Sarcopenia in aging adults
Sarcopenia is known as age-related muscle loss. It reduces the mobility and function of older adults and causes frailty, which in turn, leads to an increased risk of injury, fractures, sprains, joint dislocations and loss of quality of life.
It is estimated that over 250,000 deaths occur each year as a result of inactivity and progressive muscle loss. Muscle loss begins in our younger years, in between 2035 years old. By 80 years old, you may lose up to 30% of muscle mass, affecting your functional capacity to perform daily tasks without fear.
Preventing sarcopenia should be at the forefront of every aging adult’s concerns when it comes to their health and longevity. Think about your life and how you want to age, base your fitness goals around that vision. Good health means freedom to live how you want. Good health means happiness, joy, well-being, it means experiencing nature, being able to travel and maintaining your memory.
As a wellness practitioner that works with the elderly in a senior care community, I have seen the effects, firsthand, of what sarcopenia does to an individual. The physical pain and depression that individuals experience from sarcopenia is real.
The simplest tasks become highly laborious. Going to the bathroom and losing your balance can be life-threatening in the worst of cases, or in the very least, your either stuck in a wheelchair or you must have your walker with you at all times in order to avoid falls or other injuries.
There are steps to be taken that can prevent such falls from occurring. We can prevent sarcopenia from wreaking havoc on our lives by following a healthier lifestyle with the right diet based on our genetics, with a comprehensive fitness program that helps build and
maintain muscle, strength, power, agility, balance and stability. Maintaining good fitness levels is absolutely paramount for aging well and longevity.
Without fitness, there is no way that you can prevent physical disability. You must work on boosting your strength at least two to four days per week for 2045 minutes in each session for optimal results.
Giving your body the right nutrients is also vital to your success. As with fitness, no one can age well if they’re not aware of what their current diet is doing to their health. We cannot afford to eat whatever we want and expect not to suffer the consequences. A diet that is void of nutrients is bound to lead to disease and disability.
A recent study in the Journal of Nutrition showed a positive correlation between increasing Vitamin C intake and improved lean muscle. Vitamin C helps us produce collagen and carnitine, both of which are essential to our muscle, skin and joint health.
You have likely heard the term “eat the rainbow” when it comes to fruits and vegetables. Individuals who get the majority of their calories from fruits and vegetables that are rich in Vitamin C and other nutrients get the benefit of slower aging, improved physical function, better memory and a healthier immune system, amongst other things.
The importance of preventing and reversing sarcopenia cannot be overstated. Modern medicine has helped us improve our lifespan, but our healthspan is something else entirely. Medicine may keep us alive, but only fitness, proper dieting and supplementation, sleep and stress optimizing tactics can help us live well, minimize pain, and age gracefully. Some tips for preventing and/or reversing sarcopenia include the following:
• Perform regular functional lab testing. Proper lab testing is absolutely essential for determining where you currently stand with regard to micronutrient deficiencies, hormone status, mitochondrial function and more. One of the tests that would be helpful includes the GIMap test, neurohormone testing and the Organic Acids tests. These tests provide vital information that can help you see what is missing in your diet and give you actionable steps to take to tailor your nutrition plan toward your actual needs.
• Know your genetics. In addition to lab testing, a genetics test can provide insight as to what nutrients you are likely to have an increased need of consuming through the diet and through targeted supplementation. Certain genetic variants can tell us if we’re high risk to having a nutritional deficiency and also how much fat, protein and carbohydrates we should be consuming daily.
• Plan your meals. Once you have done the labs and genetic testing, you can now start planning out your weekly meals that will include plenty of colorful fruits and veggies to help you detoxify your organs of unwanted substances that plague your health. With a good nutrition counselor, you can customize your meal plans to ensure that you’re getting the right levels of nutrients necessary to thrive.
• Stay active with a muscle enhancing fitness program. Staying active is essential, but there is a proper way to do things so that you don’t hurt yourself. If you are 60 and older, it would be beneficial to find a fitness expert that specializes in working with older adults. A functional aging expert that thoroughly evaluates his clients’ functional abilities is necessary for developing a successful program. You’ll also want to consult with your physician as well; this is something your fitness professional will do during the evaluation process. Having the approval of your physician before starting a fitness program ensures that we keep you safe from potential injury and that we maximize the effectiveness of your program. Good programs not only enhance muscle strength and function, they also improve your flexibility, mobility, balance, and stability. A good fitness program works well when you take the above steps toward developing a tailored nutrition program. Exercise can only be efficacious when the necessary nutrients are present to handle the functions of the muscle.
Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list of things you should do to prevent age-related muscle loss, but these are the essential first steps that I advise on taking for best results. A poor lifestyle affects us in so many ways and hinders our way of life.
We become bound to the chair, bound to our fears of falling, bound to a life of depressive restrictions if we’re not careful. As a transformational aging expert, it is my hope that you will read this article and decide to want better for yourself.