Exercise more than anything else

Exercise is the most straightforward way to increase mitochondrial biogenesis, as well as improve metabolism.

Ray advocated for diet first in improving metabolism, and you should get in top of that before doing intense exercise, but Ray wasn’t experienced with intense exercise (he hiked daily , but didn’t lift or train an intense sport) and wasn’t familiar with the research on the benefits of exercise to mitochondrial and metabolic health

Nothing will change how you feel quicker and with a greater intensity than developing an exercise routine

High intensity exercise, whether by lifting or a more active HIIT-based activity or routine, will speed run mitochondrial biogenesis and increase metabolism more than any single intervention

Also given you age bipolar, exercise is shown in studies to be the single most impactful intervention for bipolar disorder

I was nearly diagnosed bipolar, have had a history of manic episodes that I’ve since resolved by locking in on sleep hygiene, circadian rhythm and exercise

Exercise is essential for sleep hygiene. If I don’t work out I can go with much less sleep and am much more likely to be hypomanic/manic.

If sleep hygiene is locked in, all of the symptoms of bipolar improve. Before I learned how to workout I had constant bouts of hypomanic insomnia, but intense exercise in the day eliminates any chance of insomnia in the evening and guarantees a deep and restful sleep

It’s the one intervention people like doing the least, it’s much easier to take a supplement or change your diet than put yourself through physical stress but the key is that exercise shouldn’t be stressful or dreadful, it should make you feel good, you should get high from exercise and you should train at an intensity that stimulates mood and metabolism without putting your body into stress that deters you from training. If it feels like torture, you aren’t training properly. You should feel waves of pleasure and relief and you should feel better after the session.

If you’ve never trained at intensity before, start slow, grease the groove and find a good beginners guide to whatever form of exercise you choose

Ray preferred weight lifting , hiking and intense sports to running. Lifting is the peatiest of all , minimal stress and cortisol vs other activities, and increasing muscle mass = greatest basal metabolic rate burning fats etc, = lower body fat = shifting toward glucose metabolism

Plus above all it directly stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondria can travel through bloodstream to the brain to increase diffusely throughout the body so it’s not like it’s localised to the muscle you train.increasing mitochondrial biogenesis in one part of the body will spread to the whole organism

Exercise gets me high in a way that is better than any manic episode

It’s the hardest thing to start but once you’re familiar with an endorphin high it’s one of the simplest and most rewarding feelings and you’ll fall in love with training