Does our metabolism slow down over time due to age? The answer is yes, but it depends on certain variables.
Most people gain weight when getting older. Why is this? Several factors due to less physical activity overtime, long work hours and other priorities, lack of nutrition focus, and higher stress levels. There is a large increase in overweight and obese individuals; 35 % of Americans are obese and 67% are overweight. These staggering percentages also affect our youth, at a high of 17% childhood obesity is on the rise.
The National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey (Follow- up Study); found that among adults ranging from ages 25 to 44 years old, men gain about 3.4 % of their body weight every decade; women gain 5.2% per decade. Weight gain is highest at adolescence, pregnancy, midlife, and for men after becoming married, but most weight gain does not end there. We have a spike around 60 years of age or older and are more likely to be obese due to improper energy balance.
The total of energy expenditure; the sum of calories burned from our metabolism. This would be considered Basal metabolic rate; the energy we use to digest, absorb nutrients, and for general activity is associated with aging, rate decreases 1 to 2% every 10 years.
Energy in vs. energy out; consuming more calories than what is used weight gain will occur, if at a deficit of caloric weight loss will happen overtime. Unfortunately, when drastic fluctuations by doing “go-go diets” and unhealthy weight loss occur; this can cause issue with out metabolism.
Metabolism overall is complex and there are several factors that can cause inconsistency in how your body uses energy. Lets go over some key points that will effect our metabolism.
1. Being consistent with your meal timing will help your hunger cues, your body will be able to determine when the next meal is coming in so no need to add those calories in “storage”.
2. Not getting enough sleep. If we are not getting the recommended 7 – 8 hours of sleep, your hormones will become imbalanced. Hunger hormones ghrelin will be in access and our hormone leptin production will be reduced, which keeps up feeling fuller longer. This will upset the function of the body and throw your hunger cues off, causing over consumption of calories. Cortisol, which causes inflammation in the body will rise and cravings for starchier, sugar, and fatty foods will be more prominent. Overtime will cause the body to burn calories insufficiently.
3. Not eating enough! Yes, we need to have a caloric deficit to drop weight. But your body will go into starvation mode if you are consuming to low of calories; slows your metabolism to keep you alive.
4. Not getting enough strength training; the more active muscle tissue you have the higher you will have a metabolic rate. Whether you are haling some weight, working with resistance band or equipment, even body weight resistance, resistance on the body creates microtears in the muscle tissue. As these tissues repair your body uses up more energy and requires more energy over time to sustain and stay alive. Eccentric training (tempo work on the lowering phase of lift) is great for boosting your metabolism due to more time under tension, recruits more muscle fibers to be used, and repairs more effectively.
5. Sitting for long periods of time with out small breaks; your body is using minimal amounts of energy when sitting. Getting up every 20 to 30 minutes at a time to just stretch and do a lap around your office will save you flack in the future when it comes to gaining weight.
6. Stress: this is no surprise. Stress has a big impact on our health and is the # 1 factor on impacting our metabolism. Stress increases those nasty hormones that we talked about early Ghrelin, reduces leptin, and increase cortisol. This nasty combination is the perfect disaster to add those extra pounds. Reduces our motivation to exercise, slows down the rate of digestion, impact quality of sleep and the number of hours. Finding healthy ways to coop with stress is important and always give yourself time for mental rest during your workday!
7. Drink plenty of water; if you are not getting enough water, this can cause a 2% reduction in metabolism function. We require water there is no getting around it, shoot for at least 2 liters for women and 3 liters for men on average. If you are physically active drink at least 8 0z more for every 25 pounds that you want to lose to aid in fat loss and overall proper body functions.
8. Not getting enough calcium; calcium is a key aid in metabolism. This determines if you need to store those extra calories or burn them for energy. You can get more calcium through consuming dairy products, whey protein, and casein. Women especially can benefit from calcium. Women especially need more calcium to help with bone health and to help with weight loss and muscle gain.
Now that you know what metabolism is and other factors that impact the function of metabolism. You will have a better chance of creating better habits for yourself in the futures to supplement healthy aging, and maintaining a healthy life.
References:
Natalie Digate Muth MD, MPH,RD. “Is it true that metabolism decreases with age?” Feb. 2012. Acefitness.org/educ-and-resources/blog/2315/is-it-true-metabolism-decrease-with-age/
Tiffani Bachus RDN. “Slow Metabolism 8 things that slow down your metabolism”. Sep. 2016. cefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/blog/6090/slow-metabolism-8-things-that-slow-down-your-metabolism/