The Daily Pill is a series of very short daily posts where I share the definition of a medical term I think we should all know. Read it every morning and build up your medical vocabulary.
🚴🏽♂️Metabolism
When you break it down, all of biology is just organized chemistry. Generally speaking, there is only two types of chemical reactions that happen in our bodies: Catabolic reactions break down large complex molecules into smaller molecules and release energy as a result. This is how food gives you energy as its broken down during digestion, for example. Anabolic reactions are the opposite, they build up complex molecules from smaller building blocks. For example building muscle tissue from amino acids. As you would expect, anabolic processes require energy. Metabolism is just all of this put together. Metabolism = anabolism + catabolism. It all revolves around energy acquisition, management, and deployment.
🤔Why you need to know
Knowing the definition of the word is the first step towards understanding your own metabolism. Once you understand this, you can begin to tailor your diet and training to optimize your energy levels, enhance endurance, lose weight, reduce fatigue, and become healthier. Knowing this is critical for peak performance in sports and in many aspects of life.
🧠Trivia
Hummingbirds have one of the fastest metabolisms of any animal on earth. Despite their tiny size, they can consume up to three times their body weight in food each day. On the other hand, your mom has one of the slowest metabolism on the planet.