Muscle Mass: Use It or Lose It
Muscle Mass: Use It or Lose It
How to Beat Age-Related Loss of Muscle Mass & Strength
Age-related mobility limitations are a fact of life for many older adults. Studies have shown that about 30% of adults over age 70 have trouble with walking, getting up out of a chair, or climbing stairs. In addition to making everyday tasks difficult, mobility limitations are also linked to a higher rate of fall, chronic disease, nursing home admissions, and mortality.
A big culprit for losing our physical abilities as we grow older is the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, which is called sarcopenia. Typically, muscle mass and strength increase steadily from birth and reach their peak at around 30 to 35 years of age. After that, muscle power and performance decline slowly and linearly at first, and then faster after age 65 for women and 70 for men. Those findings come from NIA’s Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) - the longest-running study of human aging, which pioneered a series of simple tests decades ago, known as the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), to track mobility and muscle performance. The SPPB measures an individual’s balance, walking speed, and ability to get out of a chair five times, and then rates that person on a scale of zero to four.
However, such average decline of strength and power with aging can be substantially slowed down by maintaining an active lifestyle. While there is no way to fully “stop the clock,” it’s possible for many older adults to increase muscle strength with exercise, which can help maintain mobility and independence into later life.
NIA scientist Eric Shiroma, Sc.D., has studied the science of exercise for years and is an advocate of activities that add an extra challenge in our daily routines. “As we get older, there are inevitable functional and biological limitations that can cap exercise endurance, maximum strength, and fitness,” said Shiroma. “Some of these limitations can be slowed down through an active lifestyle that includes strength training. However, it is difficult to study these limits in normal day-to-day life. Studies such as the BLSA are special because scientists can test these limits in the clinic. For example, to test strength and endurance, study participants may be asked to walk or run on a treadmill, or climb stairs, for as long as they can comfortably continue. There are also genetic and environmental components to how people respond to physical challenges and exercise.”
By studying people’s limits and variability, researchers aim to provide older adults with evidence-based advice on how regularly moving and challenging their muscles may help increase their years of optimal health.
There’s no denying that our ability to respond to exercise gets blunted as we grow older. No individual, even seemingly superhuman pro athletes who keep winning championships into their 40s, will have the same physical response to exercise at age 70 as they do at 30 or even 40. So what is some bottom-line, realistic advice to keep strong and moving as we age?
A 60-year-old is very different from an 80-year-old. We need to be careful about lumping all older people into the same category. Aging starts at birth, and throughout our lifespans, exercising to help prevent disease and disability is very important. Movement, strength, and balance training is important at any age, but we need to adjust our expectations.
Finding things that people want to do and like to do, not just exercise for exercise’s sake, but something we enjoy. Goal setting is also important. I often ask my older clients to list everyday things they want to be able to keep doing as they grow older, like play with their grandchildren or be able to take laundry up and down the stairs. Lots of things count as exercise - it doesn’t have to be running or going to the gym or riding a stationary bike - it could be dancing, gardening, or housework.
The bottom line is to get moving and then keep moving. Any physical activity is better than no physical activity. Even a couple minutes per day matter, and small changes lead to big improvements.
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Kim Duke is a certified personal trainer and owner of Core Performance Fitness and Training, located at 55 Bristol Lane, Ellicottville, NY. Kim resides in Ellicottville where she raised her two sons, Zach and Nik. For more information about her studio visit her Facebook page, go to www.coreperformancefitness.com or call her directly at 716-698-1198.
