Muscle is the Next Big Thing in Longevity
We all want to feel and look as good as possible for as long as possible. Who wants to become dependent on medications and nurses to partake in normal daily activities? Many people feel a long life is only appealing if you can run with your kids, grocery shop, clean your house, pick up your grandkids, and remain physically active.
But the real question is: How do we maintain our autonomy?
What if I told you that walking daily and exercising with cardio was only a quarter of the equation? That eating healthily, using your brain and sleeping well was only another. The other half?
Strength training.
Your muscles grow larger and more robust from birth to when you turn 30. But you lose muscle mass and function at some point in your 30s. Muscle loss is referred to as sarcopenia and can be life-threatening.
We are getting weaker every year, and if we are not strength training, we can become frail and riddled with disease.
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If you’re not lifting weights with progressive overload, your muscles are going to dim at an even faster rate. Dr Gabrielle Lyon is an incredible functional medicine practitioner and board-certified family medicine physician and is shedding light on the importance of building muscle. She founded the Institute for Muscle-Centric Medicine and is working to stop people from obsessing over fat loss and start focussing on muscle gain. She stresses that the biggest organ in your body is skeletal muscle and is famous for saying, “We aren’t over-fat; we are just under-muscled.” Because we have “an unhealthy muscle problem which is leading to diseases and chronic aging.” |
The best way to do this is through fasting. Give yourself a break from food occasionally.
A lot of the ‘middle-age spread in women and men (but particularly women at peri-menopause) is due to insulin resistance. Your body’s ability to deal with sugar!
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For all those diehard biohackers out there asking, what about mTOR*? Don’t we want to decrease our protein intake? Think of mTOR as a double-edged sword. You want to activate and deactivate mTOR. We want it activated to build muscle and increase energy, then deactivated to clean out our system through autophagy. *What is mTOR? mTOR, or mechanistic target of rapamycin, is a crucial protein in our bodies that plays a significant role in regulating cell growth, proliferation, and survival. It acts as a central regulator of various cellular processes, including protein synthesis, autophagy, and metabolism. When activated, mTOR promotes cell growth and proliferation, leading to an increase in muscle mass and energy production. However, prolonged activation of mTOR has been associated with accelerated aging and age-related diseases. Therefore, understanding how to modulate mTOR activity through factors like nutrition, exercise, and fasting is essential for promoting longevity and overall health. |
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The best way to do this is through fasting. Give yourself a break from food occasionally.
A lot of the ‘middle-age spread in women and men (but particularly women at peri-menopause) is due to insulin resistance. Your body’s ability to deal with sugar!
Muscles help us control our glucose levels and use glucose as fuel, so instead of thinking of fat as the main cause of health issues, we need to think of the lack of muscle as the problem.
Building muscle is an integral component of your longevity routine. It provides us with the independence we all hope for as we age. Women, in particular, need to prioritise lifting heavy and eating enough protein to counteract the hormonal changes that occur during menopause. This is about building muscle to build Longevity.