From the day you are born, your body came with its very own unique fingerprint. Like this fingerprint, you gained your own unique metabolism.
Metabolism is in essence, your body taking what you put in it and converting it into energy. Keeping you alive.
For some, this may be slower than for others. The result is storing more fat. However, we need to learn to work with what we have. You can learn more about what metabolism is and how it works in our post here.
When you think of losing weight, people generally think of diets and physical activity.
With that in mind, most people do not realize that there are relevant behavioral changes involved. These behavioral aspects, play an important role in regulating metabolism. By regulating your metabolism, you therefore regulate your weight. This even plays a role in your immune system.
Indeed, we all may be born with a personalized metabolism, but that doesn’t mean that there are things we cannot control. By doing so we are making an impact of our metabolism.
Here are the 4 environmental factors that you do have control over that can improve your metabolism:
1. The Effects of Stress on your Metabolism
Let’s face it, life can be stressful at times.
When we feel stressed, most will admit that they don’t exactly take the time to ensure that we are eating well. The impact of stress however goes beyond this.
Like all things in our body, the outcome of a stressful event or situation, is a chain of hormonal reactions.
The “Stress Hormone”
Cortisol, is an important hormone responsible for the regulation of blood pressure, and a source of energy for the body.
It is responsible for stimulating carbohydrate and lipid (fat) metabolism. Additionally, it stimulates insulin for maintaining blood sugar levels.
But Cortisol has a darker side.
Dubbed the “stress hormone”, it is secreted in times of emotional or physical stress. This is disruptive to natural cortisol fluctuations in the body.
When experiencing a stressful event, make sure to mindfully take control of your cortisol levels. By doing so, you will help your body and mind distress.
In these situations you could go for a stroll, meet with friends, workout, or do some yoga. The key is to do the things your love. This will only yield results will be tenfold. You’ll not only feel better, beyond that, you are helping your metabolism to not be disrupted.
2. Sleep Better – Improve your Metabolism
There is a 1:1 relation between metabolic activity and sleep.
A study was recently published that found that 6 hours or less of sleep over the course of 1 week, shifted participants’ insulin response (to resemble that of a diabetic patient) and reduced the feeling of satiety.
With this in mind, when reverting back to 8 hours of sleep, the effect was reversed.
In addition to this, insulin and satiety was normalized once again. There’s no question about it, the research speaks for itself – disrupted sleep is related to weight gain.
Certainly, it is notable that stress and disruptive sleep more often than not, go hand in hand.
3. Improve your Nutrition
Research draws a clear conclusion when it comes to the role of nutrition and metabolism.
As discussed earlier, metabolism is the conversion of what you consume, into energy.
is your body taking what you put in, and converting this into energy. In particular, those with a slower metabolism, naturally store more fat.
It goes without saying that what you put into your body will have an effect on how you metabolize it.
Harvard University found that a high protein diet together with weight training, yielded a boost in metabolism.
Read more here, for more information on the top 6 foods to boost your metabolism.
3. Rev up your Metabolism with Exercise
There is good reason why people associate exercise with metabolism – the rumors are true.
Aerobic exercise of any kind (be it running a 10K or a Salsa workout class) burns calories. The more intense the workout, the more calories you will burn.
Exercise has a snowball effect. The more you do it, the greater the benefits, for your health, wellness and you guessed it, especially for your metabolism.
The next time you go visit a friend who lives on the fourth floor, try taking the stairs – every little bit counts!
Check out these 5 killer exercises to boost your metabolism!
In Conclusion…
You may have been born with a unique metabolism. In spite of that, there are things that you can do to take action, starting today.
If you are serious about living a healthy life and want to improve your metabolism, then you must look at the whole picture.
Take control of these environmental aspects — you’ll be increasing your success notably.
