Two types of exercise you need to do every week after 40 to prevent muscle loss
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People should take part in two types of exercise regularly now to ensure they stay strong and independent later in life, experts have warned. It is thought we start to lose up to five percent of our strength every year after we reach the age of 40. This can have a devastating impact on the body over time, leaving us frail and reliant on external support as we get older. However, there are steps we can take to mitigate this - which we should start as soon as possible.
Writing for Harvard Health, Andrew Budson - a lecturer in neurology at Harvard Medical School, explained that many people experience two troubling changes as they age. These are changes in strength, and changes in coordination. “Changes in strength, swiftness, and stamina with age are all associated with decreasing muscle mass,” he said. “Although there is not much decline in your muscles between ages 20 and 40, after age 40 there can be a decline of one percent to two percent per year in lean body mass and 1.5 percent to five percent per year in strength.”.
He warned that muscle fibres can become smaller in old age. If this occurs, the fibres die. Meanwhile, your coordination can alter due to changes in the brain and nervous system. Andrew continued: “Multiple brain centres need to be, well, coordinated to allow you to do everything from hitting a golf ball to keeping a coffee cup steady as you walk across a room.
“This means that the wiring of the brain, the so-called white matter that connects the different brain regions, is crucial. Unfortunately, most people in our society over age 60 who eat a Western diet and don't get enough exercise have some tiny ‘ministrokes’ (also called microvascular or small vessel disease) in their white matter.
