5 Simple Tips for Boosting Your Metabolism

Many things change as we get older. While many of these changes are for the better, we know that our metabolism is not one of them. 

We often associate the speed of our metabolism with age– as the number of birthdays that we celebrate increases, our metabolic rate decreases. This is true, but age is not the sole determining factor of our metabolic rate. In fact, there are quite a few things that we can do to boost our metabolism, regardless of the amount of time that we have spent on this Earth. 

SLEEP 

Sleep is the answer to countless obstacles that we may face in our health and fitness journey, including our metabolism. Sleep deprivation can have long-lasting, negative effects on your metabolism, amongst other things. Ensuring you get sufficient sleep each night and wake up well-rested is a simple way to prevent a decrease in your metabolic rate as you get older. 

HYDRATION 

Like sleep, proper hydration is a solution to many challenges that we may face in our health and fitness journey. While water is good for you in nearly any form, it can be even more beneficial to your metabolism to drink more cold water, green tea, and oolong tea, each of which will keep you hydrated and help to boost your metabolic rate!

PROTEIN 

Believe it or not, eating food can boost your metabolism for a short period of time (up to a few hours after you eat). This is called the Thermic Effect of Food or TEF. While simply eating puts TEF into play, the consumption of protein causes the greatest increase in TEF in your body, meaning you will experience a heightened boost to your metabolic rate. So, ensuring that you eat protein at every meal is an easy way to simultaneously ensure that your metabolism will be that of a higher rate throughout the day!

MEDIUM-CHAIN FATS 

You may have heard of medium-chain and long-chain fats. They are saturated fats, each with their own health benefits. Medium-chain fats have been found to boost your metabolic rate more than that of long-chain fats. So, next time you take to the kitchen, switch out your standard cooking oil and butter for coconut oil, a saturated fat that is relatively high in medium-chain fats. 

HIGH-INTENSITY WORKOUTS 

Any movement, even standing, is beneficial for your metabolism. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is at the top of this list, allowing your body to burn calories for significant amounts of time post-workout while also boosting your metabolism and promoting fat loss.