Metabolism peaks at age one and tanks after 60, study finds | Hacker News Reader

Metabolism peaks at age one and tanks after 60, study finds

bbc.co.uk

43 pointsgixo19 comments

Sadly, energy expenditure seems to correlate inversely with what's required. When I was a kid I was happy to sit and watch cartoons all day, requiring almost zero energy. But now that I need it...

True, zero energy expenditure but huge energy intake in the form of Oreos

A massive amount of energy is just used by the developing brains, so you are still using that as you watch a cartoon.

"The growing brain is likely the key energy sucker in little kids, says biological anthropologist Chris Kuzawa of Northwestern University. Kuzawa did not participate in this study, but in 2014 his team found that the brains of young children consume a stunning 43% of all energy used by the body."[1]

[1] https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/08/little-kids-burn-so-...

Is there some literature on how to increase your metabolic rate?

Increase your muscle mass

The short answer is lift weights (resistance training) to increase muscle mass and consume caffeine. Both of those will increase your resting rate metabolism.

Are there any other biological factors for weight gain in mid life?

I imagine it’s mostly down to lack of exercise and mental state.

Well, some conditions could probably cause it, but those are conditions are rare.

Considering obesity is headed towards affecting 50% of the population in developed countries, those conditions are not a valid excuse for the vast majority of people.

For this vast majority of people, it's lack of exercise and mental state, as you say.

I turned 43 today. I probably exercise more than when I was 23 and I definitely eat much more carefully - no processed crap anymore, no alcohol, very little sugar. My insulin sensitivity seems to be almost perfect (at least the graphs produced by continuous glucometer say so).

I am still a bit worse off around my waist than I was twenty years ago. Not dramatically so, but at least 4 inches, perhaps 6. With lifestyle like that, I would have been absolutely lean in my early 20s. Something subtle must have changed within.

Happy birthday inglor!

Dad bod is a real thing; I've heard explanations that relate it to the "parental stage" of your life. The body accumulates energy reserves for the sleepless nights & bouts of fatherly activities. Probably happens whether you have kids or not; a dad bod (to a degree) doesn't have to signal poor health. Just changing priorities.

FWIW, I haven't changed my weight or body proportions since I was 17, except a few cm in the waist. I turned 40 this June, two kids in.

I’m leaning more towards some chemical in our environment that is messing with our signaling hormones for hunger and satiety. There isn’t much evidence that people are getting less exercise than they were 50 years ago.

Among men? I would imagine lower testosterone levels.

Sadly, men get sterile if they start taking testosterone.

Citation needed, I see no mention of this @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen_replacement_therapy#A...

Aren't lower testosterone levels a result of lack of exercise and thus weight gain, instead of the cause of weight gain?

Testosterone levels naturally decline with age, but yes, exercise of course helps stave off the decline.

Could be both. Our bodies are made of feedback loops.

It's in the article:

"These findings would support the view that the obesity epidemic is fuelled by excess food energy intake and not a decline in energy expenditure."

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