Tips to prevent muscle loss in aged
While the average person starts to experience muscle loss in their 30s, the most notable decline tends to occur in the late-50s. If consistent training is not maintained, muscle strength and mass can shrink by 10% to 15% per decade after the age of 50..
Here are certain tips for preventing muscle loss in elderly people.
(1) Simple exercises
Walking:
A walking workout routine may stimulate muscle growth or prevent muscle loss in inactive people. But it likely won't build muscle in highly trained or active people. These groups will need to do something more challenging, such as walking up hills or stairs.
Walking is a great way to improve or maintain your overall health. Just 30 minutes every day can increase cardiovascular fitness, strengthen bones, reduce excess body fat, and boost muscle power and endurance.
Walking can help prevent some of the muscle loss that may occur when cutting calories to lose weight. This helps minimize the drop in metabolic rate that occurs when you lose weight, making the pounds easier to keep off.
Walking tones your leg and abdominal muscles – and even arm muscles if you pump them as you walk. This increases your range of motion, shifting the pressure and weight from your joints to your muscles.
increased cardiovascular and pulmonary (heart and lung) fitness. reduced risk of heart disease and stroke.,improved management of conditions such as hypertension (high blood pressure), high cholesterol, joint and muscular pain or stiffness, and diabetes. stronger bones. Although walking will help strengthen your muscles, walking alone isn't going to create the big, bulky muscle mass that comes from heavy lifting in the gym. Instead, it helps to strengthen your muscles and gradually create leaner, toned muscles in your lower body.
If you prefer activities that do not require equipment, try some that use your own body weight instead. Pushups, squats, planks, hip lifts and dips are just some of the numerous equipment-free resistance training options. Yoga can also build muscle using body weight while improving flexibility and reducing stress.
(2) Strength training excercises:
Seniors who work at it, however, can still make strength gains. “Research shows that, even into your late 80s, your body still has the potential to build muscle mass,” Stacy Schroder, director of wellness at Masonic Village at Elizabethtown, said.
Your healthcare provider may recommend progressive resistance-based strength training. This type of exercise can help improve your strength and reverse your muscle loss.A strength exercise is any activity that makes your muscles work harder than usual. This increases your muscles' strength, size, power and endurance. The activities involve using your body weight or working against a resistance.
"The best way to limit the extent of loss of muscle strength is by staying physically active all through life,” says Calabrese. “But if you've been sedentary and have lost strength, the answer is still exercis
Basic strength trainings:
Mastering the various movement patterns before you add an additional load, like dumbbells, should always be a top priority, as it helps decrease your risk of injury and will help you lift more weight down the road, There are five basic moves: squat, hinge, push, pull, and core.
Strength training can help you manage or lose weight, and it can increase your metabolism to help you burn more calories.
Enhance your quality of life.:
Strength training may enhance your quality of life and improve your ability to do everyday activities. Strength training can also protect your joints from injury.
Resistance exercises appear to be particularly effective, including using resistance bands, lifting weights or doing calisthenics like squats, push-ups and sit-ups.
Resistance exercise like weight training is one of the best ways of reversing the loss of muscle mass as you age. It benefits both men and women. Both groups typically lose muscle mass because levels of testosterone or estrogen go down as you age.
(3) High quality protein in your diet:
High-quality protein – Eating protein-rich foods will benefit your muscles by delivering necessary nutrients to help the body build and maintain muscle mass. Eggs, poultry, cheese, milk, beans and peanuts are some examples of nutritious high-quality protein foods
To maintain your muscle mass, you need to make sure you're maintaining a sufficiently high protein intake — Worthington recommends aiming for 2gm of protein per kg of body weight. So if you weigh 70kg, you should be trying to consume 140 gm of protein every day..You can’t just exercise and not eat properly, and you can’t just eat properly and not exercise,” Calabrese says. Eating protein‑rich foods to help build muscle is the key.
“To build muscle, you need 0.45 gram of protein per pound of body weight,” Calabrese says. For example, a person weighing 140 pounds should eat 63 grams of protein a day (140 x 0.45). Good source are milk, cheese, eggs, poultry, fish, peanuts and beans.
Protein is critical, but you also need carbohydrates, which is the energy source your body uses to be able to exercise. Middle- and older-age adults should not be on a low-carbohydrate diet. But be sure to choose healthy carbohydrates. Vegetables, fruits and whole grains are preferable to highly processed foods. Whole, fresh foods also have vitamins and other nutrients your body needs.
The foods to help build and keep muscles for seniors:
One part of a healthy diet for senior health is plenty of eggs,Dairy Products. ,Meat.,
Fish. ,Beans.,Nuts.
Protein Powder.
(4) Vitamin D:
Vitamin D stops age-related muscle loss:
Vitamin D may be protective for muscle loss; a more alkalinogenic diet and diets higher in the anti-oxidant nutrients vitamin C and vitamin E may also prevent muscle loss..
Vitamin D plays an essential role in muscle growth and development and in regulating muscle contractility]. Numerous studies in animals and humans have demonstrated the effects of vitamin D deficiency on various aspects of muscle cell function
The results make sense, researchers said, since vitamin D is known to help with muscle repair and contraction. People can avoid vitamin D deficiency through careful sun exposure, eating foods rich in the vitamin, or taking a supplement.
It helps you fight off lots of diseases and keeps your immune system strong. Scientists have found that this amazing vitamin can even make your muscles bigger and stronger! We all know that a vitamin D deficiency can result in weak bones and may increase the risk of developing colorectal and breast cancer.
Vitamin D deficiency means you don't have enough vitamin D in your body. It primarily causes issues with your bones and muscles. Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that your body uses for normal bone development and maintenance.
Check your vitamin D levels: Vitamin D helps with muscle protein synthesis, which helps build muscle strength. Sun exposure is a source of vitamin D, but it takes four times as long for people over age 60 to receive vitamin D through sun exposure. A vitamin D supplement can be used, but always consult with your physician before starting a new supplement.
Dose:
Adding an over-the-counter vitamin D supplement can make improvements in just three to four months. Vitamin D with a strength of 1000-2000 international units daily is the recommended dose for most adults,” Dr. Ropte says. Most multivitamins contain vitamin D, so extra supplementation isn't always necessary.
(5) Reduce stress:
Sarcopenia is also more common in a number of other health conditions that increase stress on the body.
For example, people with chronic liver disease, and up to 20% of people with chronic heart failure, experience sarcopenia .
In chronic kidney disease, stress on the body and decreased activity lead to muscle loss.
(6) Increase Your Omega-3s:
For instance, there are reports of clinically-relevant gains in muscle size and strength in healthy older persons with omega-3 fatty acid intake as well as evidence that omega-3 fatty acid ingestion alleviates the loss of muscle mass and prevents decrements in mitochondrial respiration during periods of muscle disuse.
Omega-3s, found in salmon fish, walnuts and flaxseeds, are anti-inflammatory and can easily be added to your diet. Inflammation causes muscles to break down, so by consuming anti-inflammatory omega-3s, you can improve the rate of muscle protein synthesis.
LOmega--3 fatty acid helps with muscle loss:Recently, studies have investigated the effect of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on muscle mass, strength, and function.
A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis conducted to quantify the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on muscle mass, muscle volume, and muscle function parameters found a positive effect of omega-3 supplementation on overall body muscle mass and strength.
Information compiled by Dr.Bhairavsnh Raol
