Here’s what doctors say you need to know about muscle health and how to maintain it.
What happens to muscle as you age
Skeletal muscle fibers are cells, but unlike many cells in the body, they don’t divide. They bulk up by joining together.
Not using your muscles causes them to atrophy or shrink as the muscle fibers get smaller. Starting at age 30, adults lose about 0.8% of their muscle mass each year, mostly due to a lack of physical activity and changes in metabolism that lead to less protein reaching the muscle.
How to tell if you’re losing muscle
Doctors can perform a series of tests to determine the health of your muscle, ranging from walking and grip-strength tests to blood tests, scans, or biopsies if they are concerned about more severe muscle conditions.
But there are also red flags you can spot on your own to and bring up with your doctor. The first is noticing any changes in your ability to conduct daily activities, such as carrying bags, opening jars, or climbing stairs. Noticing changes in the number of pushups you can do—if those are part of your baseline—or whether it’s harder to get out of a low chair can also provide hints of changing muscle strength. If it takes you longer than 15 seconds to get up and sit down in a chair five times, for example, you might have reduced muscle strength, says Dr. Guillem Gonzalez-Lomas, associate professor of orthopedic surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center.
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