1. Turn down the temp.
Sleeping in a cool room seems to increase people’s percentages of brown fat — a type of fat that acts more like muscle, helping to burn other fat and increasing metabolic rate. Keeping your home or office cool during the day may also have a similar effect.
2. Drink coffee or green tea
A few small studies have shown association between caffeine consumption, increased metabolic burn, and a reduced risk for type 2 diabetes.
But don’t go overboard: Too many caffeinated beverages a day can cause nervousness, nausea or insomnia.
3. Keep stress levels low (or try to!).
Even if stressful situations don’t cause you to binge on fatty foods, your body may take longer to process any calories that you do eat. The stress response activates the hormone cortisol, which has been clearly associated with a worsening of metabolism and, in the long-run, increasing the risk for obesity.
4. Get a good night’s sleep.
Not getting enough quality shuteye has also been shown to slow metabolism in both men and women; this also may have to do with the brain’s secretion of cortisol when the body is under stress. And even if you hit they hay early, that may not be enough: Research has shown that broken sleep, when you’re woken up frequently throughout the night, isn’t nearly as restorative as seven consecutive hours. So on top of trying to crawl under the covers early, be sure you’re giving yourself enough hours to get the rest and recovery your body needs.
5. Pump some iron.
Any type of physical activity — even just walking for 30 minutes — can help speed up metabolism, (Anything is better than sitting for hours, which is one of the worst things you can do.) But the kind of exercise that works best to activate brown fat and rev metabolism is strength training.
By increasing muscle mass, we can increase our resting energy expenditure, which is what’s going to help you burn calories all day long.
Try adding some weights into your workout regimen and see if you notice a difference. Consider bigger lifts as well if you’re body is trained for it.
6. Snack on something spicy.
Capsacian, a molecule found in spicy chiles, has been shown to raise body temperature and speed up fat loss — although only temporarily, and only by a small percentage. There’s also some evidence that chemicals called isothiocyanates, present in pungent foods like spicy mustard, wasabi, and horseradish may help activate brown fat and speed up metabolic rate.
Source: dailyburn.com