2531: It's My Metabolism - Honest! by David Cameron-Smith of LesMills on Physical Health & Nutrition

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Health Daily, Episode 2531. It's My Metabolism, Honest by David Cameron Smith with lesmills.com

[00:01:09] and I'm Dr. Neal, your host and narrator.

[00:01:11] Welcome back to another edition of Optimal Health Daily. This is where I read to you from some of the best health and fitness blogs on the web.

[00:01:19] Kind of like an ongoing audiobook. And don't forget we have a bunch of shows covering different topics.

[00:01:24] Check them all out by searching for Optimal Living Daily wherever you're hearing this.

[00:01:29] But with that, let's get right to the post and optimize your life.

[00:01:37] It's My Metabolism, Honest by David Cameron Smith with lesmills.com

[00:01:43] Feel like you can gain weight by just looking at a slice of cake?

[00:01:48] Can't put on weight no matter how much cake you eat?

[00:01:51] Could it be your metabolism? And how much at its mercy are you?

[00:01:55] How much is our shape and weight down to a slow or fast metabolism?

[00:02:00] The actions of exercise on body weight are often small, which can cause people to question their metabolic function.

[00:02:07] Somewhat counter-intuitively, larger individuals have greater resting metabolic rates.

[00:02:13] This extends to those battling with their weight. Why?

[00:02:17] Because muscle tissue requires the most metabolism.

[00:02:20] Bigger people generally have greater muscle mass.

[00:02:23] When metabolic rate is accurately calculated relative to the amount of muscle,

[00:02:28] the difference between people is within a range of only 2-3%.

[00:02:32] But scientific studies have also shown that many thin people move a lot.

[00:02:37] They fiddle, squirm, jiggle, bounce, and shimmy throughout the day and night.

[00:02:42] All this extra movement is technically called non-exercise activity thermogenesis,

[00:02:48] or NEAT, or NEAT.

[00:02:51] In simple terms, the extra energy used by unnecessary movement.

[00:02:56] Although accounting for less than 5% of total daily energy expenditure,

[00:03:00] it's enough to help keep the bulge at bay.

[00:03:03] So what exactly is metabolism?

[00:03:06] Metabolism is the total of all the chemical reactions that are taking place

[00:03:11] in every living cell of the body.

[00:03:13] It's our very own life source.

[00:03:16] Metabolism can be more precisely measured as the amount of oxygen that is burned by the body.

[00:03:22] Just like a fire, energy from food is combusted with oxygen

[00:03:26] to power chemical reactions, to generate heat and carbon dioxide.

[00:03:31] This is carefully controlled and unlike a fire,

[00:03:34] the rate of oxygen use is carefully managed by the mitochondria,

[00:03:38] the small specialist organelles found in cells.

[00:03:42] As well as fueling the body to provide the energy to keep cells functioning,

[00:03:46] to allow nerves to fire, blood to flow and muscles to work,

[00:03:50] metabolism also generates heat.

[00:03:53] This heat is also carefully controlled.

[00:03:56] Human life can only occur within a very narrow core body temperature range,

[00:04:00] 36.5 to 37.5 degrees Celsius.

[00:04:05] Above or below these temperatures,

[00:04:07] immediate life-saving efforts may be required to bring core temperature back up,

[00:04:12] in the case of hypothermia, or down, in the case of an extreme fever.

[00:04:17] So what is your metabolism actually doing all day?

[00:04:21] Metabolism changes depending on your energy demands,

[00:04:24] but here's the thing, most of your daily metabolic demands

[00:04:27] come from doing absolutely nothing.

[00:04:30] If you were to lie on your back in a warm room,

[00:04:33] the amount of energy used is known as your resting metabolic rate,

[00:04:37] and it can be as much as 70% of your total metabolic demand.

[00:04:41] Why is doing nothing so demanding?

[00:04:45] Because staying alive is an energy intensive process.

[00:04:49] In turn, this has a lot to do with managing the body's salt balance.

[00:04:53] All cells contain low and carefully regulated amounts of salt,

[00:04:58] but outside the cells, it's as salty as seawater,

[00:05:02] and as our cells are leaky, they spend a lot of energy pumping the minerals out.

[00:05:07] What causes metabolism to speed up or slow down?

[00:05:11] Your metabolic rate increases when you eat or move.

[00:05:15] Digesting food costs energy, so for several hours after eating,

[00:05:19] your metabolic rate increases by around 10%.

[00:05:23] Exercise that increases your metabolic rate by 20% to 30% such as walking

[00:05:28] can be sustained for hours.

[00:05:30] Going hard and raising your metabolic rate up to 600% to 700%

[00:05:35] can only last a minute or two.

[00:05:38] If you sit on the couch and don't exercise,

[00:05:41] the total metabolic demand might be only 10% of the day's energy use.

[00:05:45] But for elite endurance athletes,

[00:05:48] the intense physical demands increase their daily metabolic rate by 3% to 400%.

[00:05:54] Metabolism does slow with aging, but only very gradually.

[00:05:59] From our 40s onwards, there is a gradual reduction in resting metabolic rate.

[00:06:04] Most of this can be traced to the gradual loss of muscle mass.

[00:06:08] A tiny fraction is due to the actions of hormones such as testosterone and thyroid hormones.

[00:06:13] These hormones have their greatest effect in helping sustain muscle mass and function.

[00:06:18] There is another major factor that can slow metabolism, dieting,

[00:06:23] or any major type of energy restriction such as fasting.

[00:06:27] This is the body's way of preserving energy stores

[00:06:30] and is a vital evolutionary adaptation for surviving periods of famine.

[00:06:35] The downside is that it makes losing weight more complicated than simply starving yourself.

[00:06:40] Where do diet and exercise come into this?

[00:06:44] There are many claims for metabolic boosting foods and exercise strategies

[00:06:48] that target metabolism.

[00:06:50] While spicy foods and protein-rich meals have a short-term

[00:06:53] and small effect to speed up metabolism, there is only one thing guaranteed to really work.

[00:06:58] Exercise.

[00:07:00] The double boost of exercise, speeding metabolism and improving muscle mass and function,

[00:07:05] has many additional health benefits from improving blood pressure

[00:07:09] to reducing the risk of diabetes and heart disease to reducing the risk of cognitive decline.

[00:07:14] Building and sustaining an exercise regimen targeting fitness and power

[00:07:19] is the best strategy for giving yourself a metabolic boost.

[00:07:27] You just listened to the post titled,

[00:07:29] It's My Metabolism, Honest by David Cameron Smith with lesmills.com

[00:07:34] and I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:08:44] Do you happen to know which behavior results in the fewest calories burned?

[00:08:48] I'll give you a hint.

[00:08:50] It's between these two options.

[00:08:52] Option 1, watching TV.

[00:08:55] Option 2, sleeping.

[00:08:57] So again, which of these two options, watching TV or sleeping,

[00:09:02] results in the fewest calories burned?

[00:09:05] Ready for the answer?

[00:09:07] It turns out watching TV burns fewer calories than sleeping.

[00:09:11] This means that if we had fallen asleep on the couch while watching TV,

[00:09:16] we would have ended up burning more calories than if we had stayed awake

[00:09:20] watching that same show.

[00:09:22] Ah, the mysteries of life and the mysteries of our metabolisms.

[00:09:26] Oh, and by the way, when it comes to fidgeting

[00:09:29] and squirming more through the night,

[00:09:32] what today's author David referred to as non-exercise activity thermogenesis,

[00:09:37] some studies have found that just by fidgeting more throughout the day,

[00:09:41] we can burn up to 2,000 extra calories each day.

[00:09:45] So yes, fidget and squirm,

[00:09:47] but do be careful about irritating the person sitting next to you while you do it.

[00:09:52] All right, that'll do it for the Thursday episode.

[00:09:54] I hope you have a great rest of your day.

[00:09:57] And I'll be back here tomorrow for our usual Friday Q&A.

[00:10:00] So I'll see you there where your optimal life awaits.