Avoid Weakened Muscle’s Disasters
Most people do not realize that the loss of lean muscle mass later on in life is NOT an unavoidable effect of aging, but usually comes from simple inactivity. Most people become less physically active after the age of 30, which coincides with an increase in muscle loss. Much like the loss of sight or hearing, many accept this as a normal and unstoppable consequence of getting older even though it is not. To reduce this trend, maintain a normal level of health consciousness, with exercise and a healthy diet being the central focus. This is especially important as our bodies become older, because the eventual outcome of inactivity is often the loss basic muscular strength and even the ability to take care of ourselves. When muscles weaken due to lack of use, lifting simple objects becomes harder if not impossible without injury, the risk of falls and other weakness related injuries increases, and the very ability to maintain healthy activity becomes almost unthinkable, making the effects of inactivity exponential.
One statistic that should motivate you to keep up with muscle activity is the fact that almost one quarter of all people of retirement age or above who have a fall that results in a fractured hip will live no more than one full year after the accident. The main reason for these falls is that the inactive person soon weakens to the point that regular balance during walking is severely effected. Even if you have never been involved in heavy physical activity before in your life, before this happens to you, considering strength training for you muscles should definately become a part of your everyday activities.
There are several benefits to even the lightest forms of muscle strength training, just a few of which are listed here.
- An increase in lean muscle mass- This adds to not only your ability to lift and maintain body strength, but also aiding in the burning of calories essential to maintaining proper weight control.
- Increased bone density- As we age, our bodies begin to lose the ability to efficiently process calcium for bone strength. Strength training helps to maintain bone density, warding off significantly the chances of hip fractures, broken wrists, and other forms of bone injuries that can seriously debilitate your ability to remain active in the future.
- Decreased blood pressure – Exercise, not only provides you with a stress release, but as a result, has an active ability to keep blood pressure at a manageable level, further reducing the chances for heart disease, strokes, and hypertension related disease.
- Lower cholesterol levels and decreased obesity risks- Cholesterol and weight gain seem to be constant enemies as we get older. Muscle strength training helps to control these two factors, sometimes much more effectively than medicine alone can.
Insomnia 1Many people suffer from a sleep disorder known as insomnia. Insomnia is caused by many different factors including stress and an irregular sleep cycle. Most people opt for the chemical method of dealing with it because it doesn’t take any effort or thought. Take a pill, go to sleep. What they don’t consider is the side effects that come from these types of pills, not the least of which is addiction.