5 ways to boost your metabolism

Is it genes, age, gender, diet or your microbiome that are to blame for those pesky post-Christmas winter pounds?

Your metabolism is as unique as you are. There’s no magic equation or rule of thumb to determine what turns Christmas cake and turkey into belly fat on some people, while other people’s tummies seem impervious to it all.

As a result, the advice we hear on balancing energy input with energy output by getting enough exercise is, for most people, not the whole picture when it comes to reaching a happy weight. In fact, the processes that influence your metabolism are far more complex than that.

This is my attempt to unravel the puzzle behind your metabolism, show you what affects it, what role your genes play and what you can do to help it.

Metabolism: the totality of your cell activity

Metabolism describes all cellular activity in your body. That is, anything that uses up energy, be it your digestion or your heartbeat. Healthy people need an average of 2,500 kilocalories(rounded) per day. If you consume more energy than you need, it’s stored in muscles and fatty tissue. Your body needs 60-70 per cent of your daily energy intake for your basal metabolic rate alone. Basically, that’s the amount of energy your body needs at rest just to maintain all your vitals. In turn, the body gets the nutrients it needs for this during digestion.

But here’s the rub. Basic metabolic rate varies greatly from person to person (meaning the 2,500 kilocalories per day advice doesn’t necessarily apply to you as an individual). Scientists are also divided as to why this is the case. The rule of thumb is that the taller and heavier a person is, the higher their basal metabolic rate, as the body has to supply more cells with energy.

Gender, genes, microbiome: what influences metabolism?

It’s no secret that our basal metabolic rates are often supplemented when we stuff our faces slightly overdo things during the Christmas holidays. And that’s perfectly okay. Some people, however, weather this gluttony better than others – a result determined by their own unique metabolic code.

The meanest piece of the metabolic puzzle is probably genetics. Studies in the New England Journal of Medicine have demonstrated that certain genetic mutations can increase the risk of obesity. Similarly, thinness also seems to be written into our DNA. A study of more than 1,000 participants of normal weight demonstrated that slim people not only have fewer obesity-related genes, but that their entire DNA appears to be primed for slimness.

Another cruel factor in the metabolism question is gender. It’s not just your body size that influences your metabolism, it’s your body composition (muscle to fat ratio) too. Women have a higher proportion of body fat compared to men. Fat cells are also less active than muscle cells, so they require less energy.

It hasn’t yet been fully explained why these sex-based differences in body composition exist. The combination of the sex hormones oestrogen and testosterone, the appetite-stimulating hormone leptin or the bonding hormone oxytocin may play a role.

Studies have demonstrated that high oxytocin levels correlate positively with high BMI, with overweight participants more likely to have higher oxytocin levels than participants of a normal weight. Women also have significantly higher oxytocin levels than men.

To make things even more complicated, the microbiome comes into the mix too. That’s the potpourri of trillions of microorganisms in your digestive system, which scientists have already described as an organ in its own right.

Studies show that people with a diverse microbiome are at a lower risk of obesity than those with a less diverse gut microbiome. You can influence the diversity of your microbiome with the food you eat. However, certain predispositions are set early on as a result of your childhood diet.

What you can do to stimulate your metabolism

Whether you start the new year with a little extra post-Christmas cushion is partly a question of luck. Of course, other factors such as age (your metabolism slows as you get older), possible thyroid disorders (such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis) and lifestyle also play an important role in metabolic health. Even so, there are some ways you can boost and benefit your metabolism over time.

1. Get your nutrition right to stimulate your metabolism

Hormones and genetics aside, eating a balanced diet is crucial for a healthy metabolism. First off, if your goal is to lose weight, you should never just blindly starve yourself. Instead of stimulating your metabolism, this will cause it to stagnate. Doing a guided fast, which can certainly give the metabolism a boost, is a different story.

Metabolism-friendly diets are high in fibre, consisting of several small meals eaten throughout the day. Your meals should be richer in protein than carbohydrates, and any carbohydrates should be as complex as possible e.g. whole-grain products. In addition, healthy fats such as those contained in nuts, and vitamins provided by eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, also promote your metabolism. According to a study in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, «Diets with low-energy density but high in nutrient diversity may be the key to promoting and maintaining optimal health.»

2. Get enough exercise

It won’t come as a surprise that if you want to get your metabolism moving, you’ll have to get moving too. Exercise converts the nutrients provided by food into kinetic energy, burning calories. It also builds up muscle mass; cells which are much more active and consume more energy than fat cells, even at rest.

Whether it’s strength training, endurance sports or just a leisurely walk, a by-product of your New Year’s resolution to do more exercise is a healthy metabolism. Studies show that even low physical activity totalling 1-2 hours per week reduces the risk of metabolic diseases later in life.

3. Reduce stress for a healthy metabolism

Stress, on the other hand, has a negative impact on your metabolism. While undergoing acute stress can cause you to lose weight, the opposite happens with chronic stress. A study examining the influence of stress on metabolism and energy balance confirmed as much.

This is partly because people under stress can be careless with their eating habits, paying less attention to the balance of their diet. However, it’s also because the release of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol slow down your metabolism.

If your body’s in a chronic state of fight-or-flight, it reduces all metabolic functions to the bare minimum. When this happens, burning fat isn’t a priority for the body. Physical activity, relaxation techniques or conscious breathing exercises can help combat stress and keep the metabolism in a healthy state of balance.

4. Get enough sleep

If you’re stressed out, you won’t sleep well. Healthy sleep, however, is an essential pillar of your metabolic health.

When your body doesn’t get enough sleep, it gets the energy it needs by eating more food, as demonstrated by a study conducted by Penn State University. In addition, a sleep deficit over several days (in the study, participants slept only five hours per night for several days) changes your insulin sensitivity, the body’s ability to obtain insulin from the pancreas and send signals to the muscle tissue to use available energy.

Study leader Kelly M. Ness explains, «Across a lifetime of exposure to short sleep, this could increase the risk of obesity, diabetes or other metabolic diseases.»

5. Your metabolism needs plenty of fluids

Finally, there’s one classic piece of advice that will never let you down. Getting plenty of fluids stimulates the metabolism, essentially providing the basis for a healthy body. This isn’t just common sense – it’s also backed by science. A study published in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research proved that drinking 500 millilitres of water increases metabolic function by 30 per cent. This metabolic boost was observed as early as ten minutes after drinking, reaching its maximum after 30-40 minutes and lasting over an hour.

The study’s authors concluded that people who consume the recommended 1.5 litres of fluid per day burn off around 200 kilojoules of energy per day. This seems to be a result of a nerve impulse triggered by drinking water. It increases thermogenesis (the formation of heat in the body through metabolic activity), increasing energy consumption.