Ever wondered why grandpa and grandma’s arms and legs got thinner as they aged? It’s because our muscles get smaller as they got older, decreasing their strength and increasing our risk of suffering a fall or a fracture.
A new study conducted at the University of Nottingham Schools of Graduate Entry Medicine and Biomedical Sciences showed that it gets harder for people aged over 65 to suppress muscle wasting or breakdown.
When older people eat, their ability to build muscle with the protein they consume is hampered and the insulin in their bodies fail to prevent the muscle wasting that occurs overnight and between meals.
A follow-up study showed that poor blood flow may be an important factor because it prevents the optimal delivery of hormones and nutrients to the muscles.
Researchers discovered that regular weight training helps rejuvenate blood flow to the extremities of people in their late 60s, to the point that they were almost identical to those of 25-year-olds.
Osteopathic physician Dr. Joseph Mercola believes that exercise, including weight training, is a natural remedy for poor blood circulation. Many exercisers, however, give little or no time for weight training because they think it’s too strenuous and will cause them to “bulk up.”
But weight training isn’t about looking like an underwear model. Weight-bearing exercises can help produce beneficial changes in your body, on the chemical, enzymatic, hormonal and molecular levels. These changes will help prevent or slow down many diseases caused by a sedentary lifestyle, such as diabetes, heart disease, muscle wasting and osteoporosis, Dr. Mercola explains.
So unless you plan to be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger, there’s no need to worry about overly bulking up when you do weights.
When you gain more muscle, you’re also burning more calories, which are consumed even when you are at rest or asleep, and this helps you get rid of body fat.
Weight training does more than tone your muscles and induces weight loss. Weight-bearing exercises are among the most effective treatment strategies against osteoporosis. Taking drugs to improve your bone density is a big no-no for Dr. Mercola, because this is more likely to give you more harm in the long run.
Your bones become more brittle as you age, especially if you’re leading a sedentary lifestyle. Resistance training can help prevent this effect because putting more tension on your muscles also applies more pressure on your bones, which then react by creating fresh, new bone. Also, as you put on more muscle and strengthen your existing mass, you’re also applying constant pressure to your bones.
Weight lifting can also help reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease by lowering inflammation in your body to help keep off visceral fat (commonly known as belly fat), which is deposited in your abdomen to surround your vital organs. Visceral fat has been linked to serious chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, among many other chronic diseases.
Exercise can provide you with an assortment of health benefits but it is just one component of a healthy lifestyle. To fully experience the benefits of exercise, you should also start eating healthy and managing your stress levels.
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