Your Metabolism - What it Is and
Why it Matters
Now, this is not going to be a scientific article, but simply an
explanation of this thing we hear so much about.
The problem is, that even though we do seem to run into the word fairly
regularly these days, many people are just not sure what metabolism is
and why it matters. Even if they know WHAT it is and WHY it
matters, they often are not sure what they can do to improve its
efficiency and affect upon their lives.
At its simplest, your metabolism is plainly the speed with which you
burn calories.
Oh sure, there's more to it than that, but for this article, that's
what you need to know.
A second point is that a relatively high metabolism is usually good as
this helps keep our weight down and helps prevent some of the ills that
can befall us as we age.
The problem is, however, that as we do age, our metabolism tends to
slow down.
There are a couple of reasons for this.
One reason is that as we grow older, we tend to stop doing some of the
activities we did when we were younger. Our bodies sense our
change of lifestyle and make adjustments, including slowing down the
metabolism.
Another reason is simply that slowing of the metabolism to some extent
is built into the intricate system we call our body.
So, as we age, our metabolism slows and we become less
active. This means that we are burning fewer
calories. Unfortunately, we don't always change our eating
habits, and, even if we simply did that one thing, the decreased
activity levels of our older years would still be working against us.
Many of us also learn to enjoy certain foods we might not have had
access to before, and feel the need to take advantage of opportunities
to relax and kick back where, in earlier times, we would have been "on
the go".
Well, high calorie intake combined with decreased activity levels is an
equation which equals weight gain, as fat. To make it worse,
the natural slowing of our "resting metabolic rate", the basic speed
with which our bodies use calories, just compounds the
problem. We grow fatter with the years, and the fat we add to
our bodies helps accelerate the degenerative processes which come with
aging.
Additionally, becoming overweight can be the precursor of many diseases
and conditions at any age, but particularly in later years.
Cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, glaucoma, diabetes,
and many other debilitating conditions have already been linked to
being overweight.
There is a simple solution, and you may have guessed it by now.
Increased activity or exercise.
During any activity, the metabolism is elevated. This simply
means that while exercising, or gardening, we are burning extra
calories which helps prevent weight gain.
Even better is the fact that if we indulge in regular physical activity
or exercise, we can actually elevate our basic metabolic rate and help
burn excess calories even when we are NOT exercising.
Coupling regular physical activity with a sensible selection of
enjoyable yet nutritional foods can bring us to a level of health,
fitness, and weight which will help us live longer, happier, healthier
lives in the...dare I say it...LONG run.
About the Author:
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Donovan Baldwin is a freelance SEO copywriter residing in Copperas
Cove, Texas,
and a University of West Florida alumnus. He is a member of
Mensa
and is retired from the U. S. Army after 21 years of service.
In
his career, he has held many managerial and supervisory
positions. However, his main pleasures have long been
writing,
nature, health, and fitness. In the last few years, he has
been
able to combine these pleasures by writing poetry and articles on
subjects such as health, fitness, weight lifting, yoga, weight loss,
the environment, global warming, happiness, self improvement, and
life. His blog on health and fitness can be
found at NoDiet4Me.blogspot.com.
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