Several types of research have revealed surprising findings on how metabolic rate may change as we get older — and the news is not bad. Metabolism, which is the body’s rate of burning calories, has long been thought to decline with age, as people start losing muscle mass. Along with that, it has always been a belief that women tend to have even slower metabolisms than men after menopause.
NOT TRUE!!! says the new paper published in Science. The studies claim that there is no link seen between age and metabolism. Doctors of Top hospitals in Pakistan suggest that the link is more closely related to lifestyle than to age.
By analyzing data from 6500 people from the age of 8 to 95 years.
The paper’s authors found out that the resting metabolism doesn’t change from the age of 20 to 60. There was only a slight decrease noticed by less than 1% every year.
It stated that although the baseline resting metabolism remains the same, the factors affecting the other aspects of metabolism (when you’re not resting) likely change. These affect the metabolism to slow down by lowering the ability to metabolize fat, maximize the caloric burn from exercise and get proper rest to enable metabolic processes.
This isn’t actually bad news, the results show that the human body is capable of making several changes that boost metabolism, regardless of age.
The data collected indicated that men and women had the same metabolic rates. There also were some differences being noticed based on 4 distinct periods in participants’ lives.
- From the age of 0 to 1 year, the metabolic rate shot up until it was 50% higher than it will be during adulthood.
- From 1 to 20 years old, a 3% decrease in metabolism per year was observed.
- From the age of 20 to 60 years, it remained the same.
- After the age of 6o, it decreased by 0.7% annually.
It is good news because doctors suggest that adopting healthy eating habits and incorporation of exercise can go a long way as one ages.
Another study contrary to the above one suggested that men do have a fat-free mass less than women, so they will have higher energy expenditure. No doubt that men and women burn the same amount of energy for each pound of fat-free mass they have.
People who gain weight in their middle-age cannot blame being sluggish on their slow metabolism.
Some of the people had some objections to this research, as it focused on the metabolism being assessed at a single point in time. It was also suggested that the human body tends to burn more calories during the daytime.
Factors Having Strong Impact On Metabolism
Some of the findings show that people with high amounts of Vitamin D, Calcium, and Magnesium have a strong metabolism. This is because Vitamin D helps in strengthening the bones and helps in the regulation of body fat and metabolic activity.
A healthier lifestyle does affect the metabolic rate a lot. According to the search results from the Ohio State University Survey, women who reported more than one stressful event in the past 24 hours burned 104 fewer calories after a heavy meal. And women who didn’t go through any stressful event had completely normal calorie burn.
This is simply because the insulin levels are being increased due to stress. That eventually slows down the fat breakdown and stores more fat in the body.
Referred to as HIIT (high-intensity interval training) is proven to be the best way to maintain a healthy metabolism. Short periods of high-intensity exercise increases metabolism both during and after hours of exercise.
Adults should be aiming for 6 to 9 hours of sleep, easier said than done. Several surveys suggest quality sleep is said to be a huge trigger that slows down metabolism and affects the appetite for the next 24 hours.
The use of protein-rich foods is highly recommended by doctors for a healthy metabolism. But to consume and burn after is the main key to achieve that. The addition of Flax Seeds, lentils, chili peppers, ginger, and several green teas in your daily food intake do help a lot.