What is Metabolism?
February 29th, 2008 -- Posted in New | 36 Comments »
Genetics
It’s estimated that 60 per cent of the speed of your metabolic rate is determined by your genes, as these control how much muscle you have in your body and how effectively your thyroid gland, which drives the metabolic rate, works. Studies on identical twins have shown that they have identical metabolic rates so, if your parents have a slow metabolic rate, so will you.
Gender
Men generally have slightly faster metabolisms than women, because they have lower levels of body fat and higher levels of muscle mass as part of their genetic make-up. this is important as muscle is what fitness experts refer to as metabolically active, which means that it actually burns calories to survive. This means that the more muscle you have in your body, the higher your metabolic rate.
Age
While male metabolism does slow with the age, the decline is greater for women. From the age about 35, the hormonal changes that occur in the female body to prepare it for menopause also start to affect the body’s ability to retain muscle. as a result, each year in the 10-15 years before menopause the average woman loses roughly 0.25 kg of muscle. after menopause , when hormone levels are lower. that loss doubles. This means that every decade women also see a fall in the amountcaloriesthey burnt each day.This slowdown is one of the primary reasons why weight gain often occurs in middle age.
