Ageing actively

As we age, we slow down so we lose muscle and gain weight, but we can fight back against the middle-age spread, writes Niki Bezzant

In my mid-40s, I discovered what I’d suspected for a while: though I was not overweight, I had, in the preceding decade, lost muscle and gained fat. Though outwardly I looked lean-ish, inside I was not. And I was not very strong. I’d been part of Explore, a large study by Massey University looking at women’s dietary patterns and physical activity, and how this affected body composition: how much of us is made up of muscle mass, and how much of us is fat.

My changing body composition was not unusual. As we age, men and women lose muscle and gain fat. (Contrary to popular myth, muscle does not turn into fat). With loss of muscle is a loss of strength and balance, something many women worry about. In a recent Stuff audience survey, 86 per cent of respondents said they wanted to change something about their diet or exercise routine, and women were especially keen to improve their strength, with 46 per cent reporting this.

The loss of muscle mass happens naturally with age, and it starts in our 30s. Scientists say we lose an average of 0.4 to 0.8 kilos of muscle a decade. At its extreme, this loss of muscle is known as sarcopenia, and in older people it can be dangerous, because a lack of strength means we’re more likely to have a life-shortening fall, and a lack of muscle means our bones are less protected.

Muscle loss is accelerated if we’re inactive and, as muscle mass decreases, fat tends to increase. Our metabolic rate also drops as we age, so it’s a recipe for middle-age spread – and weakness. In a downward spiral effect, the less muscle we have, the less efficient we are at being able to burn fat, so more fat tends to pile on.

For women, there’s an added factor. We can’t underestimate the effect of the hormonal shift of perimenopause and menopause, when we lose the protective effects of oestrogen and testosterone on muscle. Muscle mass and strength loss is accelerated by these hormonal changes, and it occurs at an earlier age than in men, around the time of menopause (this is around 51 for New Zealand women). One study noted women can be weaker at 65 to 69 than men aged 85 to 89.

Exercise physiologist Kylie Harwood, director at the Exercise Well clinic on the Ka-piti Coast, notes menopause also has an important impact on our bones, since one of the roles of oestrogen is to help maintain bone density.

“When we go through menopause the reduction in oestrogen increases the breakdown of the bone, so our bone mineral density gets lower,” she says.

So what can we do about muscle loss? Is it preventable? The short answer is yes, to a point. Some muscle loss is inevitable. But we can do a lot to rebuild and maintain muscle and strength as we age.

It starts with moving our bodies, and pushing them a bit. “The best thing you can do is to make sure you stay physically active all throughout your life,” Harwood says. “And, in particular, include some strength training or some high-intensity of vigorous exercise, or something that’s making you move fast.”

Weights are your friend. And they should feel hard and keep increasing, Harwood says. “It should feel hard with the last few repetitions that you’re doing, and when it starts to feel easy again, then you know you’re ready to increase your weight.”

Once we start exercising, we need to keep going, so we don’t make gains and then lose them again. “The key thing is to be consistent,” Harwood says. “Don’t start and stop”. And don’t think you’re too old to start exercising.

“We teach people in their 70s and 80s to improve their bone and mineral density and improve their muscle mass. You can start at any time. But the earlier we start, the better.”

What and how we eat is also important for our muscles. Bearing in mind that drop in metabolic rate, at midlife we might need to start eating a bit less, and making sure what we do eat is giving us the best nutritional “bang for [your] buck”.

Protein is key for building and maintaining muscle mass. Harwood says this is even more important as vegetarian and vegan diets become more popular. She says it comes down to personal preference, the type of protein foods we eat, just as long as we get enough.

“Protein broken down in the body all looks the same, so you want to make sure you’re getting enough of it. When you’re going through a period of your life where you’re exercising more, or if you’re going through a period where you are losing more muscle, you want to make sure you have more protein. Having some with every meal is the easiest way to make sure you’re getting enough.”

The quality of the food we eat makes a difference, too. The Explore study found that women who had what they call a “refined and processed” eating pattern weighed more and had higher body fat, as well as more “android fat” (fat around the middle) than women who ate a less processed diet, even when they were eating a similar number of calories.

Finding high-intensity strength training made a profound difference to my body. In a year, I lost significant fat and gained muscle, and the squidgy bits that were developing in places receded.

Five years on, I feel strong and prepared for whatever menopause, and old age if I’m lucky enough to get there, might throw at me.