Losing weight is a perpetual concern for many people, especially for mature-aged adults. One reason is because of the natural slowing down of their metabolism.

Metabolism, or your metabolic rate, refers to the set of chemical reactions responsible for the breaking down and creation of energy that sustains life. It is the rate that the body burns calories, and therefore, plays a major role in weight management or weight loss.

As we age, we tend to gain more fat and lose muscles in our bodies. This is mostly because we do less of the activities that burn energy, we are simply less active than we used to be. Muscle cells require more energy than fat cells because muscle cells are ‘active’ cells to a degree even when idle.

Fat cells however are mostly inert and are simply for storage. People with more muscle in their bodies, therefore, have a faster metabolism, and with more fat cells, the slower the metabolism gets. Continue reading →

How a poor body posture affects our physical health may not be entirely new to you. Most of us understand that slouching can lead to poor digestion or back pain, or that sitting for long periods can put us at a higher risk for cardiovascular diseases.

We have long been aware of how a sedentary lifestyle can have such a negative impact on our health, and why physical activity is encouraged regularly. We also notice that when we feel emotionally low, our posture is often affected.

But many people do not consider the importance of how our posture can also affect our mental health and wellbeing.

This has great implications for giving us the means to positively influence our mental state by the way we choose to carry our bodies. The mind is totally synched to the body, making our body posture crucial to our mental state. It then makes sense why we say “stand tall and chin up,” when we encourage or motivate someone. Continue reading →