I have WHAT?? Getting Wise About Sarcopenia

Sarcopenia means muscle wasting. It is the decline in muscle mass beginning around age 40. It is partially responsible for declines in strength and power associated with growing older. Data from the National Institute on Aging reveals that “only 11% of people 85 and older engage in any regular exercise…and fewer than 15 % of people 65 and older do any regular strength training at a time in life when sarcopenia…contributes to some of the most troubling, and preventable, conditions of old age.”

Maria Fiatarone Singh is a professor at the University of Sydney School of Medicine. For the past 25 ears, her name has been seen frequently on much of the research investing the effects of regular strength training for older adults. “If I had to do only one thing for the frail older person, it would clearly be weight lifting exercise, and not any other form of exercise, ” she said. Here’s some of the data she’s collected from studies spanning those years:

• nursing home residents soon doubled and tripled their strength with an appropriately intense resistance exercise program (1988)
• people who suffered hip fractures and engaged in a year of weight lifting after injury reduced nursing home admissions and mortality by more than 89% compared with other therapies (2003)
• balance exercises and strength training programs significantly reduced falls among older people (2012)

Dr. Singh and others contend that up to 95% of all older people can safely engage in regular exercise, even those with chronic conditions such as arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. In fact, many problems that are common in older adults are simply the result of low levels of fitness. Read the story of a 102  year old man who began working with a personal trainer three years ago here: http://www.timesofoman.com/Features/Article-354.aspx

For more information about the role of nutrition and resistance training in treating sarcopenia, view this 5 minute interview with Professor Roger Fielding of the Jean Mayer United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. (http://sarcopenia.com).