Old age comes with a lot of vulnerabilities. From the loss of eyesight to body weakness, there are so many health risks that accompany old age. And now, older adults are at a higher risk of dying from COVID19 than their younger counterparts.
However, there is also another less recognized health risk associated with the corona pandemic, and which poses an equally greater risk to many old people. From the time you are born to around the time you turn 30, your muscles increase in size and become stronger.
As you get past the age of 30 however, you start to lose a significant muscle mass, and eventually become weak. The case is even more severe in people who don’t exercise regularly. They lose as much as 3% to 5% of their muscle mass after every ten years.
That doesn’t mean that physically active people don’t lose muscle mass. Regardless of the number of physical exercises you do each day, you will still lose muscle mass at some point.
Any explanation for muscle mass loss?
The natural loss of muscle mass due to old age is referred to as sarcopenia. While there isn’t any specific test or level of muscle mass loss that will diagnose sarcopenia, any loss of muscle is a concern because it affects the overall performance of your body.
Sarcopenia is more common in older adults above the age of 75. However, it can also speed up as early as the age of 65. The reduction in muscles leads to a reduction in physical strength.
When you lose muscles, everyday activities like climbing stairs, lifting objects and walking become unnecessarily tiresome and difficult. The most major causes of this old age condition are lack of proper diet and physical inactiveness,
Does it only affect the less physically active?
As earlier mentioned, sarcopenia may come early for some people, while late for others. It all depends on your diet and physical fitness routine.
While it’s true sarcopenia is more prevalent in people who are inactive, the truth is that it equally affects physically active people. It therefore means that apart from staying inactive, there are also other factors that contribute to its development.
There have been numerous types of researches around the same, and eventual studies have revealed that these factors could also contribute to loss of muscle mass:
- Insufficient intake of calories and protein which are needed to sustain muscle mass.
- Imbalance of some hormones like growth hormone and testosterone.
- Decrease in the ability to turn protein into energy
- The nerve cells responsible for sending signals from the brain to the muscles to start movement reduce in number
Symptoms of sarcopenia
The symptoms are not identical for every individual. They vary depending on how much muscle mass a person has lost.
- General body weakness
- Decease in muscle size
- Difficulty in climbing stairs or any raised ground
- Little or no endurance
In summary;
A decline in muscle mass may not seem like a big concern to many people. Nonetheless, muscle loss can result in body weakness which may result in frequent falls and frailties. You can buy sarms supplements online to help control the rapid muscle loss that comes with old age.
