Sitting too much can have negative effects on your health, partly because long periods of sitting burn fewer calories and can lead to weight gain. However, stepping rather than standing resulted in greater improvements to lower systolic blood pressure and insulin resistance.

If you have a desk job, try standing up and walking for short periods to break up the length of time you spend sitting down. You can also try going for walks during the day or invest in a standing desk.

In a study , researchers found that doing this resulted in reduced blood insulin and sugar. Sitting for a long time burns few calories and may negatively affect your health.

Try standing up or taking walks regularly or investing in a standing desk. Green tea and oolong tea help convert some of the fat stored in your body into free fatty acids, which may indirectly increase fat burning when combined with exercise.

However, some older research suggests that these teas do not affect metabolism. Therefore, their effect may be small or only apply to some people.

Drinking green tea or oolong tea may affect your gut microbiome, which may be influencing the way your body breaks down fats, but research is mixed. Peppers contain capsaicin , a compound that can boost your metabolism.

For instance, one review evaluated the effects of capsaicin at acceptable doses. It predicted that eating peppers would burn around 10 additional calories per meal. Over 6.

Alone, the effects of adding spices to your food may be quite small. However, it may lead to a slight advantage when combined with other metabolism-boosting strategies. Eating spicy food could be beneficial for boosting your metabolism and help you maintain a moderate weight. However, the metabolism-boosting effect of spicy foods is quite small.

Lack of sleep is linked to a major increase in the chance of obesity. This could explain why many people who are sleep-deprived often feel hungry and may have difficulty losing weight or may gain weight. In a study , researchers also found that a lack of sleep for four nights or longer may slightly decrease how the body metabolizes fat.

Lack of sleep can affect the levels of your appetite-regulating hormones and may slightly affect how your body metabolizes fat, which may lead to weight gain. Research has shown that caffeine can trigger the body to release neurotransmitters like epinephrine , which helps regulate the way your body processes fat.

However, this effect may vary based on several factors. For instance, one study found that caffeine was more effective at increasing fat burning during exercise in individuals with a less active sedentary lifestyle in comparison with trained athletes. Drinking coffee can significantly increase your metabolism and may help you lose weight if that is your goal.

They may explore underlying causes and offer you a tailored plan. Managing any condition that slows down your metabolism, like hypothyroidism , can help make other efforts more productive.

Jumpstarting your metabolism may also require you to change a few habits like a nutrient-dense diet with limited processed foods, regular physical activity , and optimum sleep hygiene that allows your body to rest and recharge.

You may also avoid doing things that slow down your metabolism like restricting too many calories or not doing any strength resistance training. Every body is different. Signs of a slow metabolism may vary individually but may include fatigue, digestive upset, not losing any weight despite your efforts, and easily gaining weight.

Only a healthcare professional may accurately assess your metabolism and the underlying causes of these symptoms. Restrictive diets may sometimes lead to a slow metabolism, among other health effects. Although for weight loss and fat burning you do want to consume fewer calories than you burn, your body still needs to get enough fuel and nutrients to perform body functions.

Instead of eating less, you may want to focus on nutritious foods and move more. Foods that boost your metabolism typically include protein such as meat, dairy, or legumes. Read more about the 12 best foods to boost your metabolism.

Learn about these and other foods you can eat before bed. To lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit. This means you need to eat fewer calories than you burn, or better, burn more calories than you eat.

You may want to focus on healthy eating habits while you consume enough calories to support your body functions. Consider reducing processed foods, sugar and alcohol intake, and saturated fats.

Resistance training and eating an adequate amount of protein can help preserve lean body mass. Muscle growth helps you burn more calories at rest. Making small lifestyle changes and incorporating these tips into your routine can help increase your metabolism.

Having a higher metabolism can help you lose weight and keep it off, if that is your goal, while also giving you more energy.

Try this today: In addition to trying the tips outlined above, you can also add more metabolism-boosting foods to your diet. Check out this article for a list of some nutritious foods that can support your metabolism.

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New research suggests that running may not aid much with weight loss, but it can help you keep from gaining weight as you age. There is some debate around the whole idea of whether eating breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper is really the secret to weight loss.

Instead of worrying too much about size, it's the type of foods you include on your breakfast plate that really has an effect on metabolism. If you want to fire up your system, a study found that you should factor in low-GL so low-sugar and high-protein foods at breakfast.

Think savory, and include some lean protein like chicken yes, for breakfast or eggs. When it comes to basic cardio HIIT not included , you only raise your calorie burn while you're active, but HIIT and strength training will keep your metabolism elevated for hours afterward, increasing fat burn for far longer than just the time you were working.

Your morning brew is very high in antioxidants, but also linked to excess cortisol and adrenal fatigue," says Kelly LeVeque, health coach. Take the beWELL approach: Enjoy a cup of brew in the morning and then stick to green tea throughout the afternoon. Since high cortisol levels caused by excessive caffeine are more likely to put extra weight around your waist, avoid all sodas and calorie-laden coffee drinks.

Increasing your fiber intake might aid in weight loss. How so? Well, Tanya Zuckerbrot, MS, RD and creator of the F-Factor Diet, claims that eating a diet rich in high-fiber foods boosts metabolism because fiber is indigestible.

There are two types of fiber: soluble, which takes on water as it's digested and helps you feel fuller for longer, while insoluble fiber simply passes through the system, helping us to pass our food. Most fiber has a combination of both insoluble and soluble fibers. Foods higher in insoluble fiber include wheat bran, beans, cauliflower and apples.

While soluble fiber is found in brown rice, oat bran and artichokes, among other foods. A healthy metabolism equals a healthy body, but metabolic syndrome can lead to diabetes and heart disease. Of course, exercise and a healthy diet will go a long way to prevent this, but if you're going through a busy period, and your workouts and healthy meals have taken a back seat, just make sure you're supplementing with the right micronutrients.

Certain vitamins and minerals have been found to support a healthy metabolism. While we can get these from a varied diet, it's worth padding your intake with a supplement sometimes.

Research has shown that fat soluble micronutrients, such as Vitamins A and E may be crucial for preventing metabolic syndrome. Vitamin D may also be key in preventing metabolic syndrome, and since we live in a country where the sun doesn't always shine, it may be worth taking this every day regardless of the merits of your diet.

As we have mentioned before, strength training is the key to burning more fat at rest in other words for raising your BMR.

Lean muscle is definitely your ally in raising your BMR. In fact, an older study found that weight-lifting increased calorie-burn for 38 hours after exercise.

As dietitian Su-Nui Escobar notes, "muscle burns more calories than fat at rest. Muscle loss occurs due to lack of exercise and it also naturally happens as people age. While cardio is integral to maintaining health, muscle is equally important. The key to maintaining muscle mass is to do strength training workouts, from weight lifting to pilates," Escobar says.

As you can see, it is not that lack of sleep reduces the metabolism but it makes it a lot harder to eat in a way that [leads] to a good body weight. Thus, if a person eats a diet with more protein and less fat, this person will use more calories.

On the other hand, if the diet is high in fat, it will take fewer calories to digest and absorb the meal. This is called the thermic effect of food. Studies have found that those who drink more water tend to burn more calories.

The U. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends that adult men get roughly Standing up is integral for those looking to boost their metabolism, as long periods of sitting equate to fewer calories burned.

In fact, research shows that breaking up long periods of sitting can help reduce health risk factors and may have positive outcomes on metabolism. It's easier said than done on work days, but investing in a standing desk or taking short breaks throughout the day — to stand up and move around — may help.

Avoid crash diets , which may cause your metabolism and your weight to yo-yo. Instead, make lifestyle changes like getting more sleep and taking on a workout and diet that are easy to maintain. While it might seem like a good idea to drop weight quickly via short but heavily regimented diets, those may cause your body to lose muscle and cause you to get rundown quickly.

Updated August 2, Kamada I, Truman L, Bold J, Mortimore D. The impact of breakfast in metabolic and digestive health. Gastroenterol Hepatol Bed Bench. Greer BK, O'Brien J, Hornbuckle LM, Panton LB.

EPOC comparison between resistance training and high-intensity interval training in aerobically fit women. Int J Exerc Sci. Goncalves A, Amiot MJ. Fat-soluble micronutrients and metabolic syndrome. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care.

Schuenke MD, Mikat RP, McBride JM. Effect of an acute period of resistance exercise on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption: implications for body mass management. Eur J Appl Physiol.