Dr. Jonathan Schoeff, longevity medicine expert, on improving metabolic rate: “Movement is such a powerful tool”
It’s commonly believed that our metabolism slows after we turn 40, but that has been disproven. So, what is really going on with our bodies?
You’ve reached middle age and you start noticing that you can’t get rid of those extra pounds quite like you used to. Not to mention that you’re feeling sluggish and fatigued. So, what’s to blame?
Many people believe that their metabolic rate begins to slow after they reach age 40. However, that was shown not to be the case by a study in 2021. The findings published in the journal Science, that looked at over 6,400 people, found that between the ages of 20 and 60 metabolic rates remained stable regardless of sex. So, what is really going on with our bodies?
How to crank up your metabolism
Dr. Jonathan Schoeff, co-founder of The Longevity Lab in Colorado, dealt with this question in a post on Instagram. He says that “there are really two things we need to talk about. Number 1, muscle loss, and number 2, something we call NEAT.”
On the first issue he said, “muscle is the most powerful tool we have for anti-aging effects.” The reason behind this is that “muscle is an incredibly metabolically expensive tissue.”
“Because it controls, it regulates blood sugar and it consumes calories while even at rest,” Schoeff explains. However, the problem is that when you begin to lose this “most powerful tool” because of inactivity, “your body’s ability to use energy inefficiently goes right along with that.”
Muscle loss can begin when people are in their 30s due to physical inactivity. The rate of loss can be pretty significant, “upwards of 5% even 8%” of muscle mass per decade. Schoeff notes that your muscle mass “is the single biggest lever you can actually control.”
That brings us to the second issue, NEAT. The acronym stands for Non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which Schoeff says is “a fancy way of saying that movement is indeed medicine.” NEAT movement “can actually account for up to 2,000 extra calories burned per day,” according to research Schoeff says.
But what exactly counts as NEAT movement? “This includes things like walking, standing, going up stairs, moving around the house, even fidgeting,” explains the longevity expert. The process behind how NEAT helps with your metabolism is that “your day-to-day movement actually turns on a secondary pathway that brings GLUT4 or glucose channels to the surface of muscle cells.”
This removes it from the bloodstream, helping to regulate glucose “without even needing insulin.”
“You want to age gracefully? More muscle, more movement,” Schoeff concludes.
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