News + Trends

Misjudged constant: the metabolism in adulthood

14/4/2023

Translation: machine translated

"I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted and still not put on weight" - but as a new study shows, this does not necessarily have to do with a higher metabolism. This is because it remains unchanged between 20 and 60.

When we think back to "the old days", we like to reminisce about midnight kebabs in student flats and hangover breakfasts of crisps and cola. All this without damaging your figure! If you also have the feeling that your metabolism has deteriorated as you get older, I can reassure you: This is most likely not the case.

At least that's what an international team of researchers found out in a study. The study analysed the energy consumption of over 6,500 people between the ages of 0 and 95. It is true that it is higher in children and teenagers than in adults. But the surprising thing: It remains constant between the ages of 20 and 60.

4 stages of the metabolism

Of course, metabolism is always something individual that is influenced by genes or gender, for example. However, the research has also shown that it goes through four phases over the course of a lifetime

In an infant, the metabolism increases rapidly during the first year of life and peaks around the first birthday. It is then around 50 per cent higher than the energy consumption of an adult. It then decreases again, at a rate of around three per cent per year, until it settles at a constant level at around the age of 20. The body maintains this level until around the age of 60. Only then does the metabolism slow down again.

Clearly: it's all about muscles

So why do many people talk about weight gain over the years? The extra weight on the scales, which often creeps in from the age of 30 and is often attributed to a poorer metabolism, has more to do with life circumstances.

If you work a lot or have a stressful everyday life, you tend to spend more evenings on the couch. You often spend less time doing sport and exercise and tend to go shopping by car rather than on foot. It's not your metabolism that slows down, but your physical activity. The result: you lose muscle mass.

This is particularly crucial for a well-functioning metabolism. This is because many metabolically active processes take place in the muscles, as they burn the most energy - much more than fatty tissue. And this also happens when you sleep or don't exercise. Less physical activity therefore causes less muscle mass, which in turn results in a less active metabolism.

How to metabolise

What is bad news for those who don't exercise is, however, good news: physical activity is ultimately something that most people can control themselves. In addition to exercise, the following tips can also help to boost your metabolism: