Rhodiola rosea is an adaptogen, which means it helps to build resistance to all areas of bodily stress (such as extreme heat or cold, toxic chemicals, sleep deprivation, and depression), while producing a normalizing influence on the body. The important aspect for adaptogens is that they adapt the body to what it needs and keeps the body in balance. If an herb helped with physical exhaustion, but did nothing to also regulate other systems it would not be adaptogenic. Rhodiola, and most other adaptogenic herbs, is also safe and non-toxic with few, if any, side effects.
The mitochondria converts nutrients into ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and CP (creatine phosphate), which are stored in the cell. Simply think of ATP and CP as the fuel that our body needs to run. As long as we produce more ATP and CP than our body uses, we have an energy surplus and our body feels great. On the other hand, if those tiny mitochondria cannot keep up with the body’s demand for energy – we have an energy deficit – and this can lead to many health problems.
ATP is made on demand in our body, and we do not keep large reserves of ATP in our body. At any given time, we only have about 100 grams of ATP in our body. This may sound like a lot but an active cell requires more than 2 million ATP molecules per second. Some quick math shows that our bodily store of ATP is sufficient to satisfy our needs for only a few seconds, therefore, the store of ATP needs to be continuously replenished. Simply put, if our body stopped making ATP for 4 seconds – we would die.
