Metabolism is essentially the balance of chemical reactions that keep your body functioning healthily. There are both anabolic (building) processes and catabolic (breaking down) processes, and both are important.
You’ve likely heard the term batted around in health circles, with specific suggestions being made for those with a ‘low’ or ‘high’ metabolism based on complaints around weight loss, appetite, and so on, but many articles use terms incorrectly, and things can get confusing quickly.
Rather than focusing on buzz words, in this article, you’ll learn about three key elements shown to support your metabolism over the long term.
1. Diet Composition
Diet is likely the element of human health you’ve heard to be most commonly associated with metabolism, and with good reason. You are what you eat, as they say, and there’s actually a lot of truth to that.
The macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fat) and the micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) both contribute considerably to how your metabolism operates, as they’re required for the enzymatic reactions that regulate it.
Take protein as just one example. This macronutrient is responsible for switching your body from a catabolic state into an anabolic one, whereby you’re able to adapt and build muscle following bouts of resistance exercise.
Fiber-rich diets with plenty of fruits, vegetables, high-quality proteins, and healthy fats are best for overall health, and there are also metabolic support nutritional formulas that have shown promise (but always talk to your doctor before consuming these).
2. The Importance of Sleep
Sleep is also a key factor in a healthy metabolism. When you have poor sleep, hormone production is disrupted, with cortisol (the stress hormone) being elevated. Those like leptin and ghrelin (which regulate hunger and appetite) are also usually at unfavorable levels when this happens, and the result is poor mood and hunger.
You should always prioritize getting 7–9 hours of sleep each night, and do your best to manage your stress levels throughout the day. If you’ve been stressing all day, you’re going to find it difficult to switch off and rest, so it’s a good idea to do some relaxation meditation beforehand to prime your brain for sleep.
3. Physical Exercise
Everyone knows that exercise is good for you, but research is just scratching the surface in terms of the truly profound effects it can have.
When it comes to metabolism, exercise has one of the most powerful influences of all. Resistance training is incredibly beneficial for building metabolically active tissues, while aerobic (cardiovascular) exercise helps the body to utilize insulin more efficiently and enhances cell function.
Even light exercise, such as walking or slow cycling, can be much more powerful than you might initially expect, so you don’t have to jump right into vigorous training regimes right away.
Wrapping Up
Hopefully, you now feel a little clearer on how to support a healthy metabolism. There’s much more to it than this, of course, as any human biology subject is incredibly complex, but the above points should be enough to get you started. Good luck!
Photo by MART PRODUCTION
