While there may not be a single definition, metabolic health generally refers to your body’s ability to efficiently utilize food for energy. By prioritizing metabolic health, you can lower your risk of a range of metabolic diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
Unfortunately, the U.S. is currently in a metabolic health crisis: Only about 12% of Americans are considered metabolically healthy. But it’s possible to get back on track and even reverse signs of metabolic syndrome.
Below, find the clinical definition of metabolic health, benefits of being metabolically healthy, and how to take control of your metabolic health through lifestyle changes.
What is Metabolic Health?
Metabolic health reflects how efficiently your body converts food into energy and maintains overall balance. It’s influenced by a combination of lifestyle factors—like diet, exercise, sleep, and stress—along with genetics, age, and environment.
Clinically, metabolic health is sometimes defined as the absence of metabolic syndrome. However, a broader view suggests that being metabolically healthy signifies not just the lack of disease, but a strong foundation for long-term wellness.
You may wonder if metabolic health is the same as metabolism—your body’s process of breaking down food into energy. They’re related, but not identical. While metabolism focuses on how efficiently your body converts food into fuel, metabolic health refers to the state of your body’s energy balance and overall function.
The Clinical Definition of Metabolic Health
From a clinical perspective, metabolic health is defined as having five key measurements within a healthy range—including waist circumference, fasting blood glucose, systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, and HDL (“good”) cholesterol.
On the other hand, if your measurements meet three out of the five criteria below, it may mean you’re at risk for metabolic syndrome, also known as insulin resistance syndrome. This condition affects one in three Americans and significantly increases the risk of developing type II diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
- Waist circumference: ≥102 cm (≥40 in) in men and ≥88 cm (≥35 in) in women
- Fasting blood glucose: ≥100 mg/dL
- Systolic blood pressure: >120 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure >80 mmHg (depending on age)
- Triglycerides: >150 mg/dL
- HDL cholesterol: <40mg/dL in men, and 50mg/dL in women
Metabolic Risk Factors
Causes of metabolic syndrome can vary, and include risk factors both within and out of your control. Risk factors you can control include lifestyle habits such as being inactive, poor sleep, or an unhealthy diet, as well as smoking and drinking alcohol.
Other factors outside your control may include your age, gender, family history, environment, and other medical conditions.
Signs Your Metabolic Health Needs Attention
Often, early signs of metabolic dysfunction are subtle and easy to overlook. You don’t have to wait for a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome to recognize that your body might need more support. Paying attention to how you feel day-to-day can offer valuable clues about your metabolic health.
Common signals that your metabolic health may need attention include:
- Low energy or excessive fatigue: Feeling sluggish or tired, even after a full night’s sleep, can point to inefficient energy production at the cellular level.
- Frequent sugar cravings: Constant cravings for sweets and refined carbs may indicate blood sugar instability and reduced insulin sensitivity.
- Difficulty losing weight despite healthy habits: If you’re eating well and exercising but still struggling to lose weight, insulin resistance could be interfering with your metabolism.
- Persistent inflammation: Signs like joint pain, skin issues, or frequent illnesses can be linked to chronic low-grade inflammation, a hallmark of poor metabolic health.
- Poor sleep quality: Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up feeling groggy can reflect imbalances in glucose regulation and hormonal health.
- Mood swings or brain fog: Fluctuating blood sugar levels can affect neurotransmitter production, leading to irritability, low mood, or trouble concentrating.
- Increased waist circumference: Central fat accumulation around your midsection is a physical sign that often correlates with metabolic dysfunction.
- Frequent hunger or irregular appetite: Feeling hungry soon after eating or experiencing sudden drops in energy may indicate impaired glucose and insulin function.
Recognizing these early warning signs allows you to take proactive steps to support your metabolic health.
Glucose: Your Metabolic Mirror
The clinical definition of metabolic health is helpful, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Even if you don’t meet the full criteria for metabolic syndrome, being out of range for just one marker, like fasting glucose, can still impact your health over time. That’s where day-to-day glucose tracking can reveal deeper insights into your metabolic function.
One key missing piece in the clinical definition of metabolic health is glucose variability—how much your blood sugar fluctuates throughout the day. Fluctuations—like frequent spikes and crashes—can reveal early metabolic dysfunction before major health issues develop.
| Member Tip: Connect the Stelo Glucose Biosensor with the Oura App to easily and seamlessly track your glucose levels over time. |
How Do Glucose & Insulin Work Together?
Reduced insulin sensitivity or insulin resistance, which affects four out of 10 non-diabetic American adults, occurs when your cells stop responding to insulin effectively.
But how do these pieces fit together?
Your body’s preferred energy source is the simple sugar glucose, which is found in carbohydrates. Carbs are broken down into glucose, which enters your bloodstream and fuels your cells by being converted into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the “energy currency” of the cells.
When you consume carbs, your blood glucose levels increase, triggering your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin acts as a “key” that unlocks the glucose channel in your cells, so glucose can enter and be converted into ATP.
When you eat foods high in sugar, your blood glucose levels can spike rapidly, taxing your pancreas as it produces a large amount of insulin to stabilize those high glucose levels. When this is repeated consistently over time, your cells may lose their responsiveness to insulin (i.e., become insulin resistant).
Insulin resistance can lead to higher-than-normal levels of circulating glucose, even in a “fasted” state. And as mentioned, fasting glucose levels are one of the five measurements of metabolic health—when they’re out of range, you increase your risk of metabolic health problems.
On a day-to-day level, insulin resistance can have a number of effects on your well-being, including:
- Feeling sluggish and fatigued
- More cravings and hunger swings
- Difficulty losing weight
- Increased inflammation and stress
READ MORE: How Carbs Before Bed Impact Your Sleep
Why Does Metabolic Health Matter?
Being metabolically healthy isn’t just about living longer—it’s about living better. Good metabolic health impacts everything from your energy levels to mental clarity, resilience to stress, and long-term disease risk.
Benefits of being metabolically healthy include:
1. Increased Healthspan
People are living longer than ever, but our quality of life and health is suffering. Being metabolically healthy increases your healthspan, or the number of years you spend in good health, free from disease, pain, and illness.
RELATED: 5 Research-Backed Tips to Age Well, According to a Neuroscientist
2. Less Stress & Improved Resilience
Chronic stress can have a negative effect on your metabolic health, which in turn is correlated with greater levels of inflammation, obesity, and more.
Being metabolically healthy involves managing your day-to-day cortisol levels using a toolkit of stress management techniques, which in turn improves your resilience—or your body’s ability to manage and recover from stress.
RELATED: Resilience: Improve Your Ability to Recover From Stress
3. Greater Metabolic Adaptability
The human body is an incredibly smart and agile machine that can respond quickly to events to maintain homeostasis, or physiological equilibrium. When you’re metabolically healthy, your body has greater metabolic flexibility, meaning it can efficiently switch between using carbohydrates and fat for energy depending on your needs. This flexibility allows your body to break down nutrients effectively, recover well, and perform at a high level.
How to Improve Your Metabolic Health
If you’re wondering what you can do to improve your metabolic health, the good news is that lifestyle habits and dietary choices play a major role. It begins with understanding your unique biology and what works for you.
Know Your Numbers
You can ask your healthcare provider during your next check-up to measure your waist circumference and test your HDL levels, triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and average fasting glucose levels using an A1C test.
Your healthcare provider does an A1C test to measure your average blood sugar levels over the past two to three months, providing a longer-term picture of glucose control compared to a single fasting glucose test. It’s commonly used to diagnose and monitor diabetes and prediabetes.
Between doctor’s appointments, tracking your glucose levels can offer helpful insight into how your daily habits such as food choices, sleep, movement, and stress relate to your blood sugar. For some, this can be a useful way to build awareness and support more informed lifestyle decisions.
Oura members can now pair the Stelo Glucose Biosensor and Stelo by Dexcom app with the Oura App to track blood sugar levels and better understand how meals, activity, sleep, and stress impact glucose levels—all day and all night.
Build Healthier Lifestyle Habits
A glucose biosensor, like Stelo, is one piece of the puzzle. But simple, healthy lifestyle habits can play a major part in promoting metabolic health.
- Consume a nutritious, balanced diet composed of colorful vegetables, fiber, lean proteins, and healthy fats—while limiting processed foods and refined carbs.
- Add in exercise—especially resistance or strength training—to promote heart health and increase muscle mass. This can help regulate hunger levels, glucose regulation, and body composition, as well as improve insulin sensitivity.
- Make sure you’re getting quality sleep, which begins with good sleep hygiene and a consistent sleep schedule.
- Stress management is essential to maintaining metabolic health. Chronic stress releases cortisol, which can impact insulin resistance—if you’re chronically stressed, it may lead to increased insulin resistance.
RELATED: The Essential Guide to Eating for Optimal Metabolic Health