Researchers who study energy metabolism say there are four (very doable) things that can help turn back the clock on your cells to restore your energy level — and maintain it well into your later years.
Why our batteries run low: Mitochondria are structures that act as the energy processors of our cells. Using the food we eat, they create a molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the chemical energy currency all our cells run on. “Mitochondria are not the only providers of energy, but they do the heavy lifting, especially when it comes to the activities of daily living,” explains Ian Lanza, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science in Rochester, Minnesota.
Excerpted from AARP
