Muscle Strength is Key To Living Healthier, Longer

If you’re looking to add years of health to your life, the answer may be in your muscles. Longevity experts are continuing to see the significant impact muscle tissue has on health, especially in our later years.  

“Longevity is about living a long life, and health span is being able to live a healthy, active life within those years,” explains Matthew Fourman, MD, FACS, FASMBS, a weight loss surgeon with ProMedica Physicians and diplomate of the Board of Obesity Medicine. “Muscle is by far the most important contributing factor to a prolonged health span.”

Dr. Fourman partners with Icaria, Powered by ProMedica, a precision health and wellness center located in Toledo and serving the region. He says that while there are many factors associated with longevity and health span, maintaining a healthy body composition with strong muscle tissue is vital. 

How Muscle Tissue Impacts Healthy Aging

Muscle tissue naturally declines with age. That loss of muscle can have a negative impact on our movement, functionality, balance, sleep, blood glucose and even purpose. 

“One of the accelerants of death is a loss of purpose and meaning,” says Dr. Fourman. “Even into the last decade of our life, we want to be able to do things that we enjoy.”

Whether it’s gardening, walking with friends or playing with grandchildren, muscle tissue is at the core of our physical abilities. Strengthening muscle tissue through resistance training can help prevent injury and disability, which can be especially alarming in our later years.

Preventing Falls

One of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among older adults is a fall that leads to a hip fracture. In fact, older adults with hip fractures are three to four times more likely to die within one year after surgery than the general population.   

“Muscle is what moves and stabilizes your bones,” says Dr. Fourman. “If I step off a curb that’s higher than I thought, can I stabilize myself? Am I going to be able to get back up? All of that is an indicator of how much muscle you have and how functional your muscle is.”

Fighting Bone Density Loss

The loss of bone density is also a concern for aging adults. Women, especially, are prone to bone density loss due to the natural decline of bone-protecting estrogen as they age. Adequate calcium intake and hormone replacement therapy can both help, but a third factor comes down to resistance training. 

“Bone density responds to load-bearing activity. By adaptation, your bones will become stronger if you put them under tension,” explains Dr. Fourman. 
That means that the same thing that strengthens your muscles also strengthens your bones.

Dr. Fourman summarizes: “To increase functionality as we age, we have to try to build strong bones and build strong muscles; you cannot do that if you’re not doing resistance training.” 

Strengthening Your Muscle Tissue

Strengthening muscle tissue comes down to two key elements: resistance training and consuming enough protein.

Resistance training means using weight or force to increase muscle strength and endurance. Dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells and bands can all be used to increase the demand on your muscles. 

While cardiovascular exercise is essential for heart health, not all cardio stimulates active muscle growth. Dr. Fourman recommends doing resistance training in addition to cardio or finding ways to combine the two in one activity. For instance, you could carry weights on walks and take breaks to do squats or arm exercises. Or, you could enjoy exercise that naturally combines resistance training and cardio, such as rowing. 

“Remember, what’s heavy in terms of resistance training is going to be different from person to person,” explains Dr. Fourman. “Anything beyond your own body weight is going to be beneficial, because your bones are used to moving your own body weight. If you put additional load on the bones and muscles, it will force them to adapt.”

Consuming enough protein is also important because protein helps muscles repair and rebuild muscles. According to the National Library of Medicine, the daily recommended intake of protein for healthy adults is 10% to 35% of their total calorie needs. More may be needed to support your muscle maintenance or growth. Talk with your primary care provider about the right amount of protein for your body. 

Tracking Your Body Composition for Longevity

If you’re interested in tracking your body composition, here are a few tools that can help:

• Mirror and measuring tape: Body composition doesn’t have to be complicated. When trying to build muscle and/or lose fat, track your progress in a mirror. You can also take photos to see progress over time. Measuring your arms, waist and thighs can also help determine if you are gaining dense muscle and losing fat, which takes up more space on your body.
• Grip tester: Tracking your grip strength over time can help you determine your strength, which is a reflection of your muscle tissue.
• At-home body composition scales: The accuracy of these is sometimes unreliable, but it’s a fantastic tool for those who want to take their health journey beyond a typical scale. Tracking your trends over time is more important than individual values. This will give you a better look at your overall body composition and health.
• Clinic-grade body composition scanners: These clinic-grade scanners are more dependable than at-home scales.
• DEXA Scan: Typically used as a bone density test, a DEXA scan is considered the gold standard for determining body composition.
• Preventive full-body MRI: In addition to providing early cancer detection, and showing brain and organ health, preventive full-body MRIs provide insight into an individual’s body composition. 

Healthy Weight Loss for Living Longer

Tracking muscle strength is especially important for those who are trying to lose weight. Studies have suggested that as much as one third of an individual’s weight loss can be from non-fat lean mass.

“It is vitally important when maximizing our long-term health to focus on selectively reducing fat and at least maintaining muscle tissue as much as we can while losing weight,” says Dr. Fourman. “I like to bring people’s attention towards the importance of measuring body composition as opposed to just tracking weight.”

The number on the scale doesn’t tell the full story of health. An individual’s weight is the combined weight of multiple elements, including muscle, bone, fat, organs and water. Body composition, however, can give valuable insight into the makeup of an individual’s body. For instance, how much of their total weight is total body muscle or total body fat. 

Again, Dr. Fourman recommends resistance training and enough protein intake to at least maintain muscle tissue while losing fat. At-home body composition tools can help individuals track their muscle gain and body fat loss over time.

“For a patient, I may say, ‘Let’s try to lose 2% of body fat while maintaining body muscle.’ That’s a lot more meaningful and more fun for patients to meet those metrics as opposed to obsessing over pounds on the scale,” says Dr. Fourman.

The Driver of Longevity

Longevity is more than just adding years to your life; it’s ensuring that even in your later years, you have the vitality to continue doing what you love. Maintaining a healthy body composition with strong muscle tissue will help you be functional longer.

That’s why longevity experts agree: Muscle is a key driver of longevity.