Sarcopenia (muscle loss)

Sarcopenia, the fancy word for muscle and strength loss, is common in the over 50’s (affects around 10% of adults), but is something we should all be conscious of, regardless of our age – prevention is far better and easier than cure. You might think this is a normal and unavoidable symptom of growing old, but it’s actually something we can control / reverse / limit. Fighting Sarcopenia can improve your quality of life and halt a decrease in life expectancy. It isn’t something we should just accept and roll with – we all want to enjoy our golden years and be mobile and healthy enough to enjoy our retirement and Grandchildren, right?

What is Sarcopenia?

Quite gruesomely, it translates to ‘lack of flesh’. Gross right? It’s an age-related muscle disease, born of an imbalance between signals for muscle cell growth and muscle tear down. As a result, people begin to look flabby, but not necessarily appearing to have any more body fat – things just look looser and floppy. The over 40’s generally lose 3% of muscle strength every year, if you are hoping to live until you are in your 80s or 90s, that’s a whole lot of muscle strength lost, which can have some very limiting side effects.

Causes of Sarcopenia

Ageing

Sarcopenia is mostly an age-related complaint, as we age, of course this takes an expected toll on our bodies — however, your lifestyle can absolutely open you up to a greater risk to this disease.

Disease

Chronic disease, such as; Crohns, lupus, tuberculosis, COPD and colitis can result in inflammation that disrupts the signals for the teardown and healing of muscles, this then results in muscle loss.

Sarcopenia that has a primary cause that is disease-related is harder to reverse, but can be achieved where the muscles themselves can still be used.

Inactivity

A recent paper from Alfonso J Cruz-Jentoft and colleagues published in the Age and Ageing Journal observed that a sedentary lifestyle and a lack of physical activity further contributes to the development of the disease. K.E. Bell and colleagues from the Journal of Frailty and Ageing explored the consequences of muscle disuse and found that just 2 weeks of reduced activity can be enough to reduce muscle mass. 

Poor diet

It’s a fact that a diet that is insufficient in calories and protein will result in weight and muscle mass loss. Long-term extreme calorie deficits are not healthy, and where there is a short-term deficit to achieve needed weight loss to bring an individual to a healthy weight range, this must be supplemented with sufficient protein. Give this article a read for detailed, practical advice on how to lose fat, not muscle mass.

Signs of Sarcopenia

As you’d expect, the main sign is a visible loss of your muscle mass :( You may also have problems lifting an object you could previously lift, or/and may have issues with your grip strength. We all remember helping Nanna open the tin of pickles at Christmas right? That’s probably due to a loss of grip strength. 

A 2016 paper by The Sulwon Award for Scientific Achievement winner, Prof. Hak Chul Jan, found that you may also experience slower walking, reduced mobility and a feeling of being easily exhausted. 

How do we stop Sarcopenia?

Honestly, we can’t reverse or stop the ageing process — I’d be a rich man if I could unlock that door for you. But, amazingly, a combination of resistance, cardiovascular and balance training can prevent and even reverse muscle loss. It’s moments like these that I appreciate how amazing my job is that I can give you this information that will literally change your life and make you live a longer and healthier life.

Resistance Training

Surprise, surprise, as with many other health issues, regular resistance training is your best weapon in the fight against Sarcopenia. It’s the optimal way to increase mass (reverse) and prevent loss (stop).

A randomised controlled trial of 57 adults aged 65–94 at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging found that performing resistance training three times per week increased the individual’s muscle strength over 12 weeks.

Check out these effective resistance training exercises for the over 30’s (and just about anyone else too!)

Cardiovascular Training

Most studies including aerobic training have been carried out in conjunction with resistance training, there have been successful results, but there is little evidence that this was due to the aerobic element and that the results would have been the same without resistance training. 

There is, however, a randomised controlled published in the Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise Journal did an examination of CV only training and found positive results. 

Walking

Ahh, walking, such a simple, accessible, cheap, relaxing, de-stressing and social activity that everyone can do. And guess what? It can also prevent and reverse Sarcopenia. Is there anything that a good walk can’t achieve? A cross-sectional population-based study by S Askin and colleagues indicates that the faster you walk, the better, so get your trainers on, grab your dog, or the kids and get walking.

Diet

Sarcopenia can be caused by diet, so it logically follows that you can absolutely make changes to your diet that encourage muscle building.

So here’s the obvious one. Protein. Protein. Protein. 

Protein increases muscle growth, that is true for people of all ages. Protein can both stop and reverse the disease, so get a protein source into every meal and focus on foods rich in protein such as meat, eggs, fish and whey.

A brief review by Stuart M Phillips found that Omega-3 fatty acids are believed to help signal muscle growth and have anti-inflammatory benefits. Stock up on a good quality supplement or seafood in order to get in your daily dose.

Creatine can also be consumed alongside resistance training in order to increase your performance and therefore reap more benefits from training. If you want to better understand the benefits and health risks that may be associated with creatine, check out this blog article: Is Creatine Safe?. 

You might be reading this thinking, “I’m 30 years old, I don’t need to worry about this yet, I’ll worry about this when I’m 40”. Well, as with most things in life, prevention is better than cure. Putting the right foundations in place now and being the healthiest version of you, will not only make you look and feel great today, but it’ll mean that when you do hit 40, you actually don’t have to worry about this stuff.