It is not your imagination you do lose muscle mass as you age.

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Don’t take your muscle mass for granted.

We take our muscle mass for granted unless we are body builders. There are five reasons why this happens:

  1. Decrease in testosterone after age 40 for women and 45 for men.
  2. Inactivity is a major cause, remember the old saw, use it or lose it!
  3. Poor nutrition (not enough protein in your diet) taste buds decease and we crave or can only taste sweets so our nutritional balance decreases.
  4. Decrease in the number of muscle fibers especially fast twitch muscles
  5. Increased inflammation throughout your body.

The primary cause of loss of muscle mass is that we create less and less testosterone as we age. These other reasons are outgrowths of that cause. The fact is that the damage is additive, each thing contributes to our having less and less strength and fewer muscles. That is why you see old people hobble and walk slowly with poor balance. It gets harder for us to stand, walk, play golf or anything active as we age. The good news is that there are things we can do to help reduce this damage. Let’s talk about those.

  1. Replace your lost testosterone to the level that was biologically normal for you in your young adult life. Remember the importance of the measure of free testosterone as opposed to total.
  2. As you age you must begin to do resistance training and exercise as well as cardio. You will get the possibility to develop muscles when you get testosterone. You will need to create them through resistance exercises.
  3. Nutrition requires vitamin D, exposure to the sun, curb your hunger for sweets, eat fruits and protein to supplement your diet and satisfy your hunger.
  4. Increase in muscle fibers is a secondary gain to getting your muscle capacity back through the replacement of testosterone.
  5. Inflammation must be addressed In order to resist or avoid the damage of the illnesses of aging. The inflammation is a major sign and a major problem that makes us susceptible to the illnesses of aging. Diabetes and obesity are major causes of this inflammation in your aging body.

This Health cast was written and presented by Dr. Kathy Maupin, M.D., Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Expert and Author, with Brett Newcomb, MA., LPC.,

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