It's always nice to get good news about aging. Typically, people don't think there's anything good to say about metabolism and aging, however. In reality there's a lot of good news. Although there's some decrease in metabolism that naturally occurs with aging, most of the slowdown is not due to nature but rather to changes in lifestyle.
An Important Fact About the Human Body and Metabolism
People have evolved bodies that are great at storing fat. This is supposed to be a good thing and came in handy when people had to work hard to find food. When they didn't know where their next meal would come from, their bodies helped out by slowing down metabolism if the person was starving, and readily stored fat, during a feast in preparation for the next famine. In a highly developed country, however, most people do not have to work hard to obtain food. This life-saving skill of efficiently storing fat and slowing metabolism is rarely needed today. Now, instead, it can be a handicap creating high rates of obesity.
How Metabolism Changes as People Age
Until adolescence, boys and girls are fairly comparable in their leanness and are similar in their level of activity. However, something interesting happens around adolescence that starts setting them apart with respect to body fat and metabolism. Girls begin to be less active in their teen years while boys continue to be relatively active through such things as sports and other outdoor activities. Most girls begin to become more interested in things that require little activity. In other words, their lifestyle begins to change to one that is less active. With less activity comes reduced metabolism and more fat storage.
Most boys eventually change their lifestyle, also. They go from engaging in sports to watching sports, for example. They, too, become less active as they get older, but usually at a later age. The people (regardless of sex ) who continue to stay active throughout their lives will gain the least fat.
It's true that as we age, we tend to lose some muscle and muscle has a lot to do with metabolism. The more muscle a person has, the more calories or energy it takes to maintain that muscle. That means that the more muscle a person has, the more they can eat without storing fat. Muscle burns fat. That's one of the reasons why men tend to lose fat more rapidly than women - they have more muscle. As people age, they lose muscle (which slows metabolism) primarily from inactivity. Therefore, exercise, including muscle building exercise. is important to keep metabolism high as people get older.
What's the Good News About Metabolism and Aging?
Today, there are many things that contribute to people becoming less active as they age. The dependency on cars to get around has created a society that drives even short distances when walking is possible. Entertainment consists mostly of sedentary activities such watching movies and playing video games. Socializing typically revolves around eating and chatting.
The good news is that a person has a lot of control over their metabolism. Aging is not a death sentence for metabolism. On the contrary, most of a person's metabolism can be controlled through maintaining an active lifestyle including regular exercise that builds muscle.
Even if there is some natural slowing of metabolism with aging, a person can have an efficiently fat-burning body throughout their life simply by staying active.
Source: "Slow Burn: How Aging Affects Metabolism" by Marin Gazzaniga for MSN Health & Fitness
Lavinia Rodriguez - Lavinia Rodriguez, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist with over 30 years experience helping people with food and eating problems, and eating ...
