How to Improve Your Metabolism by Moving Your Body

How long do you plan to live?

And more importantly, what do you want to feel like as you age?

We don’t have to accept chronic aches and pains, poor energy levels, memory loss, and a loss of interest in life itself as we age…

And it IS possible to live a long, healthy life with abundant energy, confidence, a strong body, and mental alertness… 

So that we can still do all of the things that we are passionate about and continue to make new meaningful connections and memories with our loved ones as we advance into our mature years! 

But in order to achieve these things and live our lives to the fullest, we must have impeccable metabolic health so that all of our body works as efficiently as possible. 

You can eat all of the right food, get restorative sleep, and relax your mind, but in order to optimize your metabolic health, moving your body is still going to be necessary. 

In fact, muscle tone and muscle volume are excellent predictors of metabolic health. Having more lean, toned muscle on your body is an indication of a high performing metabolism. Of course the best way to improve your muscle tone and volume is to move your body regularly.

Movement is more than just exercising for 30-60 minutes a day… 

It’s choosing to have an active lifestyle and understanding how the systems of your body need to work together in order to work efficiently and effectively. 

Let’s take a deeper look at the elements of movement that help to increase our metabolic health.

Building Up Proprioception

Moving our bodies does not begin and end with the physical act of movement. There is a connection that must be established between our physical movements and our nervous system. 

This connection is called proprioception, or the feedback loop between our joints and our brain that keeps us from falling and injuring ourselves.

We build up our proprioception by practicing skills like balance and agility that require us to have an awareness of our surroundings. 

We use proprioception when we walk up and downstairs in order to maintain our balance, when we are throwing and catching a ball with our kids, and when we do practices like yoga which require us to shift our weight in order to hold a pose. 

Proprioception is of utmost importance as we age. 

When we are young and we fall, our bodies are more resilient and can recover quickly. As our bodies age and become more fragile, falling and injuring ourselves can lead to a whole host of other issues. 

Varying Types of Exercise

Of course, when talking about movement exercise immediately comes to mind. Moving our bodies on purpose just for the sake of building up strength, increasing flexibility and range of motion, and sweating out toxins is a great way to improve your metabolic health. 

Exercise is important, but changing up the kinds of exercise that you do is even more important. And beyond that, it’s equally important that you enjoy the activities that you choose!

Use this as an excuse to try out exciting new ways to move your body like yoga, weight lifting, walking, swimming, riding a bike… the possibilities are endless! 

Changing up the type of exercise that you do will improve all aspects of your movement like range of motion, balance, coordination, agility, and strength instead of relying on one type of exercise and only improving one area. 

Moving Throughout the Day

Throughout the world, there are regions called “Blue Zones”. These are areas with a high concentration of people who live to be over 100 years old. 

What do all of these “Blue Zones” have in common? These people live very active lifestyles and incorporate movement into their daily routines. 

In order to optimize your metabolic health, it is important to be active all day long. Now this doesn’t mean that you have to exercise every hour of every day, but you should be moving your body. 

A sedentary lifestyle will greatly decrease your metabolism and your health will suffer. It is essential for you to incorporate movement into all of your daily activities. You can maximize your daily movement by making better choices. 

Here are a few examples:

• Pick a further parking spot and increase the distance that you walk
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Walk or stretch on your lunch break
• Opt for a standing desk if you have a computer job

Take every opportunity to find new and creative ways to get in more movement and you will see your metabolic health improve… The best way to do this is to pick one or two things you can start incorporating into your daily life and have fun with it!

What is one way that you can start getting more movement into your day? 

If you are struggling with a sluggish metabolism, poor energy levels, brain fog, stubborn weight, sleep disturbances, and chronic aches and pains…

Then maybe it’s time for a new approach. 

Author: Sachin Patel

Sachin founded The Living Proof Institute as part of his own personal transformation. When he couldn’t find answers through conventional medicine he began to explore functional and lifestyle medicine and it dramatically changed his life.

Sachin has delivered hundreds of community workshops and his videos have been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people and his online posts have reached millions all over the world. He is an advocate for changing the healthcare paradigm and has devoted his life for the betterment of humanity.

Sachin leads by example and motivates others to take ownership over their own health. He is a passionate visionary that serves as both a teacher and a guide to help people create their best life and bring out their inner healer.