Send your body signals to speed up your metabolism

For more information on Fastercise, you can visit Fastercise.com.  Today we’re going to discuss ways to send your body signals to speed up through exercise. The premise behind Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome is that

• Under conditions of stress and starvation the metabolism will slow down as a coping mechanism.
• This helps people survive famine and other stressful circumstances of deprivation.
• But it also prevents them from being as productive as they could be.
• On the other hand, in times of plenty, the body needs to speed up to normal in order to be able to work, protect, and provide successfully for itself.

For example, in times of famine the body benefits from slowing down to conserve energy, but in times of war or predators the body benefits from speeding up and having a fast metabolism. In a famine, people with fast metabolisms would be the first to starve. Perhaps famines are one thing that have kept the metabolisms in our populations from being too fast. During war, people with slow metabolisms might be among the first to be defeated. Perhaps wars are one thing that have kept the metabolisms in our populations from being too slow. But now, with modern medicine, a lot of people that would have died in infancy, or from illness, are being kept alive. Might this partially explain why so many people in the U.S. have slow metabolisms these days?

If these thoughts are accurate, what can we do to signal our bodies to speed up? We need to send our bodies the signal that there is no famine (by staying only a little hungry by eating the right foods on a frequent basis). And, we need to send our bodies the signal that it’s time to speed up and be productive. What would we do if a tiger was chasing us? Likely, we’d run…and not just run…but we’d likely run AS FAST AS WE CAN.

The metabolism is literally how fast the body moves. With practice, the body can improve at almost anything. With practice, the body can get better at moving faster. For this purpose, I like to recommend a method of exercise I call “Fastercise.” It involves trying to get our bodies to move AS FAST AS WE CAN. That’s the whole secret. It works best when we strive to get our bodies to move AS FAST AS WE CAN (without hurting ourselves). Some people get upset at this notion saying that it goes against all prevailing thought about exercise and that people will hurt themselves if they try it.

What I’m suggesting is not at all dangerous when done within reason (but if you have any concerns about your ability to exercise without harming yourself, you should consult your physician). Let me give you an example exercise so you can see what I mean. Would you be willing to do ONE MINUTE of exercise with me while you are sitting at your computer? Get where you can see a clock. Do this now for one minute (set a timer if you can that will go off automatically).

First, open your hands as indicated in the picture above.

Now, close your hands like this…

Now open your hands again, and close, and open, and close, open, close, open, close. And keep doing that for just one minute. Only try to open and close your hands faster, and faster, and faster, until you are going AS FAST AS YOU CAN. Picture this is an emergency and there is a tiger chasing you and you have to go as fast as you can to escape. The faster you go, the stronger the signal you are sending to your body. “Women and children first!” Faster, faster, faster, as fast as you can… the faster you go the better it will work. Your arms will burn…that’s ok…faster…The whole secret is to go as fast as you can…you want exclamation points flying out of your head! This is an emergency! Faster, faster!. Go as fast as you can without hurting yourself. Your arms will likely be sore tomorrow….from just this ONE Minute of exercise! How’s that feel? Were you able to make it a whole minute? Isn’t it amazing how much of an effect you can get in one minute. Don’t forget, the secret is, not just fast…but ….as fast as you can. That’s what really makes the difference.

There are many similar fastercises that you can do without hurting yourself, like short flexes of your arms and legs, abdomen, and shoulders. In 5 minutes a day you can do a substantial amount of good for your muscles and metabolism.

Similarly, you can do cardiovascular exercise to get your heart rate up. For such exercise it’s good to stretch and warm up some and then increase the speed of your running or jumping rope or swimming gradually to very fast (if possible, as fast as you can without hurting yourself) for a minute or so and then slowing back down again to catch your breath and cycling through that a few times.

Sleep tends to bring the metabolism slower so it’s best to exercise and get your heart rate up in the morning so that your metabolism stays faster longer during the day.

Best Always!
Denis Wilson, MD