If you're not doing some regular strength training, you are putting your future health and lifestyle at risk.
The loss of skeletal muscle as you get older, known as sarcopenia, results in limitations in physical function and mobility, which in turn lead to falls, loss of independence and possible institutionalisation.
Loss of muscles also increases your risk for metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity, heart attacks and premature death (Sports Medicine, May 2010).
We achieve peak muscle mass by our early 40s, and have a progressive deterioration from that point on, resulting in as much as a 50 percent loss by the time we are in our 80s or 90s. Most of us will lose approximately 30 percent over our lifetime.
Why is muscle so important?
Muscle is a fundamental organ as we age, helping to maintain physical function, including the ability to walk, climb stairs, get out of a chair, or lift objects. These are things that determine our autonomy and independence as we age.
Muscle is also critically important for metabolism. In the context of type 2 diabetes, it is the primary site where we store sugars and a key determinant of our metabolic rate. It is also able to improve our resiliency to various stressors as we age, both physical and psychological, and as a result, fends off frailty.
A group of scientists reviewed the world's literature and found 13 placebo-controlled studies of the effect of lifting weights on health in later life. Weight lifting reduced HbA1c (a measure of cell damage caused by sugar stuck on cells), body fat, and systolic blood pressure.
Researchers are looking at drugs and therapies to prevent, or at least minimise, the loss of muscle with ageing. They have had promising results with mice and are looking at human trials.
However they are quick to point out that the most important thing we can all do is to stay active and incorporate some strength training into our lives.
Using a gym or weights is convenient, but for those who don't like either, using your own body weight is an effective way to prevent, or at least delay, losing muscle. It could mean you get to stay in your own home for years longer.
Article Author: David Beard, Calico Exercise Physiologist and Healthy Ageing expert
