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2021-09-27 01:30:07

Editor's Note: Dana Santas, known as the "Mobility Maker," is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and mind-body coach in professional sports, and is the author of the book "Practical Solutions for Back Pain Relief."

If you're middle-aged and have been slowly but steadily putting on weight for years, you've probably attributed it to an age-related decrease in metabolism.

Your metabolic rate is the rate at which your body burns calories to keep you alive and functioning. It's a generally accepted belief that as you age, your resting metabolism slows --especially over age 40. And if you are a woman in menopause, your metabolism slows even more.

Not true, says a new paper published in Science. By analyzing data from nearly 6,500 people ranging in age from infancy to elderly, the paper's authors determined that resting metabolism holds steady from age 20 to 60 before logging a decrease of less than 1% per year thereafter.

Further countering conventional wisdom, the paper cites no real differences between resting metabolic rates of men and women, even for menopausal women, when controlling for other influences.