Overcoming Sarcopenia:  Building & Retaining Muscle

As we all know, aging occurs at the cellular level, by evolutionary processes apparently beyond our control.  However, we all also know that events, both planned and unplanned, and lifestyle choices, e.g., patterns of poverty, life long racial-ethnocentric discrimination, and the indulgent consumption of “tasty” or rich foods, play a critical role in how we age.

Managing our skeletal tissue health – i.e., of muscle, tendon, ligament, bone – is recognized as offering outstanding health benefits, as we age.  Of course, this means supplying our bodies with proper food (nutrients) and fuel (oxygen) to keep tissue perfusion (blood flow) at an optimal level.

At the tissue level, we know that lack of regular activity is enough to cause muscles to atrophy even in younger people, a change preceded by mitochondrial dysfunction and death.  Contributing factors include both random gene mutations and epigenetic changes (e.g., SNPs), the loss of fast twitch low capacity Type II muscle fibers with aging, and the erosive/oxidative processes occurring at the neuromuscular junction.

Exercising for health will take regular long term commitment, somewhat like the commitment to swallow handfuls of pills every day.

For how long?  As long we want a high quality of life (QoL).  It is a personal choice, and people should choose the best option for their quality of life, after consulting with their clinical support team.

Realizing the Healer Within requires a pure heart, the ability to see ourselves as we truly are.

Benefits of regular include better mental  e.g., anxiety, depression/ bipolar disorders and unresolving stress patters, and physical health, e.g., reduced risk of hypertension, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, higher levels of confidence, increased energy and metabolism (mitochondria), better sleep, and reduced dependence on the relentless hammer of drug therapies, favored by our overpriced and incompetent sickness care system.

Choose Wisely.