9 Key habits for optimal metabolic health

Maintaining and improving health and quality of life is a matter of layering healthy habits and doing them consistently. But it can be challenging to know where to start. Fortunately, most components of healthy living with the longest-term impact are simple, like walking after meals, practicing deep breathing, and drinking enough water. Still, knowing what to do is one thing; sticking to these habits in your daily routine—and keeping track of them and how they affect you—is entirely another. 

When we added the Habit Loops tracking feature into the Levels app, we consulted with our expert advisors like Dr. Casey Means to distill nine healthy habits that can make a real difference in your metabolic health: 

• Step count
• Workout time
• Strenuous workouts
• Sleep
• Protein intake
• Fiber intake
• Glucose-spike-free days
• Hydration
• Mindful minutes 

While this is by no means an exhaustive list of healthy behaviors, it’s a great place to start optimizing overall health and wellness. Here’s a look at each habit, why it matters for your health, and how you can incorporate it into your life.

Step Count

Why it’s important: Step count is a reasonable proxy for how often you move throughout the day. Regular physical activity is a tenet of a healthy lifestyle and is essential for stable glucose levels. When we move, even at low intensities, our muscle cells are better able to absorb glucose from the bloodstream—without the need for insulin. 

One randomized study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at the effects of different exercise interventions on postprandial glucose and insulin levels in a group of 70 adults. Researchers divided the participants into three groups. The first group sat for 9 hours, the second group exercised for 30 minutes and sat for the remaining 8.5 hours, and the third group walked for 100 seconds on a treadmill every 30 minutes. Throughout the day, the participants drank a meal replacement shake at set times. The third group, with frequent movement, saw the lowest glucose and insulin rises after drinking their shakes.

What you can do: Walking after meals is one of the best habits you can incorporate into daily life and one of the best for metabolic health. Try walking around the block after lunch, or go for a post-dinner stroll around your neighborhood. Take walking meetings. If getting outside is not an option, you can pace around your home or apartment. The more movement you can fit in, the better.

Workout Time

Why it’s important: Regular exercise—beyond the walking mentioned above—helps improve numerous markers of metabolic health. For one, exercise promotes insulin sensitivity, our cells’ responsiveness to insulin, a hormone that shuttles glucose from the bloodstream and into our cells. When our muscles contract, GLUT4 transporters move to the cells’ edges, enabling the cells to absorb more glucose without additional insulin. Additionally, regular exercise leads to more optimal biomarkers, like improved cholesterol levels and reduced triglycerides and blood pressure, helps the body make more mitochondria, and builds muscle, which essentially acts as a glucose sink. 

What you can do: Try to combine cardiovascular, strength, and mobility training throughout the week. Steady, sustained Zone 2 training is a great way to build your aerobic fitness foundation. The CDC recommends adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity (Zone 2) activity each week.

Strength training is also vital: Aim for at least two days a week. And don’t underestimate the benefits of regular, low-intensity movement. Set a reminder to move every 30 minutes or so throughout the day. This can look like a bout of air squats, a few jumping jacks, tricep pushups against the wall, or a couple of minutes of stretching.

Strenuous Workouts

Why it’s important: Some movement is better than none. And while the bulk of your exercise routine will likely fall into the moderate-intensity camp, strenuous, high-intensity workouts have unique benefits. An example is high-intensity interval training, or HIIT. HIIT involves short bursts of intense effort (often getting you to at least 80–85% of max heart rate) interspersed with rest periods. 

One benefit of HIIT is its efficiency: You can fit in a robust exercise stimulus in a short time. When we exercise, blood glucose naturally increases so that our muscle cells can absorb the glucose and use it for fuel. The more strenuous a workout, the more fuel our muscles need. If there isn’t enough blood glucose available, the body taps into glycogen stores in the muscles and the liver. This process makes our bodies more insulin-sensitive; they can more effectively use the insulin our body produces to help shuttle glucose into cells. 

Many of the benefits of HIIT overlap with moderate-intensity exercise. However the latter requires a greater training volume to reap the benefits. Still, some studies suggest that higher-intensity training—and spending time in that elevated heart rate zone—is superior to moderate or lower-intensity exercise in improving cardiorespiratory health. Regardless, HIIT has been shown to be especially effective at improving VO₂ max, a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use when exercising, which strongly correlates with longevity. Strenuous exercise isn’t restricted to HIIT, however. A strenuous workout can be intense metabolic conditioning, circuit training, or weight lifting.

What you can do: High-intensity training is not for every day; instead, aim for a vigorous workout session two to three times per week. One review found that prolonged, vigorous exercise without adequate rest might increase risk of injury and chronic inflammation. You’ll reap the benefits of high-intensity training far better by allowing your body ample time to recover. 

Sleep Duration

Why it’s important: When you don’t sleep well—or enough—your metabolism suffers. The body enters an insulin-resistant state, with an impaired ability to process glucose. Sleep restriction has also been known to increase hunger and excess caloric intake. What’s more, sleep disturbances can contribute to increased inflammation, which in turn raises your risk of chronic diseases like obesity, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s.   

What you can do: Try to get 7–9 hours of high-quality sleep each night. Sticking to regular sleep and wake times, keeping mealtimes consistent, avoiding eating too close to bedtime, avoiding screen time before bedtime, and getting natural sunlight in your eyes early in the day are all excellent sleep-hygiene practices.

Eating Enough Protein

Why it’s important: Protein has many health benefits. It is satiating and directly contributes to metabolic health. Dietary protein can help curb a post-meal spike in blood glucose. Plus, protein, along with exercise, helps build muscle and can support a healthy weight.

Our muscles absorb glucose from the bloodstream and either use it as fuel or store it as glycogen. Muscle mass helps protect against insulin resistance and contributes to a higher metabolic rate overall. But protein forms the building blocks of more than just muscle. Indeed, it’s the foundation of almost every structure and tissue in our body and helps build and repair hormones, enzymes, and antibodies.

What you can do: Protein needs vary by individual. The traditional recommended daily allowance (RDA) of the macronutrient is .8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. However, many health professionals suggest that active adults aim for 1.2–2 g/kg of body weight daily. Nutritionist Kelly Leveque recommends her clients shoot for .75 grams per pound of body weight (1.65 g/kg) per day. Meanwhile, Peter Attia, MD, suggests as much as 2g/kg/day for his patients.

Prioritize getting protein from well-sourced animals, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, tofu, and clean protein powders. To optimize muscle protein synthesis, divide your protein intake throughout the day, aiming for 20–40 grams per meal. You can also incorporate protein-rich healthy snacks like hardboiled eggs or well-sourced meat snacks between meals.

Eating Enough Fiber

Why it’s important: Fiber is a non-digestible form of carbohydrate. Most people are not getting enough of the nutrient, primarily due to the ubiquitous availability of ultra-processed foods, which are often stripped of fiber. But dietary fiber is essential to metabolic health. Fiber feeds the gut microbiome, promotes insulin sensitivity, aids digestion, and contributes to feeling full.

There are two types: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and is especially helpful for maintaining a healthy gut microbiome. Insoluble fiber is bulkier and most associated with reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes. We need both, and luckily, most high-fiber foods contain both types.

What you can do: Most Levels advisors recommend shooting for around 50 grams of fiber per day. Prioritize getting fiber from low-glycemic fruits and vegetables. Other healthy foods with high fiber include legumes, beans, nuts, and seeds, especially chia seeds, flax, and basil seeds. (Whole grains are often cited as a high-fiber food but are more likely to spike blood sugar.) Sprinkle nuts and seeds on your salad. Add a tablespoon of ground flax to your smoothie. Throw in cooked beans to a warming soup or stew. See how many different plants you can incorporate into a meal. As with anything related to healthy eating, the more variety, the better.

Spike-free Days

Why it’s important: If you looked at your daily glucose levels on a graph, you’d want to see gentle, rolling hills rather than sharp peaks and valleys. (A notable exception is during high-intensity exercise, when glucose levels will jump. But this type of physical activity improves glucose levels and insulin sensitivity over time.)

Glycemic variability refers to how much our glucose levels change throughout the day. Some variability is expected. Sleep, stress, and physical activity all affect our levels. However, repeated spikes and crashes have downstream effects. When our glucose spikes in response to a high-glycemic meal, the body needs to return to homeostasis or base levels and pumps out insulin to lower blood glucose. This process can lead to a subsequent crash, or hypoglycemia, with symptoms including fatigue and anxiety.

Over time, high glycemic variability can cause cell damage—specifically damage to the endothelial cells (the cells that line blood vessels)—as well as oxidative stress. Sharp spikes also contribute to insulin resistance. As the body keeps having to pump out insulin, cells can develop a sort of tolerance, becoming “numb” to the hormone’s effects. As a result, you produce more and more insulin to shuttle glucose out of the bloodstream and into cells until it can no longer keep up and prediabetes or Type 2 diabetes develops.

What you can do: Levels recommends aiming for a mean 24-hour glucose level between 79 and 100 mg/dL, staying below 110 mg/dL after a meal. Fill your plate with foods that are unlikely to spike blood sugar. Include plenty of protein, healthy fats, and fiber, all of which help keep levels stable and slow the rate at which glucose enters the bloodstream. The order you eat can also impact how much you spike. Consuming carbohydrates last, for instance—after protein, fat, and vegetables—can help keep levels steady. Finally, walking after a meal is one of the surest habits to help prevent a spike.

Water Intake

Why it’s important: We are mostly made up of water, so it’s no surprise that staying hydrated is vital to overall health and well-being. Water is essential to numerous bodily processes, including digestion, circulation, temperature regulation, cognitive function, blood pressure, and performance. Research on how hydration directly affects metabolic health is limited, but some existing hypotheses exist.  

One review looked at the relationship between water intake and arginine vasopressin (AVP), an important hormone that, among other things, helps maintain the body’s fluid homeostasis. AVP is also associated with kidney disease and can trigger gluconeogenesis (the creation of glucose), as well as the release of glucagon, insulin, and cortisol. The review noted that the data are a bit inconsistent, but the authors hypothesized that optimal fluid intake can help reduce circulating levels of AVP and support kidney health and overall metabolic health. 

Other common hypotheses about how proper hydration supports metabolic health include maintaining proper cell volume, which helps cells become more responsive to insulin, and preventing the build-up of uric acid, which can occur when we’re dehydrated. (Too much uric acid can lead to oxidative stress, insulin resistance, and inflammation.)

What you can do: Some experts recommend the average person consume around 11.5 cups (for women) and 15.5 cups (for men) of water per day (note that includes coffee, tea, and other fluid sources, so you may not need that much plain water). These figures are just a baseline, though. Many circumstances impact the amount of water you need, like physical activity and outside temperatures. 

To stay hydrated, keep a refillable water bottle with you throughout the day. Try to drink the bulk of your fluids at least 30 minutes before or after meals (and especially be sure to drink lots of water before a salty meal). During meals, sip water and avoid chugging. Drinking large amounts of fluid during a meal can lead to a more significant post-meal glucose spike, as it increases the rate at which glucose is released into the bloodstream. 

Proper hydration goes beyond drinking enough water; you must consume enough electrolytes. Electrolytes are necessary for proper nerve function, pH balance, stable blood pressure, heart rate, and more. Most people get enough electrolytes, but if you’re physically active or on a ketogenic diet, you may want to consider adding additional electrolytes. Just avoid electrolyte beverages and supplements loaded with sugar and artificial flavors.

Mindful Minutes

Why it’s important: Stress is a significant factor affecting glucose levels. It is an adaptive mechanism. As we evolved, stress served as an important survival signal. Indeed, one symptom of the body’s fight-or-flight response is elevated glucose levels, triggered by the rise in “stress hormones” like cortisol and epinephrine. This makes sense: Evolutionarily, when faced with a predator, our muscles needed fuel (that is, glucose) to power the ensuing fight (or flight) for survival. 

In modern society, most of us don’t need to worry as much about acute threats. But our physiology has yet to catch up. For instance, it doesn’t know the difference between a tiger and an impending deadline or an unsavory social media post.

Stress can be helpful in the short term. It can propel us to get something done or work on something challenging (exercise is a form of short-term stress, after all). But when we’re chronically stressed, our metabolic and mental health suffer. Chronically elevated glucose levels lead to insulin resistance. Elevated cortisol can increase cravings for sugary, refined foods, the consumption of which can, in turn, contribute to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.

What you can do: Managing stress is crucial to holistic self-care. The methods you find most helpful will likely change over time. Start with the body. We can signal to our body that we are, in fact, safe from danger. One way of doing so is through breathing exercises. Deep, diaphragmatic breathing has long been used in ancient traditions, from Buddhism to yoga, to promote emotional balance. Deep breathing also works on a physiological level.

One study found that those who engaged in 20 deep breathing sessions over 8 weeks saw a marked decrease in cortisol levels compared to the control group. Another review looked at a series of studies investigating the impact of diaphragmatic breathing in prehypertensive and hypertensive adults. It found that deep breathing repeatedly decreased blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety. Experiment with different breath patterns to see which one you like best.

Other ways to manage stress include meditation (which also involves mindful breathing), therapy, addressing trauma, getting out in nature, exercise, and talking with friends.   

Conclusion

Building healthy new habits is a matter of prioritizing what will give you the most return for your effort and then integrating those things into your daily routine. Regular movement and exercise (including high-intensity exercise), quality sleep, a balanced diet, stable glucose levels, proper hydration, and stress reduction are all research-backed healthy habits that can positively impact overall health. Levels’ in-app feature, Habit Loops, can help make such habits stick by providing real-time feedback and tracking.