by Sofia Moreau

Contrary to the conventional wisdom of shedding extra pounds to stay healthy, more and more health pundits profess the need to shift focus to your metabolic fitness. This scientifically grounded wellness approach allows for greater understanding of your metabolic age, assessing how it’s calculated and managed to transform your health completely.

The prevalent urgency to shed weight heightened this year due to recent findings indicating a correlation between healthy weight and higher survival rates against the novel coronavirus. However, mere desire to lose weight is lacking enough motivation. Seeking holistic health is a more compelling and healthier approach, which is where your metabolic age comes into play.

Defining Metabolic Age

So, what is metabolic age all about? It essentially refers to the number of calories your body consumes while in a resting state, also known as the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your BMR comparison with the average BMR of others in your age bracket defines your metabolic age, reflecting your overall fitness, wellness, and strength.

Though your BMR indeed influences your weight, as a higher BMR corresponds to increased calorie-burning capacity, your metabolic age offers a more well-rounded understanding of your health than just a number on the scales. Nutritional therapist Hannah Braye elucidates, “Your metabolism heavily affects ageing and lifespan. Metabolic processes support various bodily functions, including neurological and cardiovascular health, immune cells, and tissue repair.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has conditioned us to ponder the implications of chronological versus metabolic age on health. According to fitness expert Lyndsey Forfar, “Two individuals with the same chronological age can have vastly diverging metabolic ages conditioned by their diet and workout regimens. A metabolically younger person would have a higher BMR owing to healthier lifestyle habits as opposed to a more sedentary lifestyle.” In essence, understanding and improving your metabolic age is cardinal to maintaining vigorous health as you age.

Calculating Metabolic Age

Estimating your BMR is crucial to calculate your metabolic age: 655.1 + (9.563 x weight in kg) + (1.850 x height in cm) – (4.676 x age). Sport and Human Performance expert Andy Hawkey says, “After calculating your BMR, it can be compared to the average BMR for people of the same age. You can then work out your metabolic age. A metabolic age younger than your chronological age generally translates into better health.”

Fortunately, modern body composition analyzers can provide BMR, metabolic age, and other health-related details, including visceral fat levels. These insights help decipher a more holistic picture of health. Hawkey mentions, “Knowing factors like body composition, waist circumference, blood pressure, and oxygen utilization efficiency are necessary. Even though metabolic age does not account for body composition differences, it helps gauge our health status, inspiring us to adopt healthier lifestyles.”

Tips to Reduce Your Metabolic Age

Now that you’re armed with knowledge of your metabolic age, you may be wondering how to bring it down and boost your health and fitness. Our wellness experts have assembled an array of strategies to reduce metabolic age and improve health. Here are ways to influence your metabolic age:

1. Everyday physical activity: Exercise not only consumes calories while performing but also amplifies your BMR, burning calories during rest, says Prof Hawkey. Things such as stair climbing, standing at your desk contribute. Being stationary for extended periods adversely impacts blood glucose and insulin levels, metabolic risk factors.
2. Resistance training: Building muscle mass burns more calories during rest, increases BMR, hence, reduces metabolic age. Incorporating weightlifting into your routine improves muscle mass, strength, and bone density.
3. Healthy sleeping habits: Lack of proper sleep can hinder metabolism. A consistent sleep-wake routine is necessary to maintain metabolic health.
4. Manage gut health: Emerging insights suggest gut microbiota can influence metabolic health, obesity, and other disorders. A balanced diet and supplements can ensure healthier gut microbiota and improve metabolic age.
5. Intermittent fasting: Consuming less processed food, manageable portions and, lean proteins along with whole carbohydrates are foundations of a healthy diet that impacts metabolic health.

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