According to Popular Science China: Experience tells us that middle-aged weight gain is part of the aging process. As we age, our bodily functions deteriorate and our metabolism slows down. Of course, middle-aged overweight and slow metabolism are inseparable, but it is not a sentence of metabolism that can be passed by.
When people reach middle age, why is the general figure getting rounder and rounder? Are there any health problems that we need to pay attention to?
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01
The culprit of middle-aged overweight
What is it?
There are many reasons for overweight, including both internal factors of the body and external environmental and social factors, let's start with the former. Intrinsic factors of the body mainly refer to a series of physical changes after middle age, such changes are very complex from the process and mechanism, but the general trend is that the metabolism becomes slower. However, to ask why people's metabolism slows down after middle age? Many people may not know the answer.
Physiologically speaking, the main reason for weight gain in middle age is a decrease in muscle mass. In particular, skeletal muscle, which accounts for 70% of the muscle mass, will be lost in large quantities. About 70% of the sugar in the blood after eating is absorbed by skeletal muscle, and if the skeletal muscle is reduced, these sugars will have nowhere to go, and the excess will be converted into fat.
When we were around 20 years old, muscles made up about 40% of our body weight. By the age of 30, muscle mass will decline rapidly, decreasing by about 10% every 10 years. That is, if you have 100% muscle mass in your 20s, you will drop to 80% in your 40s. This is not only because of a lack of exercise, but also because of changes in the body's biorhythms.
The decrease in the number of skeletal muscles causes the body's basal metabolism to decrease. The so-called basal metabolism, simply put, is the energy used to maintain life, and 60%-70% of our daily energy expenditure is consumed by the basal metabolism. Typical examples include breathing, the functioning of internal organs, and the maintenance of body temperature. While the brain and liver consume a lot of energy, it's actually the muscles that need the most energy.
In addition, the metabolism of bones and skin also slows down, resulting in an overall decline in basal metabolism. Basal metabolism peaks in people's teens and then gradually declines, especially around the age of 40. At this point, excess calories are converted into fat, which leads to obesity.
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02 Environmental and social factors
Let the middle-aged people be involuntary
In addition to changes in physical condition, the environment we live in and the social role we play also affect the fatness of middle-aged people.
A research paper related to overweight was published in March this year, which surveyed the weight and lifestyle habits of 1,800 middle-aged (36 to 59-year-old) men living in Saudi Arabia. The results showed that overweight generally occurs in middle-aged men of different races and nationalities, and living habits greatly affect the probability of overweight.
From these data, it was found that the lowest and highest nationalities with the lowest and highest probability of being overweight were Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, respectively, with figures of 41.0% and 85.1%, respectively, more than double the difference. In addition to racial differences, the number of years of life in Saudi Arabia can also have an impact on the increase in the probability of obesity. Researchers believe that Saudi Arabia's local climate and eating habits are the direct causes of overweight and even obesity.
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Research by British scientists points out that two-thirds of men over the age of 16 in England are already overweight or obese. In middle-aged people aged 35 to 63 years, the chance of obesity is as high as 31%. The study conducted a detailed survey of thousands of middle-aged men in the UK, and the results showed that for middle-aged people, due to the influence of workplace and family responsibilities, it is indeed involuntary for middle-aged people to adhere to good living habits.
Most respondents said that the time they have access to when they have children or get a management position at work has decreased dramatically, especially when they exercise regularly. In terms of diet, middle-aged men are often the main force in various social situations, and their social role does not allow them to adhere to a sufficiently healthy diet.
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While environmental and social factors sound a bit like excuses, it has to be admitted that the fight against obesity is a common conundrum faced by middle-aged people around the world. When we are no longer young and the body cannot effectively consume energy intake enough, unreasonable eating habits and lifestyles will naturally exacerbate the incidence of obesity. On the one hand, there is a lack of sufficient time to exercise, on the other hand, there is a lack of suitable conditions to control the diet, when the intake is always greater than the consumption, fat will naturally accumulate.
03 Middle-aged women gain weight
There are additional factors
Unlike men, the intrinsic factors that affect weight gain in middle-aged women are not only a decrease in basal metabolism due to a decrease in skeletal muscle, but also hormonal changes related to menopause.
Menopause in women is a period of about 10 years before and after amenorrhea, generally between the ages of 45 and 55. A range of symptoms such as poor physical health and emotional instability that occur during this period are called menopausal syndrome. Menopausal syndrome is caused by a sudden decrease in the secretion of estrogen, one of the estrogen hormones. The main symptoms of menopause are: sudden sweating, flushing (hot flashes), irritability, anxiety, fatigue, shoulder pain, dizziness and headache.
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Estrogen promotes fat burning, so when estrogen levels decline during menopause, the body becomes difficult to burn fat and it is easier to accumulate visceral fat. Estrogen also stimulates the satiety center of the brain, and because of this reduction in stimulation, women who have entered menopause are more likely to overeat.
Like middle-aged men, middle-aged women also face a weakening of the body's metabolic function, and eating habits and social roles also act on women. In countries with high rates of female labor force participation, women are increasingly taking on the same workplace roles as men and may have to spend more time fulfilling their responsibilities to the family. Therefore, women face no less weight pressure than men, but the disadvantages are more and more complex.
As the Chinese proverb goes, middle-aged people are "old and old and young", they are not only the pillar of the family, but also the core force supporting social development. Ensuring the health of middle-aged people not only benefits individuals, but also has unlimited value to families and society. Whether you are a middle-aged person or have middle-aged relatives and friends around you, you should pay special attention to your physical condition, check it out in time, and develop a healthy lifestyle. Regardless of whether you are tall, fat or thin, after all, health is our ultimate goal.