Exploring the Importance of Photosynthesis and the Krebs Cycle

We are stardust, energy transformation, and chemical reactions in clothes.

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

I want to be healthy and optimize my lifestyle for longevity and healthspan. You might be interested in this too.

I have focused on exercise, nutrition, sleep, hydration, meditation, etc.

These are all essential attributes of health and wellness. Still, I want to go back to first principles and think about what and who we are at the most fundamental levels: how the ontological imperative manifests in us.

Our existence is all about energy transformation and chemical reactions.

Solar radiation is transformed into long-chain carbon molecules in the process of photosynthesis. We ingest these as fruits, vegetables, and grains or secondarily consume them as animal protein from animals that eat plants.

Humans transform this material into energy to power our cells in the Krebs cycle.

Photosynthesis and the Krebs cycle are two essential processes that allow plants to convert energy from the sun into usable forms that we transform into energy to power our cells.

These processes are central to the functioning of ecosystems, the overall health of our planet, and our existence.

These essential processes create our world, blow my mind, and I hope yours too. Yet, if we stopped to think about this, we would be prostrate on the floor with amazement, incapable of functioning.

Here is an overview to ponder.

Photosynthesis is a multi-step sequence of chemical reactions that combines atmospheric carbon dioxide and water.

Photo by Kent Pilcher on Unsplash

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, algae, and some bacteria convert sunlight into chemical energy. This process occurs in the chloroplasts of plant cells, where pigments called chlorophyll absorb light energy and convert it into chemical energy. This chemical energy is stored in the form of glucose, a simple sugar that the…