As we age our muscle mass decreases and with it our strength and endurance. Perhaps we are tempted to think that this does not happen to us, but to the old, venerable people, with white hair and walking with a cane. Things are not like that at all, this phenomenon of loss of muscle mass, called sarcopenia, has its onset much earlier than any of us would imagine. From the age of 35, we start to lose 1-2% of skeletal muscle annually, and after 60 the rate increases to 3%.
The fact that the decrease in muscle mass is not visible on the scale is due to the process of replacing muscle with fat. Sarcopenia leads to a decrease in both strength and speed of movement, with everyday activities becoming, over the years, increasingly tiring and difficult to perform, while also increasing the risk of falls and fractures. In fact, statistics show that one in three adults over the age of 65 suffer at least one fall per year, with many of these cases requiring hospitalization and long-term care.
After the presented, we could conclude that age is the risk factor for sarcopenia and its consequences. More than age, though, it’s the fact that we don’t use our muscles the way we were designed to that affects us. Several scientific studies show that strength exercises can significantly contribute to restoring muscle function and slowing down the process of losing muscle mass. Skeletal muscles, meaning the muscles on the bones, are some of the most active organs in our body, or at least they should be. They are capable of movements of amazing variety and amplitude, from the finesse movements of a surgeon to those of an acrobat or a woodcutter.
Like many of the problems of modern man, those related to inactivity are also due to modernity, in the sense that we have machines that perform activities in our place, thus our movements are becoming more and more limited. Lack of exercise has been linked to 34 chronic conditions, from heart disease, stroke, type II diabetes and obesity to cognitive decline, i.e. dementia, and many other problems, including risk of premature death. When the muscles are not used, they do not take up glucose from the blood, blood pressure on the vascular walls increases, sleep is disturbed, and changes also occur at the cellular and genetic level. Thus, lack of movement due to desk work and long time spent in front of screens can change the activity of some genes, such as the one that codes for lipoprotein lipase, an enzyme involved in breaking down fats for the body to use as an energy source.
Movement and regular physical activity have benefits at all ages. In children between 3 and 5 years old, it contributes essentially to the strengthening of bones and to an optimal weight. Between 6 and 13 years, but also in teenagers and adults, movement improves cognitive functions, the ability to learn, memorize, understand. Moreover, people who are physically active have a lower risk of depression, anxiety and insomnia. Pregnant women who exercise moderately daily or several times a week have a lower risk of excessive weight gain, gestational diabetes, and postpartum depression. In the case of the elderly, as mentioned above, regular physical activity reduces the risk of falls and blows. In other words, exercise improves overall quality of life.
Research confirms that strength and aerobic exercise (“cardio”) plays an important role in the management and prevention of chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis. Strength exercises are those activities for which the muscles, in order to achieve them, must work more intensively. So are exercises with weights and elastic bands. In everyday life, whenever we lift, push or pull something heavy we perform such strength exercises. They are particularly important, in addition to the aerobic ones, which ensure proper oxygenation and nutrition of the tissues, and the balance ones, because they stimulate the production of muscle and bone mass. Demanding the musculoskeletal complex through exercises that require physical strength causes the bone to remodel, preventing its fragility and loss of mineral density.
Therefore, beyond age, genetic and hormonal factors, the health of the locomotor system – made up of muscles and bones – depends to a great extent on ourselves and the level of its demand. Of course, extremes are not recommended when it comes to movement either: just as we must avoid being sedentary, it is also good to avoid physical activities of very high intensity, because they can increase inflammation in the body. That’s why specialists urge us to do exercises of medium intensity and, at the same time, to have a balanced and varied diet that provides the muscles and bones with the nutrients necessary for their growth, regeneration and functioning.
2024-04-07 15:23:28
#prevent #sarcopenia #movement #balanced #nutrition
