Here’s Why Declining Strength & Movement Are Red Flags for Your Aging Score… Please Keep Reading

We live our daily lives aging quietly. Accepting the “usual” way to age with a picture of continuing physical decline creates fear and uncertainty.  Watching our family members and friends decline and eventually lose their independence and lose their homes to be taken care of in unfamiliar settings by people you don’t even know… 

It can feel like you’re… losing control of your own life, becoming disconnected from your family and choices are made by others.

And if you’re anything like most of the people in our community, your intention is to stay healthy and remain independent in every facet of life.

I’m here to tell you that by believing the common and usual beliefs around aging, dismal results are the commonplace.  By embracing the truths of your body's abilities and challenging these common myths, you can break through and thrive.

What Most People Don’t Know About Declining Strength & Movement During Aging

Did you know you start losing muscle mass around age 40? It gets even worse from there.

At  age 50  there is an 8% muscle loss over the next decade.

At age 60 the muscle mass loss rises to 16% over the next 10 years.

At age 70 the loss rises to 40% and at age 80 the muscle loss loss is 50%.

This is typically accepted as just “part of aging”

It is estimated that you can lose 1 percent of your lean muscle mass each day you spend in bed. Spending three to five weeks immobilized can lead to a 50 percent decrease in muscle strength, according to the Institute on Aging. Lack of movement can also affect your organs, appetite, heart rate and other functions.

The exciting thing is there is research showing older adults at ANY age can increase their balance and physical strength.

Most Drs ignore the evidence and write the decline off as usual aging without ever taking action to restore strength.

A small amount of people are realizing the power we have to change this false belief.

So if you’re noticing your physical strength and movement in general is declining but you want to know how to prevent this from continuing, this is the most important thing you’ll read.

Here’s How Declining Strength & Movement Is Making You Feel Older Than You Are

Based on your quiz results, you’re showing signs and symptoms of a  decline in physical strength right now, here’s a breakdown of why it’s likely behind how you’re feeling right now.

Here’s what’s happening in your body...

We begin to lose muscle loss around age 40. 

It can be alarming to see the decrease over decades of aging. It happens so subtly that it often goes unnoticed.  What’s important to know is that skeletal muscle is a dynamic tissue that composes approximately 30 to 40% of body weight along with up to 75% of body protein in healthy adults that influences energy metabolism and physical performance. Muscle loss is a multifactorial process involving physical activity, nutrition, hormonal and metabolic changes.  

Functionally skeletal muscle plays a key role in postural control, movement, bone health, balance and promotes independence.   The reduction of skeletal muscle during aging is often called sarcopenia. 

At the physiological level, muscle loss can be viewed as a  condition where the anabolic signals are lost systemically leading to an imbalance within skeletal muscle. The results are protein breakdown that overrides synthesis and results in a net loss of muscle contractile protein.This loss is related to a decline in growth hormone, insulin growth factor as well as sex hormones and particularly testosterone.    

Skeletal muscle is primarily composed of myofibers that contain sarcomeres  involved in the contraction forces of muscles. This is important because muscle strength is related to contractile proteins found in myofibers. Those myofibers specialize in fast and slow twitch fibers.  

The regulation of muscle mass and strength depends upon a balance between protein synthesis(anabolism) and muscle protein breakdown(catabolism) in myofibers.  The pathways are heavily influenced by endocrine messages and by nutritional cues related to the availability of amino acids.  

The mechanisms involve the wasting of contractile proteins leading to decreased muscle mass as well as inefficient contraction and coordination leading to decline in strength.  

Another systematic contribution to muscle loss and sarcopenia is the chronic low grade inflammation that is associated with aging and chronic stresses we all live with.

Aged related oxidative stress impacts muscle contraction limiting the calcium release and contraction along with mitochondrial dysfunction.

Cellular quality plays a role involving autophagy (cleaning of the cells) which is required to maintain muscle mass. Aberrant autophagy leads to muscle dysfunction. 

Exercise and physical activity are the most dominant protective factors.Lack of regular contraction leads to both systemic and cellular defects that trigger poor performance through an imbalance protein synthesis/degradation  altered bioenergetics, and degeneration of neuromuscular transmission. 

Nutrition plays a direct role.

The biological processes of macronutrient and micronutrient absorption and metabolism are impaired affecting muscle mass.  The role of dietary proteins along with amino acids directly affect musical protein synthesis.

Protein intake is generally low in aging people and deficiencies are commonplace. Vitamin D deficiency is also common in sarcopenia.  Other nutrients B12 are common too. The ability of amino acids to stimulate muscle protein synthesis is also impaired. So on top of the low protein consumption diary proteins are not as efficient in aging individuals.   

Here are the hidden signs and symptoms that a decrease in physical strength/movement  is controlling your life.

• List the main symptoms people listed from the survey’s as a checklist
• Slower Reactivity
• Decreased Bone Density
• Decreased Sense of Balance
• Decreased sense of strength to do activities lifting and moving objects

The bad news is: your declining strength & movement are contributing to your rapid aging.

The good news is: There is something you can do about it.