What Can Increase Metabolism?

Metabolism can be affected through nutrition and exercise. It is a process that is important for all life forms. It is a determinant factor in producing the energy required for various activities in the body. An increase in metabolism can be accomplished through eating adequately and stimulating muscle development.

Metabolism

Elmhurst College's "Virtual Chembook" defines metabolism as a chemical reaction of enzymes in the body that process food into fuel. Aside from converting food into fuel, metabolism helps the body to use this energy to do everything from moving to thinking. According to "Krause's Food, Nutrition, and Diet Therapy," metabolism can be affected by age, gender, weight and genetics. Age affects metabolism because the older a person gets, the slower the metabolism becomes. Gender affects metabolism as well, since men usually burn more calories because of the higher amounts of muscle that they have in comparison to women.

Exercise and Metabolism

When trying to boost metabolism, it is important to incorporate an exercise regimen that has a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercises. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends moderately intense aerobic exercises should be done most days of the week for at least 30 minutes, and anaerobic exercises should be done at least twice a week. Aerobic workouts are exercises that increase the heart rate and burn calories. Some forms of aerobic exercise are activities such as walking, running, biking and swimming. Anaerobic exercises are helpful because they build muscle mass. Muscle mass is important in metabolism since an increase in muscle mass causes an increase in metabolism. Muscle mass can be developed by doing strength or resistance exercises, such as lifting weights; using dynabands; and body weight exercises such as pushups or pullups.

Nutrition and Metabolism

Even though exercise can sustain an increased metabolism, nutrition still plays an important role. Eating small and frequent meals will keep metabolism high and burn more calories. When there is a lot of time taken between meals, the body starts to feel like it is starving, so in turn it slows the metabolism. To keep metabolism from slowing, make a point to not skip meals, have adequate portions of food and eat healthy meals.

Tips To Boost Metabolism

When starting a new exercise program, make sure to see a doctor before beginning. Some problems with metabolism may be the result of a medical condition rather than diet or lack of exercise. The best ways to increase metabolism are to get enough cardiovascular activity and do more resistance training, control food portions and eat more frequently. Although there is no clear answer to increasing metabolism, knowing there are things that can be done will make boosting it a lot easier.