A new study revealed what happens to the muscles of a person as get old and what is the best way to keep them in shape despite the passage of time.
Roger Fielding, director of the USDA Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, and his team of researchers conducted a new study to figure out how much the years affect the muscles of people.
Both old and young build muscle in the same way. But as it
get old
many of the biological processes that convert exercise into muscle become less effective.
This makes it more difficult for older people to build strength, but it also makes it that much more important for everyone to continue to exercise as they age.
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How muscles change when you age
The studypublished on The Conversation portal, revealed that in the muscles young people, a little exercise produces a strong signal for the many processes that trigger muscle growth.
Instead, in the muscles of the elderly the signal that indicates to the muscles they grow is much weaker for a given amount of exercise. These changes begin to occur when a person reaches around 50 years of age and become more pronounced as time goes on.
The researchers questioned whether the changes in signaling were related to any changes in some genes and how many of them respond to exercise, so, using a technique to measure changes in thousands of genes, they discovered changes in the expression of more than 150 genes. genes in young men when exercising.
On the other hand, they found changes in the expression of only 42 genes when they looked at older men.
How to stay fit as you age
Even though the muscles of older adults do not respond to exercise as well as younger people, this should not discourage adults from exercising. On the contrary, it is a signal that more exercise should be done as get old.
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This same
study
showed that although responses to training decrease with age, they are by no means zero.
Similarly, it was found that older adults with mobility problems who participate in a regular program of aerobic and resistance exercise can reduce their risk of becoming disabled by about 20 percent.
In conclusion, while the very young can become stronger and develop muscles much faster than older people, the latter still reap incredibly valuable health benefits from exercise, including increased strength, physical function, and reduced disability.
With information from The Conversation
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