Prevent Muscle Mass Loss as You Age

Muscle strength is one of the keys to healthy aging. As a rule, muscle mass declines with age, starting in the early 40’s and picking up speed after about 50.

Then the typical rate of muscle loss really begins to outpace the rate of muscle gain, so that there’s an increasing deficit, according to Robert Wolfe, a professor of geriatrics and director of the Center for Translational Research in Aging and Longevity at the University of Arkansas for Medical Science. The medical term for this process is sarcopenia, from the Greek meaning “poverty of the flesh."

Researchers are looking for promising treatments including inhibiting a naturally occurring protein called Myostatin that curbs muscle growth. But for now, the best medicine available to maintain muscle mass and strength is less complicated and costly- namely exercise and diet. Yet about 60% of people over 65 are insufficiently active or overtly inactive, and many have poor nutrition according to Dr. Nathan LeBrasseur, a researcher who directs the Muscle Performance and Physical Function Laboratory and the Healthy Aging and Independent Living Initiative at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. It is estimated that most people will lose approximately 50% of their muscle mass by the time they reach there 80’s or 90’s.

The tool that everyone agrees works to store up muscles: exercise, at every age. Ideally that would include both basic, progressive strength-training program as well as an aerobic fitness routine. Evidence continues to show the benefits of exercise at any age. Last month a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that an exercise program reduced the onset of major disability for at-risk older adults by 18% over a two-year period.

If you are not currently involved in an exercise regime, please join us online for a free ½ training.