Experts who study aging people notice they tend to experience decline in one or more of the following areas:
food and water intake
lean body mass
physical activity and the ability to perform even normal activities of daily life.
Are these declines the result of the aging process or is a more sedentary life in older age the culprit? Doesn’t it seem that each of these three declines contribute to each other?
Medical professionals often label these declines caused by “old age.” But are they looking at their patients’ whole picture? Conventional medicine doesn’t usually do so. You have to find a good holistic healthcare practitioner for that.
In our previous article we discussed how a regal long tall posture is vital for living a good life all our lives long. In this article, let’s look at the topic of Lean Body Mass–how to get it and why we would want to.
“Studies in elderly people who have been active all their life such as the Lapps* in Finland and Sweden show no decline in functions until the date they sell their reindeer and sit down, whereafter they quickly decline to the level of other people of the same age.” —Mikael Fogelholm in Physical Activity: A Part of Healthy Eating? Report from a Nordic Seminar
Partake of the mystique of quantum energetic formulated plant-based skincare for your exalted natural beauty and well-being. Subscribe for a discount promo code, plus get truly unique beauty tips and offers.
When the Loss of Lean Tissue Begins
The human body is made up of fat, lean tissue (muscles and organs), bones, and water. After age 30 our bodies slowly begin the process of atrophy–the loss of lean strong tissue. This is when our muscles, liver, kidneys, and other organs may lose some of their cells. We lose lean tissue and take on body fat.
As a case in point, seniors tend to have one-third more fat than when they were young.
If we do nothing to counteract the onset or continuation of atrophy, we head down the road of steady fat accumulation and increasing weakness. We become more and more debilitated over time.
Men generally tend to gain weight until about age 55. At about that point, they begin to lose weight. This weight loss is caused by a drop in the male sex hormone testosterone.
Women generally tend to gain weight until age 65 and then begin to lose weight. A great deal of this excess weight localizes in the girth around the internal organs and, unfortunately, this weight is mostly fat.
With older people, hormonal and lifestyle changes are often the cause of weight gain or loss.
Weight loss later in life, especially in non-active seniors, occurs partly because fat replaces lean muscle tissue and fat weighs less than muscle.
Without a healthy proportion of muscle in the legs combined with a tendency to stiffer joints, many older people experience compromised mobility. They’re challenged to navigate their bodies with ease. Their balance is compromised making the possibility of falls more likely.
Our lifestyle choices affect how rapidly aging progresses. These same choices can even positively affect atrophy in very advanced age.
Physical training in older people proves very positive for increasing lean body mass. It increases work capacity in older people including the very elderly. Weight resistance training is key for improving work capacity for an independent lifestyle.
“A training intervention study in 85 year old women, including endurance training, showed that a 10 month training program was able to rejuvenate their work capacity by 10 years.” —Mikael Fogelholm in Physical Activity: A Part of Healthy Eating? Report from a Nordic Seminar
Weight resistance exercise helps reduce fat and weakness, but we should do it wisely to prevent injury. It’s not about how much weight you can lift. It’s about repetitions (even of light weights) and consistency in your practice.
You want to gradually build up to a well rounded workout program that targets all your muscle groups. Take periodic days of rest between several consecutive workouts. Combine your weight resistance training with good nutrition and other exercises like walking and/or yoga.
Diet combined with exercise is also important for developing lean muscle body mass.
We mentioned at the outset of this article that a decline of food and water intake is the hallmark of an aging sedentary person.
A vigorous exercise program signals the body to consume nutrition. And it encourages increased water intake which is vital for all body functions. Eating and drinking water are no longer a problem for the active nutrition conscious senior.
Eating much less animal fat combined with more physical exercise can help you get lean and spry.
Fats from vegetables, nuts and seeds are usually a better alternative and are extremely beneficial for health.
If you curb the offenders in your diet while adding a consistent weight resistance and flexibility program, you’ll start noticing results very quickly. Learn what those dietary offenders are for you. Observe your food sensitivities and don’t stress your body by eating them anyway.
In older age, any kind of stress just packs on more fat.
Learn, too, what good nutrition actually is. It’s not necessarily what the magazine covers say.
Find your sweet spot of consistently practiced diet plus exercise and you’ll lose that extra fat and weight incrementally over time. You won’t need TV-advertised cool sculpting or liposuction from a plastic surgeon.
You’ll accomplish weight loss and a leaner firmer body organically.
Lean body mass is a key determinant of survival during bedridden serious illness.
Without enough lean body mass you’ll have less strength, function and mobility. When you lose fat and gain muscle firmness and tone, you’ll have a strong body able to easily meet the physical challenges of daily life.
Should you find yourself bedridden for a period of time you want to be sure you’re not going into it in a deficit position. Near complete lack of movement aggressively and rapidly atrophies muscles.
Critically ill people typically lose 1% of muscle protein for each day of illness. That makes it vitally important to build up a healthy store of lean body tissue. Lean body mass is a key determinant of survival during bedridden serious illness.
“A smaller lean body mass may mean that many older people lack the physical reserve to withstand a prolonged period of critical illness, where more than 1% of body protein may be lost each day even when adequate energy and protein are being provided.” —Nancy Bernhardt et al in "Nutrition for the Middle Aged and Elderly”
Lean tissue loss is pretty inevitable during prolonged bed rest if you become ill. You can only counteract it with a robust countermeasure like exercise.
Studies find that muscle loss is more accelerated in older adults during periods of bed rest.
“… data from the only study to examine older adults suggests that the loss of lean tissue in healthy older adults during bed rest far exceeds the losses experienced by their younger counterparts.” —Kirk English et al in “Protecting muscle mass and function in older adults during bed rest.”
Even just one week of complete bedrest is damaging:
“Prolonged immobility is harmful with rapid reductions in muscle mass, bone mineral density and impairment in other body systems evident within the first week of bed rest which is further exacerbated in individuals with critical illness.” —Selina Parry et al in “The impact of extended bed rest on the musculoskeletal system in the critical care environment.”
Lean body mass is also important for:
• respiratory muscle strength
• improved circulation of blood to the organs which keeps them healthy and able to rid the body of toxins
• the ability to fight diabetes because muscles store glycogen for readily available energy source when needed
• improved bone strength and density; although exercise targets muscles it also strengthens the bones because bones, like muscle, react to the demands we place on them.
Calorie Burning and Lean Muscle Mass
An interesting fact about calorie burning is that muscles burn two to three times as many calories as the same amount of fat. So the more muscle you have the more calories you’ll burn and the less calories will be available to be converted into fat.
If you consume less calories than you need to burn on a daily basis, your body will actually convert your fat cells into energy and burn them instead.
When you build lean muscle mass you naturally decrease your body fat percentage. And once your muscle mass begins to increase as your body fat decreases, you’ll notice you have the greatest prize of all–more energy.
For great health and a high quality of life lean body mass is key.
Lean body mass gives you the ability to undertake daily activities with confidence as you mitigate and slow the aging process. A strong lean body raises your self-esteem and helps you live better.
Your body shape and weight may change naturally as you age. But many people prove every day that you can alter that process with simple yet powerful lifestyle choices.
#####
Endnotes/Sources:
Tallis, Raymond, et al. Brocklehurst's Textbook of Geriatric Medicine. Churchill Livingstone, 2003.
Bernhardt, Nancy E., and Artur M. Kasko. Nutrition for the Middle Aged and Elderly. Nova Science, 2008
Fogelholm, Mikael. Physical Activity: A Part of Healthy Eating?: Report from a Nordic Seminar, Lahti, Finland, February 2000. Nordic Council of Ministers, 2001.
TodayShow. “Can Exercise Detox Your Body? It's Not about the Sweat.” TODAY.com, 17 Dec. 2012, www.today.com/health/can-exercise-detox-your-body-its-not-about-sweat-1C7634616.
English, Kirk L, and Douglas Paddon-Jones. “Protecting muscle mass and function in older adults during bed rest.” Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care vol. 13,1 (2010): 34-9. doi:10.1097/MCO.0b013e328333aa66
Photo courtesy of Nina Hill at pexels