Our Muscles : Use Them or Lose Them

Our Muscles: Use Them or Lose Them!

Why maintaining muscle strength as we age is about so much more than keeping fit

We often think about keeping our hearts healthy, looking after our joints and maintaining a healthy weight. But how often do we stop to think about the health of our muscles?

Our muscles are quite remarkable. They allow us to walk, climb stairs, carry shopping, get out of a chair, maintain our balance and enjoy all those everyday activities we sometimes take for granted.

As we get older, looking after our muscles becomes increasingly important — not just for fitness, but for maintaining our health, confidence and independence.

What happens to our muscles as we age?

From around our 30s and 40s, we gradually begin to lose muscle mass. This process can accelerate as we get older, particularly if we become less physically active.

Age-related loss of muscle mass and strength can eventually lead to a condition known as sarcopenia.

You may already have noticed that muscles seem to lose strength more quickly than they once did, or that recovery following an injury takes longer.

If you’ve ever had to spend time resting after an illness, an operation or an injury — or have cared for someone who has — you may have seen just how quickly muscle strength can decline when we stop moving.

Interestingly, we can lose muscle strength faster than we lose muscle size. This is partly because ageing also affects the communication between our nervous system and our muscles.

Our muscles are made up of thousands of tiny fibres, controlled by signals from our brain through our nerves. As we age, some of these connections become less efficient, affecting our strength, coordination and reaction times.

This is one reason why balance can become more challenging and why movements that once seemed effortless may require a little more concentration.

The encouraging news is that our muscles retain a remarkable ability to respond to exercise, even in later life.

Why does muscle health matter so much?

Having healthy muscles isn’t about looking muscular or lifting heavy weights. It’s about keeping our bodies functioning well.

And the benefits extend far beyond being able to carry a heavy shopping bag!

Better balance and fewer falls

Strong muscles help support our joints, maintain good posture and keep us steady on our feet. Combined with balance exercises, maintaining strength can help reduce the risk of falling.

Healthier blood sugar levels

Our muscles are one of the body’s main stores of glycogen, the stored form of glucose that provides energy for movement.

Muscles also play an important role in regulating blood sugar. Regular physical activity helps our muscles use glucose more effectively and improves insulin sensitivity, reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Stronger bones

Our muscles and bones work together. When muscles pull against bones during resistance exercise, they stimulate the bones to maintain their strength.

This becomes particularly important as we age and our risk of osteoporosis increases.

Supporting heart and metabolic health

Maintaining muscle strength and being physically active can help improve blood pressure, body composition and metabolic health, all of which contribute to reducing cardiovascular risk.

Supporting brain health

Research increasingly suggests a relationship between muscle strength, physical activity and cognitive health.

Although there is still much to learn, maintaining physical fitness may play an important part in keeping our brains healthy as we age.

Supporting recovery from illness

Muscles act as an important reserve of protein and amino acids, which our bodies can draw upon during periods of illness or recovery.

Having healthy muscle reserves may help us cope better with the physical challenges that illness, injury or surgery can bring.

Maintaining independence

Perhaps the most important benefit of all.

Being able to get up from the floor, climb stairs, carry luggage, enjoy a walking holiday or play with grandchildren is something we all want to continue doing for as long as possible.

Our muscles help make these things possible.

So, what can we do to protect our muscles?

The good news is that we can make a difference at almost any age.

We don’t need to become weightlifters or spend hours exercising. What matters is giving our muscles regular opportunities to work, alongside good nutrition and adequate recovery.

Include some resistance exercise

Walking is a wonderful form of physical activity, but to maintain and improve muscle strength, we also benefit from exercises that challenge our muscles against resistance.

This doesn’t necessarily mean lifting weights.

It could be:

Getting up from a chair several times without using your hands.
Doing gentle squats or step-ups.
Using resistance bands or light hand weights.
Carrying shopping or doing physically demanding gardening.
Practising controlled heel raises while holding on to a stable support.

The important thing is that the exercise provides enough resistance to challenge the muscles safely.

The NHS recommends that adults include muscle-strengthening activities on at least two days each week, alongside regular aerobic activity.

Research has shown that even people who have been relatively inactive can make significant improvements in muscle strength within a matter of weeks.

Think about the protein on your plate

Protein is essential for maintaining and repairing our muscles.

As we age, our muscles can become less responsive to the protein we eat, making it particularly important to include good-quality protein regularly throughout the day.

Useful sources include:

Fish, chicken and lean meat.
Eggs and dairy products.
Beans, lentils and pulses.
Tofu, nuts and seeds.

Rather than having most of our protein at one meal, spreading it across breakfast, lunch and dinner can help support muscle maintenance.

Don’t underestimate sleep and recovery

Our muscles need time to repair and adapt following exercise.

Good-quality sleep is essential for this process, as is allowing sufficient recovery between more demanding activities.

Being active is important, but so is giving our bodies the opportunity to recover.

Keep moving throughout the day

It is easy to think that once we’ve been out for a good walk, we’ve done our exercise for the day.

But what we do during the remaining hours matters too.

Getting up regularly, using the stairs, gardening, carrying shopping and generally keeping active all contribute to maintaining our physical capabilities.

Even small amounts of additional movement can make a difference, particularly if we spend long periods sitting.

It’s never too late to make a difference

One of the most encouraging findings from research into ageing is that our muscles can continue to become stronger, even well into our 70s, 80s and beyond.

We may not build muscle as quickly as we did when we were younger, but improvements in strength, function and confidence are still very achievable.

And this is something worth thinking about.

We often measure our fitness by how far or how quickly we can walk, but perhaps we should also consider how easily we can get up from the floor, climb a flight of stairs, carry something heavy or maintain our balance.

These are the everyday movements that help us remain independent.

The aim isn’t necessarily to live longer, but to remain healthier, stronger and more capable throughout the years we have ahead of us.

So perhaps this week, think about one small thing you could do differently. It might be a few chair rises, some gardening, a little more protein at breakfast or simply making an effort to move more regularly throughout the day.

Small changes, repeated consistently, can make a real difference.

After all, looking after our muscles today is an investment in what we want to be able to do tomorrow.

And surely that’s what staying fit and healthy is really all about — continuing to enjoy the people, places and activities we love, with the confidence to keep saying YES to new opportunities.