There’s no denying it: even healthy, active seniors will experience muscle loss with aging. It’s part of the body’s way of aging. The problem is, we don’t really notice muscle decay as it is happening. It goes on in a cellular level, so slowly we can’t see it or feel it.
Men and women over age 30 slowly begin to lose muscle tissue every year. At about age 50, this loss of muscle (and strength and endurance) starts happening faster. And after age 65, it accelerates even more.
Sarcopenia is what we see in frail, elderly people bent over from a combination of osteoporosis and low muscle mass, the wasting away of both bone and muscle tissue.
If you don’t send any signals to grow, decay will win, but even a modest signal to grow—a decent workout, even a good, stiff walk—will drown out the noise. Thing is, you need to do something every day to tell your body it’s springtime. …you have to work at it every day. ~ Dr. Henry S. Lodge, coauthor of Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy – Until You’re 80 and Beyond .
Reversing Muscle Loss
But we can fight against this. It’s a big part of what we mean by waging the War on Aging. Sarcopenia can be to a certain degree reversible.
According to Dr. Matthew Thorpe, MD, PhD, combinations of aerobic exercise, resistance training and balance training can prevent and even reverse muscle loss. Resistance training is best to increase muscle mass and strength. However, combination exercise programs and walking also fight muscle loss. At least two to four exercise sessions weekly may be required to achieve these benefits.
The exercise and eating program we recommend in War on Aging is mostly common sense, simple and fun, with some work―but we try to make that work more like play. While it’s never too late to start exercising, the earlier we begin and the more consistent we are, the greater the long-term rewards. Having an active lifestyle at any age is an investment in your present and future well-being.
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