This is how you raise your basal metabolism! 8 Ways Doctors recommended.

Madan Lal Sharma
6 min readJul 17, 2023

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Basic information you need to know to increase your basal metabolism

First of all, I will explain the basic information about basal metabolism.

What is basal metabolism

Basal metabolism is the minimum amount of energy required to maintain vital activity in an awake state. It is the amount of energy consumed per day even if you are still without any activity, and the general adult is about 1200 kcal for women and about 1500 kcal for men.

Gender and age differences in basal metabolism

As mentioned above, basal metabolism is generally higher in men and lower in women. Males peak at 1610 kcal between ages 15–17 and females peak at 1410 kcal between ages 12–14. After that, the basal metabolic rate gradually decreases with age.

can increase basal metabolism

Basal metabolism is affected by various factors such as muscle mass and constitution. You can increase your basal metabolic rate by exercising, building muscle mass, and following a healthy diet.

Raise your basal metabolic rate to avoid gaining weight

A higher basal metabolic rate = more calories burned per day. Even if you don’t exercise, you burn a lot of calories, so it can be said that “a body with a high basal metabolism = a body that is less likely to gain weight.” To prevent obesity and maintain the body shape of youth, it is effective to increase the basal metabolism.

How long does it take to raise your basal metabolic rate and what are the benefits of raising it?

Basal metabolism does not increase easily just by exercising for a few days. It is necessary to continue moderate exercise and a healthy diet over a long period of time.

By increasing the basal metabolism, the amount of energy consumed per day increases, making it easier to lose weight and lose weight. Preventing obesity also helps prevent lifestyle-related diseases.

9 ways to increase your basal metabolism

Here are nine ways you can practice to increase your basal metabolic rate.
There are ways to start right away, such as moving your body and improving your diet and hydration, so please try to start according to your own lifestyle.

1 muscle training

Among our organs, energy is mainly consumed in muscles, liver, and brain. Unlike the liver and brain, muscles can be increased by exercise, so muscle training is recommended to increase the basal metabolism. But you can’t build muscle in a short period of time. Start strength training as slowly as you can.

For example, a set of 10 squats, 10 knee push-ups, and 10 sit-ups. Do this 2–3 times a week with an interval of 1–3 days. Once you get used to this type of exercise, gradually increase the number of repetitions.

Points to effectively increase basal metabolism with muscle training

  • ・Start without overdoing it
  • -Move your body slowly
  • ・Do not train the same muscles every day (1–3 days apart)
  • ・ Gradually increase the number of times and load
  • -Strengthening large muscles such as buttocks and thighs

2 Stretch

Stretching has the effect of trimming the autonomic nervous system. Disturbance of the autonomic nervous system causes hypothermia, and when it becomes hypothermia, the basal metabolism goes down. When you wake up in the morning and stretch while basking in the morning sun, your sympathetic nervous system becomes dominant and your metabolism increases.

In particular, the muscles of the lower body have a role like a pump that promotes blood flow. By stretching the muscles of the lower body and promoting blood flow, you can expect to improve your metabolism.

Here’s how to stretch your thighs.

back thigh stretch

front thigh stretch

  • ・Sit with your legs extended, lean forward, and stretch the back of your thighs.
  • ・Sit with one knee bent, lean back, and stretch the front of the thigh.

3 aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise such as walking and jogging is a standard diet because it has a fat-burning effect, and it also has the effect of improving blood flow.

Start by walking briskly for at least 10 minutes at a speed that does not disturb your breathing (so that you can have a conversation).

Ideally, 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day, or 56,000 steps a week. Even if it’s difficult, get off one station before and walk, use the stairs as much as possible, and gradually increase the amount of walking in your daily life.

4 Yoga, Abdominal Breathing

By doing abdominal breathing like yoga, inner muscles such as the transversus abdominis work, so you can expect to improve your basal metabolism. It is effective just to consciously practice abdominal breathing, but in yoga, abdominal breathing is performed while maintaining various postures, so it is possible to stretch and strengthen the muscles of the trunk, which further improves the basal metabolism. Improvement is expected.

belly breathing point

  • ・Breathe in through your nose for 7 seconds while expanding your belly.
  • ・Exhale through your mouth for 7 seconds while pulling your stomach in.

5 drink plenty of water

Stay hydrated. Hydration improves blood circulation, so you can expect an improvement in your basal metabolism. Warming up your stomach with a hot drink like plain water activates the function of your internal organs, so plain hot water is recommended over cold water.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, an adult male weighing 60kg needs 2.5L of water per day. Of this, 1 L is made from food and 0.3 L is made in the body, so the daily drinking water requirement is 1.2 L.

To increase your basal metabolism, it is recommended that you drink a little more water than you need.

6 Eat food that warms your body

Eating food that warms the body is also effective. As I mentioned earlier, warming the stomach and intestines activates the function of the internal organs and can be expected to improve the basal metabolism.

Foods that warm the body include ginger, carrots, pumpkins, and other root vegetables that are in season in winter.

Also, protein intake is important to increase basal metabolism and maintain and improve muscles.

7 Adjust the intestinal environment

The gut is an important organ that is often referred to as the second brain. When the intestinal environment is in order, the basal metabolism tends to increase, and conversely, when the intestinal environment is disturbed, it has adverse effects on the body, such as a decrease in basal metabolism, a decrease in immunity, and constipation.

To improve your intestinal environment, eat fermented foods that contain good bacteria and foods that are rich in fiber, which feeds the good bacteria.

  • ・Fermented food natto, miso, kimchi, yogurt, cheese
  • ・Dietary fiber carrots, broccoli, spinach, sweet potatoes, fruits, etc.

Let’s also eat foods that contain protein, which raises the basal metabolism and maintains and improves muscles.

8 Bathing, bedrock bath

Raising your body temperature and adjusting your autonomic nerves are effective ways to increase your basal metabolism. Bathing and bedrock baths are effective in raising body temperature. It also relaxes the parasympathetic nervous system and helps regulate the autonomic nervous system.

What causes the basal metabolic rate to drop?

Finally, I will explain why the basal metabolic rate is low. Let’s prevent the basal metabolic rate drop by knowing the cause.

Age-related loss of muscle mass

As I explained earlier, the basal metabolism declines with age, but the main reason for this is the decrease in muscle mass due to aging and lack of exercise.

When muscle mass decreases and basal metabolism declines, the body tends to gain weight, but according to actual data from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, men in their 30s and women in their 40s are obese (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2). You can see that the percentage is increasing.

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Madan Lal Sharma
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