Do not lose your muscles over time!
If we do not exercise regularly, we start to lose our muscles from the age of 40.
Walking is very good and necessary for heart health, but it does not prevent your muscles from melting. Especially at the age of 60, muscle loss increases enormously.
In order to spend your life in a good and healthy way, the muscle strength should not decrease excessively and you should also be careful that the muscles do not lose volume as much as possible.
If you do not try to maintain your muscle strength at your current age, it will be more difficult to collect them in the future.
What is sarcopenia?
Sarcopenia is a name we use for muscle wasting. Sarco means 'muscle', 'penia' less. When the skeletal muscle tissue decreases with sarcopenia, that is, with age, you will not be able to perform your functions as you wish. If you cannot understand how a child is growing up next to you, or if you cannot notice how your belly is getting fat and growing, you cannot notice that their muscles are melting.
Muscles are not just tools used in doing work. How important they are is noticed when there is weakness. Joint pains begin immediately, because the muscles reduce the loads on the joints.
Gaining weight on the one hand and losing weight-bearing muscles on the other hand is one of the most difficult skeletal problems to deal with.
Low back pain and knee pain start like this.
You may become more and more dependent on tools, then on other people at a very advanced age. When surgery is required, recovery becomes difficult, physical treatments become difficult, etc.
How does sarcopenia start from the age of 40? What are the reasons?
As I mentioned above, sarcopenia starts to appear in our 40s.
Among the causes of sarcopenia, we can list many reasons such as nervous and balance system disorders, chronic inflammatory diseases, insulin resistance, hormonal changes, indolence, chronic illness and poor nutrition.
Meanwhile, our muscle tissue normally makes up more than 50% of our body mass. Our muscles protect us not only physically but also metabolically. Muscle mass is very important for us to control our blood sugar levels, use glucose as fuel, and insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
As a result, muscle loss can lead to poor health outcomes, fatigue, loss of function, injury, fall risk, fractures.
Muscle mass and protein synthesis are in a steady cycle. Our bodies are constantly breaking down muscle protein and, on the one hand, rebuilding or synthesizing muscle protein in its place. When muscle breakdown exceeds construction, we begin to lose muscle mass. This occurs at the micro level (daily shifts) and at the macro level (over the long run). Every night muscle breakdown exceeds muscle building speed. Reaching a state where muscle protein production exceeds muscle protein breakdown should be the main goal.
There are 3 basic needs for our muscles to be repaired, and these do not mean one by one. These:
1. Resistance exercise
2. Diet and proper protein intake.
3. Dietary supplements to increase muscle mass and muscle protein synthesis?
Exercise
Even a 90-year-old person has been shown to increase in muscle mass when starting resistance exercise.
1 hour of exercise is 1 hour, and believe me, a person who has exercised will have to deal with much less chronic disease than someone who does. In this case, the saying that nothing will happen from me remains idle.
Not doing exercise because I have back and leg joint pains and being content with daily activities such as walking and housework do not change what can happen in old age. With this simple daily routine, you cannot keep bone fractures, chronic pain due to muscle wasting, and becoming unable to do your own thing.
There are now dozens of good exercise videos that you can find on the internet and even around you. By age, for diabetics, for those with impaired balance etc etc… So these videos are the cheapest and simplest way to learn how to exercise. Of course, it is possible to work from home through platforms or with personal physiotherapists during this epidemic period.
It is best to get some guidance at the beginning of a resistance training program. Which muscles should you use? How to exercise large muscle groups that will be more metabolically active. Of course, depending on what you prioritize, an exercise program is made. Priority should be given to your legs, thighs, thighs and hips for a healthy life and risk of falls. These are our biggest muscles and will have the most significant impact on our metabolism. These are also muscle groups that will minimize our risk of falling. In addition, as you exercise and your nutritional attention and blood fat will return to normal, you will also eliminate many related diseases.
I would like to answer a fear here. Exercise does not increase arthritis! When exercising properly and gradually, you will avoid back pain or exercise injury. Yes, I hear patients who come to me often afraid to exercise. They are very afraid of harming themselves. This is a reasonable fear. Injuries can occur if you do resistance exercise. However, one should be more afraid of the effects of sarcopenia. You should be more afraid of becoming fragile. Of course, trying to walk with a cane is worse because they lose their balance and strength. The risk of falling and dying from muscle wasting is much higher than the risk of injury during exercise.
Types of exercise indispensable in a program:
Balance exercises
Leg exercises
Resistance exercises
If you have heart or respiratory distress, you can consult your doctor first and continue with a program that will relax you.
Inactivity is much more dangerous than movement, movement is abundant!
2. Nutrition
Adequate protein intake is required for muscle building. Keep in mind that you need 1-1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. Protein consists of amino acids. These are the building blocks. Of all the amino acids available, Leucine is the most important. Assuming a basic minimum of leucine essential and other amino acids is present, resulting in adequate muscle protein synthesis. Of course, protein is found not only in animal origin, but also in plant-based foods.
Based on the recent literature, 10 grams of whey protein + 5 grams of Leucine has the same effect as 26 grams of whey protein to get an average sufficient base on muscle protein synthesis.
3. Let me answer the questions about the muscle building supplements from here. There is scientific literature supporting the use of creatine to build muscle mass for those of you who exercise. Creatine works by getting into the muscle cell and bringing water to the cell with it. So you increase the size of each muscle cell. A larger muscle cell can generate more strength. A larger muscle can physically help you avoid injury after a fall. Creatine raises your blood creatinine level. This is not something we want creatine to rise. Creatinine tells us how well your kidneys are working. If it increases, your kidney's ability to filter your blood decreases. Creatine-based increases in blood creatinine levels do not mean reduced kidney function. Creatine itself is metabolized into creatinine and therefore can cause an increase in your blood creatinine levels. It is not necessary to use creatine, which is used by those who want to gain a more intense muscle mass, or bodybuilders use for a long time. But it can be used in intense exercise periods for those who do not have internal disease problems.