10 Facts About Metabolism & How Your Hormones Affect Your Metabolism

A well functioning metabolism is our body’s own motor. Only when it runs smoothly can we go full throttle. The most important facts and tips on how to get your metabolism going.

In winter our metabolism is at its lowest point. Then we lack oxygen and light – both ingredients that boost our metabolism. But how does the metabolism affect our well-being? The processes in the cells that determine our metabolism and convert food into energy can run around or bump, run at low levels or at full throttle. “Just as there are cars with a lot of horsepower and those with a weak engine,” says Prof. Ingo Froböse, Director of the Cologne Center for Health.

The powerful sports cars consume a lot of energy even at traffic lights. And it’s no different for humans: If your metabolism is running great, you can take a bite to eat without it being reflected on your waist. But that’s not all: a well-motorized car also gets better away from traffic lights, so it has more fuel available. That’s why an active metabolism is the best guarantee that you feel awake and fit.

1. What exactly is meant by metabolism?

Metabolism encompasses the entirety of the biochemical processes that take place in the body – in other words, how it turns pasta into usable energy for the cells and incorporates the vitamins and nutrients it contains exactly where they are needed. The storage of excess energy in the form of fat is of course also part of this. All these processes are controlled by messenger substances, hormones and enzymes that make the individual reactions possible.

2. What exactly is the difference to circulation?

If you feel your heart beating when you start running, this is a sure sign that your circulation is getting going. But does that also mean that the metabolism is boosted? Yes, says Ingo Froböse. One can imagine the cardiovascular system as a supply company for the body that transports its goods (oxygen, sugar, fats, minerals, vitamins or even defence cells) by ship, i.e. floating in the bloodstream. If you stimulate your circulation, this means that the blood flows faster, so that the ships move faster and the necessary nutrients are more likely to be with the cells. The actual metabolism then takes place there.

3. Does exercise promote an active metabolism?

Yes and no. There are more and more studies according to which even athletes can have a high risk of illness. This is precisely when they spend a lot of time sitting – regardless of how often they go to training. According to studies, long periods of physical inactivity increase the risk of a so-called “metabolic syndrome”, the preliminary stage of diabetes, by an incredible 73 percent (!). More than six inactive hours a day generally means a 40 percent higher risk of dying within the next 15 years.

Once again, because it is so hard to believe, these effects apply to those who exercise regularly as well as to declared sports addicts. Unfortunately, the long hours of sitting every day cannot be compensated by the one hour in the gym or the 30-minute run in the evening, according to the important findings of the past years. Therefore, exercise is much more important in everyday life than previously assumed.

4. What does a day in an office chair do to me?

At the latest after a few hours in front of the computer, on the sofa or in the car, the metabolism completely shuts down. “Not only is the calorie consumption then very low,” says sports scientist Dr. Birgit Sperlich. “The fine control cycle of enzymes and messenger substances also comes to a halt.” The enzyme lipoprotein lipase, for example, is less active in motionless phases, which leads to a disruption of the fat metabolism and the muscles take up smaller amounts of fats (triglycerides) in order to burn them. In addition, the good HDL cholesterol is reduced.

The good news is that there is some evidence that it does not take much to counteract these effects. Just getting up only once an hour and walking up and down five floors not only consumes 600 calories more per working week; the study participants in Birgit Sperlich’s current study also felt considerably better with this.

5. Do I even have to jog or exercise muscles then?

That’s better. Muscles are even more important than many experts think, says Froböse: “The importance of muscles has been massively underestimated for decades. It is the most important metabolic activator of all.” Because even if you don’t use them, muscles consume about 30 times more energy than fatty tissue, depending on your training level. With more muscle, a few hundred additional calories can be burned per day, even without moving.

But muscles can do much more. It has been known for a few years that they produce and release messenger substances themselves as soon as they are used: the so-called “myokines”. Through these the muscles communicate with the rest of the body. The myokine “Interleukin 6”, for example, can boost fat burning and ensure that the hormone insulin works better again, i.e. that the cells absorb more sugar again. There is much to suggest that the proven positive effects of sport – it strengthens the immune system, prevents cancer, helps with diabetes, dementia or depression – are mediated by Myokines.

6. Why is it so important that the metabolism is in balance?

Because the totality of biochemical processes in the body is nothing else but our health. Only when all the messenger substances, hormones and enzymes that regulate the individual processes in the cells can actually do their job, everything runs smoothly. Otherwise the organism can get out of control. And it is precisely because the individual processes are so closely intertwined that one disorder leads to the next, as in the metabolic syndrome, for example: overweight is very often accompanied by high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar and blood fat levels, and the fat and energy metabolism “derails”.

Hormones also have a major influence on the figure: they regulate, for example, when the feeling of hunger sets in and determine where fat accumulates. And that’s not all: there is evidence that the savings metabolism caused by inactivity increases the likelihood of developing ovarian or colon cancer, just like gallstones or psychological problems. So it looks like a paralysed metabolism does much more than “just” ruin our figure.

7. How great is the influence of genes on metabolism?

How well the metabolism works is also determined by the genetic information that we carry in us from birth – about 30 percent, says Froböse, apart from specific genetic defects. By far the greater part can be influenced by lifestyle. “You can tune the metabolism upwards, but also down,” says Froböse. “Most people don’t know that, but think how much energy they convert is always the same.”

8. Can I influence the metabolism with my diet?

The biggest mistake is to starve. Just a few days can be devastating. “When the organism gets into a state of undersupply, it shuts down the metabolic activity of the internal organs as much as possible,” says Froböse. Such an economy mode uses much less energy. In addition, the body breaks down the biggest energy consumers – the muscles.

Reducing calories permanently is therefore extremely problematic: on the one hand, because the breakdown of muscle tissue further reduces the basal metabolic rate. On the other hand, because the economy mode lasts longer than the hunger phase – the result is the yo-yo effect. If you have already been on several diets, you should first check your basal metabolic rate (with a sports physician) and push it selectively. Better than starving is to lower the energy density of the food. After all, even low-calorie foods will make us full, if the amount fills our stomach.

9. How do I get the metabolism going?

Stretch is the order of the day! “Tensing and stretching the muscles immediately increases blood circulation and thus improves the supply of nutrients in the cells,” says Froböse. Another tip: Turn off the heating. After all, one of the most important tasks of the metabolism is to keep the body always about 36.6 degrees warm. The warmer we have it, the less he has to work for it by himself.

But the simplest trick is to take a deep breath. “Oxygen is a very important metabolic activator, the elixir of life for the cell,” says Froböse. Each individual needs it to prepare blood sugar and fats in such a way that muscles and other organs can use the energy. “When we work in an unventilated office, there is often just enough of it to supply the largest oxygen consumer, the brain, with sufficient energy,” says Froböse. The other body cells do not get enough, so they have to slow down their metabolism.

So: Go to the window more often or take a 15-minute walk. But in order for the oxygen to reach the cells, the body must have enough iron available. “Women and athletes in particular have an increased need, they should have their iron and ferritin levels tested once a year,” says Prof. Froböse.

10. Why is ferritin important?

Ferritin is a protein that binds iron and allows us to draw conclusions about how full the iron stores in the liver, spleen and bone marrow are. Often only the haemoglobin value is determined in the laboratory, which only drops when the iron deficiency is already severely advanced.

These hormones influence the metabolism

Serotonin

That’s what it’s there for: Serotonin triggers beautiful feelings. It is mainly known as a happiness hormone, but it also fills you up and helps you relax.

This is how you can influence it: Just take it in tablet form, that’s it? Unfortunately not, because serotonin does not reach the brain from the blood. You can only make sure that the central nervous system and the brain have everything they need to produce, especially enough of the amino acid tryptophan. It is mainly found in meat, milk, bananas (and chocolate).

Leptin

That’s what it’s there for: leptin, which is produced in the fat cells, is also known as the “satiety hormone”, because it inhibits the feeling of hunger. Unfortunately, this only applies to slim people. The more fat on the ribs, the sooner the hormone is released, but without the desired effect – experts speak of leptin resistance and suspect that inflammatory processes of the docking sites for leptin in the brain prevent its effect.

So you can influence it: Move! Physical activity reduces leptin resistance. It also makes sense to eat less sausage, baked goods and chips, because they contain a lot of saturated fatty acids. These probably promote the resistance.

Irisin

That’s what it’s there for: The hormone is one of the myokines and increases energy consumption by converting white fat into brown. Brown adipose tissue can burn stored energy directly into heat. For a long time it was assumed that only babies had such fat in order not to cool down. How does Irisin manage this? It activates genes in the white fat cells, which then take on the characteristics of the brown ones.

So you can influence it: Irisin, like all myokines, is released by the muscle when it contracts, in other words, when it’s needed. But that does not mean that you have to lift dumbbells. If you do without the elevator and come to work by bicycle, you are already boosting your irisin production.

Insulin

That’s what it’s there for: Insulin is released after every meal and channels sugar molecules from the blood into the cells. If more energy enters the cells than the body needs, insulin converts the excess into fat. Even more problematic: An excessive insulin release can lead to hypoglycaemia, where too much sugar enters the cells and too little remains in the blood. Some people then feel the low blood sugar level as an enormous appetite, especially for sweets.

This is how you can influence it: Keep your hands off sweets, sugar and soft drinks and go for whole grain products. This is because they contain complex carbohydrates from which the sugar is released with a delay, so that the body needs less insulin overall. And don’t eat between meals, because it prevents the insulin level from falling properly. A third tip: Chew slowly. Chewing stimulates the intestinal mucosa to form so-called Incretins – the body’s own messenger substances that slow down the emptying of the stomach and thus prevent excessive amounts of insulin from being required at once.

Cortisol

That’s what it’s there for: The most important stress hormone in the body mobilizes blood sugar from the cells and thus ensures that we don’t have to eat when we are under stress and still have plenty of energy. A sensible thing to do if, like our ancestors, you had to react to stress with flight or struggle. Today, however, we tend to be under pressure at our desks, and cortisol has become a real fattener: We rarely move and eat out of pure nervousness. The result: too much available energy, which mainly goes into the dangerous belly fat.

This is how you can influence it: Learn to relax – this lowers the cortisol level. The proven relaxation methods such as autogenic training or progressive muscle relaxation according to Jacobson are recommended. Sufficient sleep also helps, by the way, just like sport: regular exercise reliably reduces stress.

Growth hormone

That’s what it’s there for: The growth hormone also stimulates the formation of new body cells in adults, for example to replace rejected skin cells or repair damaged organ tissue. It also provides the necessary energy. And, very important for your body: it also determines how much fat the body stores. Too little growth hormone, in particular, makes for more dangerous abdominal fat. And that’s not all: a deficiency of this hormone reduces muscle mass and thus gradually reduces the basal metabolic rate, making it even easier to gain weight.

This is how you can influence it: Make sure you have quiet nights, because the growth hormone is mainly produced in deep sleep, which only occurs between about 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. Another tip: Eat a protein-rich diet. The protein building block arginine stimulates the production of growth hormone.