8 reasons why aging people must care about muscle loss
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8 reasons why aging people must care about muscle loss
If our age is just a number, then why do we feel older than we are? Your muscle age may be older than your biological age because of lifestyle. From operating your heart, digesting food, and opening an umbrella, everything requires muscles so it is in your best interest to care for them. Here we explore the reasons why preserving their muscles is important for seniors along the way as they age.1
8 Reasons Why We Must Care for our Muscles
Aging is natural and along the way you get to experience all the wonders life has to offer like friends, grandkids, world progression, and fruits of our labors. Muscle loss may be a natural effect of aging but losing them rapidly, also termed “sarcopenia,” is not.
Here are areas of life that muscle loss can affect one’s quality of life. 1, 2
- Potential Injuries
Weaker muscles mean you have less control over your extremities so your balance is compromised. Because of a weakened cellular response with muscle loss, the injuries and fractures received from the fall take longer to heal. - Mobility
Weakened control over their extremities affects mobility. With the loss of mobility, independence is lost in the elderly which can also affect their mental health. - Weight
Obesity: Seniors who are overweight will have more visceral fat that inhibits proper muscle function. That combined with muscle loss due to aging, a senior is at risk of getting other health complications.
Underweight: muscle loss can also lead to unexpected weight loss in the elderly. Since muscle health determines the general well being of the body, a senior who is losing more than usual may have to change their diet or get physical therapy. - Heart
Our heart is the hardest working muscle in our body. Rapid muscle loss can affect its function, which has an impact on cardiovascular health. - Insulin Resistance
Muscles use blood glucose to function. If there are less muscles to process it, oxidative stress occurs, which leads to other health side effects like Type 2 Diabetes and more muscle loss. - Assisted Care Difficulties
Low muscle strength leads to pressure sores and delayed healing so care is hard to find for seniors. Because an elderly is more prone to injury, demanding physical therapy to regain muscle becomes more complicated. - BreathingRespiratory muscles weaken as you age. If you or a senior you are taking care of already has a respiratory complication, they will have additional side effects if their muscle loss is not paid attention to.
- Quality of life
Even in young adults, having a higher muscle mass than fat is linked to a better quality of life. After determining your muscle mass to fat ratio from a Medical Professional, you can help a senior to add more physical activity if they are able. If they have limited mobility, you can reduce fat with a healthy meal plan.
It is never too early to start caring for your muscles. It can simply be done with getting enough of the nutrients that support muscle health with some amount of exercise each day. If you find doing it with food is difficult, look for the help of nutritional replacements like Ensure Gold. Formulated with 28 vitamins and minerals, and HMB (a metabolite of essential amino acid leucine, a building block of protein for muscle health) to fill in where food cannot.1, 2, 3
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