These 2 MRI images show a cross-section of the legs of two senior adults with totally different lifestyles.
In short, if you don’t use it, you lose it.
As cliché as it might sound, this is exactly what’s happening to most ageing adults.
The moment you are born, your muscles become larger and stronger until about the age of 30.
Beyond that, physically inactive adults can lose as much as 3% to 5% of their muscle mass per decade.
And after the age of 50, muscle mass decrease ramps up to a whopping 12% – 24% every 10 years!
So what is this silent killer of elderlies which most people don’t talk about, that could be creeping up on you without you being aware of?
It goes by the name of Sarcopenia, which is defined as a musculoskeletal illness that affects the elderly and causes them to lose muscle mass and function at a faster pace.
Yes, we’ve all heard and known about Osteoporosis.
Simply put, sarcopenia has to do with our muscles just like what osteoporosis does to our bones.
The loss of muscle mass not only will cause the loss of movement ability and independency, it could actually result in early death due to nasty falls, fractures or concussions.
In the next 4 minutes, you will reveal:
- Causes and symptoms of Sarcopenia
- How to prevent Sarcopenia
And if you ever find this useful by the end of it, please share it to those ageing individuals you care about.
Let’s get into it!
Causes and symptoms of Sarcopenia
There is a debate whether Sarcopenia is caused by the effect of ageing or simply due to the lifestyle ageing people live.
The answer here is BOTH.
As a person ages, due to hormonal changes such as the decrease in testosterone and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), muscle loss can take place a lot easier and quicker.
According to National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), after the age of 30, our body testosterone levels decrease at a rate of approximately 1% per year.
Which also means that a 10% decrease per decade is guaranteed.
Therefore, if nothing is done to maintain muscle mass such as strength training and consuming a well balanced diet, Sarcopenia might come knocking.
Additionally, the saying goes “if you don’t use it, you lose it”, that’s when living an inactive lifestyle is also the culprit.
To make matters worse, having an unhealthy and imbalanced diet coupled with decrease in food consumptions amongst the elderlies could mean that the amount of protein consumed is on the similar linear path to the bottom.
So, what are the symptoms of Sarcopenia?
According to our partner doctor (Dr Ho), Sarcopenia is still a very new concept medically and therefore it isn’t a prevalent subject matter that doctors look into.
The ones involved are likely in the field of sports medicine. “There are ongoing efforts to define the exact parameter being measured in a normal population” said Dr Ho.
He added that muscle mass is somewhat difficult to standardize across age, built size, sex and so on.
Therefore it makes more sense to go through a serial of measurements shown in the diagram alone which involves dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA), grip strength and gait speed test.
How to prevent Sarcopenia
Here are the bad news and good news. The bad news is there are no medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat Sarcopenia.
But the good news is, here are 3 practical, natural and sustainable steps that anyone can start implementing even if you’re old, unfit or have past injuries.
1. Eat well
A nutritious diet with a minimum of 1g of protein per kg bodyweight formula is the go to plan on a daily basis.
Meaning if you are 60kg, you will need to ensure at least 60g of protein is consumed. That’s pretty much 20g per meal if you were having 3 meals a day.
Keep in mind though when consuming chicken and meat of any kind, do your best to opt for skinless poultry and meat.
When it comes to preparation of protein rich dishes whether you’re on a vegan diet or meat based, try to go for steamed, baked and grilled options rather than fried.
2. Move well
As we age, it can be a put off to move the way we did when we were young given that flexibility, strength and endurance are all on a decline.
But that doesn’t mean we should let it just be.
The typical “I’m too old for this or that” mindset needs to go.
Though high intensity workouts and sports are no longer relevant, that’s when a well paced and structured strength training comes into play.
A typical 3x per week full body strength routine should be sufficient and major lifts such as squat, deadlift, bent rows and pushups can be good to start with given that you have gotten a green light from your personal trainer after a movement analysis test and health and readiness consultation.
→ Feel free to request for a consultation at no cost with one of our coaches today.
3. Think well
It might bring tears deep down when you start thinking how fast and strong you were back in the good old days.
But here you are, sitting on a rocking chair with stiff body parts, niggling old injuries and low energy level.
But the only way forward to age gracefully is by having the mind to focus on the now not the past.
It’s also important to focus on what you can do rather than what you can’t.
I once asked my client John Lim (55 years old) why he chose to keep himself active by seeing me 3x per week.
He said he wanted to be able to witness the birth of his grandchildren and at the same time, he wanted independence of movement and mobility so that he didn’t become a burden to the ones around.
That moment, I knew that I had to spread this message out there to as many people as possible, hence why I’m writing this article alongside with coaching ageing adults through a low-moderate strength training program.
Conclusion:
“Don’t wait till you have it” is the advise we will give you as fitness coaches as we are big believers of prevention is better than cure.
Ageing has always been something many ageing adults deem it as out of your control.
But in life, as long as we focus on what we can do to regain control, you might well be on your path to… let’s say reverse ageing?
Or at the very least, age gracefully so that you get to experience even more joy and aliveness in life with the ones you love.
