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Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

sciencemag.org

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Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#91
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very important for any water related activities: many kids drowned because of this. Jumping, screaming and laughing in the water - the next moment gone. You have to pay attention. I do not mean, being overprotective, just pay really attention to them and you should notice, when they are about to reach their limits.

Very good point. My boys are 11 and 9, I can count 3 times I’ve gone in fully clothed with phone/wallet in pocket to pull them out of a pool after getting in trouble. For them, it was panicking when getting in over their head ( heh no pun intended). Panicking in deep water is bad news. Edit: I distinctly remember one time being at a party surrounded by adults but the only one noticing the emergency. It’s like when a…

"It’s like when a kid gets in trouble with water they become almost invisible… it’s very strange."

Well, it can be hard distingishing kids playing in water loudly and just ordinary play screaming - and kids panicking in water. It looks and sounds the same on first glance in many instances. Or rather not. When they are loud, they still have energy and their head well above the water. (you cannot shout so well, with water in your mouth)

The scary part is, when they reached their limits and do not have the energy to panic anymore and just fade and drown.

If that happens, it is very important to not panic yourself, go in quickly (but not headless) and maybe know some CPR basics if necessary.

There are cases, where the drowned child got rescued, but the paniqued parent drowned dead. Or the other sibling.

(not in pool, but in river/sea type scenarios)

But better avoid that alltogether by paying attention before and choose the site accordingly. I mean I am also very often with my toddler at a river, where he can play at a shallow spot. I know it is dangerous if I stop paying attention to him, because the river has a strong current and rocks in it. And he already knows the dangers, but he overestimates himself quickly. He is the kid. I have the responsibility.

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#92
post #59
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. I’ve got about 20lbs more muscle than I did at 30. I currently lift 3-4 times a week and run 3.5+ miles 5-6 times a week. At 30 I worked out or ran 3 days a week. I eat out less now and generally pay attention to what I eat vs just eating whatever is in front of me. Nearly identical meaning proportions are the same but I eat less junk food now. I was a college athlete, but there’s no way I carried the fitness f…

People tend to massively overestimate how much the extra muscle mass matters, and how much they burn during exercise, though, and it takes very little to overcompensate with a little extra food here and there. I lift too, and for many years I wrote down everything I wrote, and weighed myself every morning. I could tell very precisely how much I burnt, and it tended to shock people on lifting forums who were certain t…

At rest, muscle only burns about 8 kcal/day/kg more than fat.

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#93
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems almost unbelievable to me. Almost everyone I know, with a handful of exceptions I can think of, had a dramatic change in what I can only say was metabolism at 30 declining steeply to 40. I can tell you personally my ability to lose weight when exercising daily has decreased significantly since 30. If it’s not metabolism, then what? Diet and exercise are almost identical.

I have this 'theory' about 'diet fatigue': the more times you lose weight, the harder it will be the next time. I hadn't associated it with age but with the count of times I (kind of successfully) lost weight through calorie deprivation and sometimes additional physical exercise.

I have this pet theory as well, at least for myself. After being quite sick for 3-4 weeks at 28yo and losing 12-15 lbs, I noticed that since then, my energy levels never returned and my ability to lose weight changed from pretty easy to needing to exercise and diet quite a bit.

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#94
post #27
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems almost unbelievable to me. Almost everyone I know, with a handful of exceptions I can think of, had a dramatic change in what I can only say was metabolism at 30 declining steeply to 40. I can tell you personally my ability to lose weight when exercising daily has decreased significantly since 30. If it’s not metabolism, then what? Diet and exercise are almost identical.

While there might be a very small decline in resting metabolism, most of those people are delusional. They overestimate their exercise and underestimate calorie consumption. I recommend that everyone get an occasional resting metabolic rate test. It's an easy non-invasive test which uses your exhaled gasses to calculate your daily calorie burn. Most people who claim they can't lose weight due to a "slow metabolism" a…

I suspect many people making that claim don’t want to learn that they have a normal metabolism.

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#95

> But children also burn out fast. This is well known in emergency medicine. Not only do kids burn out quick, they also burn out completely because they, unlike adults, don't keep a reserve. This applies to homeostasis, too. Consequently: young trauma victims that "look OK" need to be very closely attended to, because what you might be seeing is a kid burning the very last of their energy reserves just to maintain ho…

When I was young I fell unconscious like four of five times and the doctors couldn't find why... If what you say is correct, it could be a possible explanation. Although I was never the very energetic running around kid due to having some complications at birth. I have learned though to notice when I'm about to go unconscious and find a chair or something so that I don't just fall on the ground and hurt myself. I onc…

It might also be epilepsy. (That “falling unconscious in a church” reminded me of Silas Marner chapter 2… but then again, the author wasn't a doctor.)

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#96

> But children also burn out fast. This is well known in emergency medicine. Not only do kids burn out quick, they also burn out completely because they, unlike adults, don't keep a reserve. This applies to homeostasis, too. Consequently: young trauma victims that "look OK" need to be very closely attended to, because what you might be seeing is a kid burning the very last of their energy reserves just to maintain ho…

This is very important for any water related activities: many kids drowned because of this. Jumping, screaming and laughing in the water - the next moment gone. You have to pay attention. I do not mean, being overprotective, just pay really attention to them and you should notice, when they are about to reach their limits.

It's not only about kids. Plenty of people drowning in the same way, without loud cries, just silently. That's just how human brain wired for some reason.

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#97

> But children also burn out fast. This is well known in emergency medicine. Not only do kids burn out quick, they also burn out completely because they, unlike adults, don't keep a reserve. This applies to homeostasis, too. Consequently: young trauma victims that "look OK" need to be very closely attended to, because what you might be seeing is a kid burning the very last of their energy reserves just to maintain ho…

This is very important for any water related activities: many kids drowned because of this. Jumping, screaming and laughing in the water - the next moment gone. You have to pay attention. I do not mean, being overprotective, just pay really attention to them and you should notice, when they are about to reach their limits.

This made going to the beach pool or local lakes pretty much a full-time lifeguard job for me during the years my kids were young and didn't know how to swim well.

I would let them play, run around, go out in the deep water and even get that terrified "I'm over my head!!" look on their face while they flailed their arms around. It's get to let them stop panicking on their own. They learn their limits and I've only had to actually wade out and rescue them a handful of times.

But I was basically scanning the water and counting my kids (I have five) every minute the whole time they were in the water.

I'm glad they are all strong swimmers now.

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very important for any water related activities: many kids drowned because of this. Jumping, screaming and laughing in the water - the next moment gone. You have to pay attention. I do not mean, being overprotective, just pay really attention to them and you should notice, when they are about to reach their limits.

It's not only about kids. Plenty of people drowning in the same way, without loud cries, just silently. That's just how human brain wired for some reason.

Shouting is hard, when you have the mouth full of water and fighting with your last strength to stay above the water.

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#99
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems almost unbelievable to me. Almost everyone I know, with a handful of exceptions I can think of, had a dramatic change in what I can only say was metabolism at 30 declining steeply to 40. I can tell you personally my ability to lose weight when exercising daily has decreased significantly since 30. If it’s not metabolism, then what? Diet and exercise are almost identical.

Like most things there's quite a lot of factors to play into this but I would say one of the main factors here is that generally men start reducing natural testosterone production and gradually losing muscle mass sometime after around age 30. Basically, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn to maintain it. Also to compound this your metabolism tends to adapt to whatever you are doing. Even if you…

Efficiency adaptation to exercise is mostly a myth. It happens only slightly for runners, and hardly at all for cyclists.

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#100
post #59
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. I’ve got about 20lbs more muscle than I did at 30. I currently lift 3-4 times a week and run 3.5+ miles 5-6 times a week. At 30 I worked out or ran 3 days a week. I eat out less now and generally pay attention to what I eat vs just eating whatever is in front of me. Nearly identical meaning proportions are the same but I eat less junk food now. I was a college athlete, but there’s no way I carried the fitness f…

People tend to massively overestimate how much the extra muscle mass matters, and how much they burn during exercise, though, and it takes very little to overcompensate with a little extra food here and there. I lift too, and for many years I wrote down everything I wrote, and weighed myself every morning. I could tell very precisely how much I burnt, and it tended to shock people on lifting forums who were certain t…

I'm curious: how tall are you and/or roughly how much do you weight? Benching 150 kg with 2000 kcal/day absolutely does sound odd compared to recommendations. However, my personal experience also tells me that the regular recommendations might be a bit high.
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