5 Ways to Improve Your Metabolic Health and Why It’s Important
Published on July 27, 2026
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5 Ways to Improve Your Metabolic Health and Why It’s Important
Discover 5 simple lifestyle changes to boost your metabolic health, control blood sugar, and reduce the risk of chronic disease.
Read MoreMetabolic health encompasses more than the speed of your metabolism, or how quickly you burn calories. It’s about how your body uses energy to breathe, move, heal, and function in general, and it plays a large role in your overall health.
Metabolic problems can contribute to health issues including type 2 diabetes, obesity, thyroid diseases, and heart disease. These can come about because of nutrient deficiencies, too many or too few calories, hormone imbalances, enzyme issues, medications or substances, and a host of other factors.
“Maintaining good metabolic health is therefore critical for overall long-term health and cardiometabolic disease prevention,” says Vallari Kothari, MD, an endocrinologist at Montefiore Einstein in New York City.
Here are five ways to improve your metabolic health.
1. Fill Your Diet With Protein and Fiber
When consumed in food, protein has a higher thermic effect than other macronutrients, which means the body requires more energy to digest and metabolize it. The body burns 20 to 30 percent of protein calories as part of the digestion process, compared with 5 to 10 percent for carbohydrates and 0 to 3 percent for fats.
A protein-rich diet also builds muscle, a metabolically active tissue. That means it helps raise the body’s resting metabolic rate so it burns more calories at rest.
Soluble fiber, found in foods such as apples, bananas, and oats, also can benefit the metabolism by slowing digestion and keeping blood sugar in check. One review found fiber can improve insulin sensitivity among people with type 2 diabetes.
Insulin resistance is a marker of metabolic dysfunction, so improving this improves your metabolic health overall, says Silvana Obici, MD, the chief of the division of endocrinology at Stony Brook Medicine and the medical director of the Stony Brook University Hospital Diabetes Center in Center Moriches and Lake Grove, New York.
2. Add Strength Training
Strength training can give your metabolism a boost by increasing your basal metabolic rate. Muscle tissue naturally burns more calories throughout the day than fat and other tissue in the body, even when at rest.
What’s more, you burn more calories after a rigorous resistance-training session as the body utilizes more oxygen to return to rest, a concept known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).
Strength training has also been shown to improve fasting blood glucose levels, an indication of how well blood sugar is being regulated. “Glucose control is a window into the body's metabolic machinery,” Dr. Kothari says. “When the body starts losing its ability to manage blood sugar efficiently, a process driven by insulin resistance, it is often an early signal that other metabolic systems are under strain, too, from blood pressure to cholesterol to how the body stores fat.”
3. Log Enough Sleep
Poor sleep may elevate levels of the hormone cortisol throughout the day. This can cause insulin resistance and encourage the body to accumulate unhealthy belly fat. Frequently running on little sleep also affects your hunger hormone ghrelin and your “feel full” hormone leptin, and makes you feel hungrier overall. Ultimately, the risk of metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes increases.
To avoid these negative metabolic changes, aim for quality sleep. Adults need between 7 and 9 hours each night.
4. Find Ways to De-Stress
A stressed body enters fight or flight mode, where it releases the hormone adrenaline and sends extra sugar to the bloodstream. This sugar spike can lead to issues with blood sugar control over time.
Blood sugar control is closely linked with metabolic health as high blood sugar can lead to type 2 diabetes.
Tactics to de-stress include:
- Exercise
- Deep breathing
- Meditation and mindfulness exercises
- Sharing what you’re going through with close confidants
5. Manage Your Blood Sugar
To further manage your blood sugar, consider nutrient sequencing, which calls for eating foods that the body digests slowly at the start of a meal, such as fiber and protein, before refined carbohydrates. This can help reduce blood sugar spikes.
Moving after a meal can also help. One small study involving healthy young adults found a quick 10-minute walk after eating lowered peak glucose levels and can help with blood sugar control. The muscles use the glucose from the meal immediately as fuel. “When muscles contract during walking, they act like sponges for blood sugar, pulling glucose out of the bloodstream and into muscle cells,” Kothari says.
The Takeaway
- Metabolic dysfunction is linked with several health issues, including diabetes, obesity, and thyroid issues.
- Optimizing your metabolic health reduces your risk for these conditions and improves your health overall.
- Lifestyle tweaks, including getting enough sleep, filling your diet with protein and fiber, strength training, de-stressing, and maintaining blood sugar control, can help boost your metabolic health.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
- Metabolism. Cleveland Clinic. November 20, 2024.
- Chen F et al. Joint Effect of BMI and Metabolic Status on Mortality Among Adults: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study in United States. Scientific Reports. February 2, 2024.
- Ravn AM et al. Thermic Effect of a Meal and Appetite in Adults: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis of Meal-Test Trials. Food & Nutrition Research. December 23, 2013.
- Keer L. Why Muscle Mass Matters and How to Keep It. Massachusetts General Hospital. May 8, 2025.
- Fiber: The Carb That Helps You Manage Diabetes. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. May 15, 2024.
- Mao T et al. Effects of Dietary Fiber on Glycemic Control and Insulin Sensitivity in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis . Journal of Functional Foods. July 2021.
- Restivo J. Can You Increase Your Metabolism? Harvard Health Publishing. July 1, 2024.
- Build Muscle to Help Reverse Prediabetes. UCLA Health. December 8, 2025.
- Molumphy N et al. How Sleep Deprivation Affects Your Metabolic Health. Stanford. August 12, 2024.
- How Much Sleep Is Enough? National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. March 24, 2022.
- How Stress and Depression Affect Diabetes. Cleveland Clinic. March 8, 2024.
- D’Ardenne K. Blood Sugar Response to Various Carbohydrates can Point to Metabolic Health Subtypes, Study Finds. Stanford Medicine. June 4, 2025.
- Does the Order in Which You Eat Food Matter? UCLA Health. November 29, 2023.
- Hernandez J. Eat veggies and protein first, carbs last through ‘meal sequencing’. The Ohio State University. August 21, 2024.
- Hashimoto K et al. Positive Impact of a 10-min Walk Immediately After Glucose Intake on Postprandial Glucose Levels. Scientific Reports. July 2, 2025.
Meet Our Experts
Anna L. Goldman, MD
Medical Reviewer
Anna L. Goldman, MD, is a board-certified endocrinologist. She teaches first year medical students at Harvard Medical School and practices general endocrinology in Boston.
Dr. Goldm...
Moira Lawler
Author
Moira Lawler is a journalist who has spent more than a decade covering a range of health and lifestyle topics, including women's health, nutrition, fitness, mental health, and trav...