Refresh your cognition: The reason for gaining weight in middle age is not a decline in metabolism!

Time is a knife that makes us grow old faster.

Many friends who are over 25 years old will find that as they age, their brains start to forget passwords, their ears can't hear clearly, their waists and backs ache and their necks become stiff...

The person in the mirror is also gradually developing horizontally: the face is getting wider (cheeks are getting fatter), the belly is getting bigger (beer belly), and the number on the scale is outperforming the salary increase_(:з」∠)_

The cruel "middle-aged weight gain" has begun.

Why do we start to gain weight as we age? Is it really because our body metabolism is starting to decline? Can our increasingly plump figure be saved?

Recently, a major study was published in the well-known academic journal Science, and scientists found the answer!

Research: Metabolic patterns of humans throughout their life cycle

Image source: science.sciencemag.org

Ding Xiang invites experts to help everyone unlock the mystery of "middle-aged weight gain".

Metabolism slows down with age

It's a good excuse

Regarding the mysterious curse of middle-aged weight gain, most arguments in the past believed that it was because of aging and a slower metabolism.

To put it simply, as we get older, our bodies start to fail.

However, the latest research has discovered a painful and happy fact: energy consumption between the ages of 20 and 50 is stable and does not decrease.

Research has found that throughout a person's life cycle, the metabolic pattern follows a pattern of "increase-decrease-stabilization-slow decline", which is stable from 20 to 50 years old. The age when metabolism actually declines may be after 50 years old.

Image source: Literature

Nearly 100 international teams participated in this study, involving more than 6,000 subjects from 29 countries, covering almost all age groups: from 8 days old to 95 years old.

The research process was also very rigorous. This study applied precise "doubly labeled water" technology, which is considered to be the "gold standard" for measuring daily energy consumption of the human body in a free-movement state outside the laboratory.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand it. The key is: the research is reliable and the conclusions are credible.

Your body's energy processing doesn't change much between when you're 50 and when you're 20. You're still the same teenager. Are you surprised?

Tragically, this also means that middle-aged weight gain has really nothing to do with your body (age).

Wait! In real life, many people really can’t gain weight when they are young, but their waistline and weight increase rapidly after they are over 30. This doesn’t make sense!

If it's not because my metabolism slows down with age, then what else could be the excuse? It can't be that the scale is lying...

Don’t worry, the latest research provides a very important reason.

The man behind middle-aged obesity is

Not moving

If there is any difference between 30 and 20, the biggest difference is that after 20, the amount of exercise decreases year by year.

A simple and rough summary: I’m too lazy to move.

The scientists strapped accelerometers to the subjects. The magic of this accelerometer is that all your movements and activities, from brushing your teeth, washing your face, and going to the toilet to running five kilometers outside, will be recorded by this small electronic click. The results show that:

The amount of exercise has dropped dramatically! In terms of the energy consumed by physical activity, people over 30 years old consume nearly 20% less energy than those in their 20s.

The total number of steps and moderate to heavy physical activity at different ages are relatively stable for people aged 20 to 30, but they decline sharply after the age of 30.

Image source: Literature

Research has estimated that if people maintain the same amount of exercise in middle age as they did in their youth, their total energy consumption rate will not decrease. In other words, it is unlikely that they will gain too much weight.

But in reality, it’s really hard to keep the amount of exercise constant…

Looking back on my youthful years, I used to play ball, run, take physical education classes, go shopping, sing karaoke, ride a bicycle, and stroll around the playground with my partner all night long.

Look at the present, throwing away the garbage is the biggest exercise of the day, clicking a like is also considered physical activity, and the farthest distance in the world is struggling from bed to the company.

The latest data from the World Health Organization shows that more than a quarter of adults worldwide do not meet the global recommendations for exercise, which is at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, which translates to less than 20 minutes of exercise per day.

Life lies in movement, and fat comes from inactivity. Only you and WeChat Sports know how many steps you take every day.

But that’s not the whole story.

The pressure of life

It is a catalyst for middle-aged weight gain

Although being too lazy to move is indeed one of the reasons for gaining weight, many realistic factors also make it impossible for people to become more diligent.

Office workers sit for 8 hours at a time at work, and when they get home every day, they just want to lie down; those who have children at home are busy helping their children with their homework after get off work, which makes them so angry that their heart rhythm becomes irregular.

Being busy with work and family has become the norm for most "middle-aged people", with bald heads and loose bellies, bloated middle parts, late bedtimes and early rises, and irregular meals.

Where is the time to exercise? Where is the time to prepare a well-balanced lunch and dinner?

If you don't have time to cook, then order takeout.

How can you move if you haven't finished your work?

Treat yourself to a big meal during the holidays

Keep your mouth shut and move your legs? — I'd better wait until I'm full and have enough sleep before I do that!

Stress, staying up late, and various emotional problems all make the problem of gaining weight worse.

To sum up, my friends, the truth behind the new excuse for gaining weight in middle age is:

No time for exercise but time for eating, in short:

Too busy at work 🙂

Okay, okay, let’s get serious, stop sighing first.

This new research is actually good news: energy expenditure is stable between the ages of 20 and 50, which proves that we are still young.

Experts collaborating on this article

Experts who reviewed this article

References

[1] Herman Pontzer, Yosuke Yamada, Hiroyuki Sagayama, et al. Daily energy expenditure through the human life course. Science. 2021.

[2] https://www.who.int/zh/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity

Planning and production

Planning: Murphy | Producer: Feidi

Cover image source: ZCOOL Hailuo

Source | Dingxiang Doctor