Strong, healthy muscles help you live an active life and work to support your skeletal system, helping you move, lift, balance and even circulate blood through your body. As you age, muscle mass and strength naturally decline—also known as sarcopenia—and this decline can begin as early as 30 years old. By age 80, a person can have up to a 50% decrease in muscle mass.
However, aging doesn’t have to result in less muscle strength, and there are ways to help keep your muscles strong over time. Even if you’ve been relatively inactive throughout most of your life, maintaining—and even building—muscle strength as you age is possible.
The Importance of Maintaining Muscle Strength
It’s normal to lose muscle mass, strength and function with age. Declines in certain hormones (namely testosterone) and neurological health, increased inflammation, environmental causes and changes in activity and the way our cells produce energy can all play a role in the development of sarcopenia, among other causes. Obesity, inactivity and a poor diet may increase your risk as well. Overall, the condition affects up to 50% of people 80 and over[2].
With the loss of muscle mass and strength comes some significant health risks. Research shows that people with age-related muscle loss and/or loss of strength are at an increased risk of falls, fractures, disability and even death. Loss of strength may also prevent them from living independently and, due to limited physical mobility, may increase feelings of social isolation and depression. One study reports that nearly 70% of those with sarcopenia (or who were suspected of having the condition) were depressed, compared to just 21.5% of those without sarcopenia[3].
What’s more, when muscle mass declines and fat mass increases (known as sarcopenic obesity), you have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Research shows that people with sarcopenic obesity have a higher risk of these health complications than those who suffer from sarcopenia or even obesity alone.
While the effects of aging, such as low muscle mass, weakness and mobility limitations, may not affect our health and well-being until our 70s or 80s, the cause of those changes begins long before, according to Nathan K. LeBrasseur, Ph.D., director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at the Mayo Clinic and an exercise expert with the American Federation of Aging Research. “Given we achieve peak muscle skeletal mass and strength in our 30s or 40s, being attentive to what tasks are becoming more challenging over the next several decades is important,” he says. “This might include getting up off the floor, rising from a chair or lifting household items.”
Tips for Maintaining Strength As You Age
Maintaining muscle strength as you age requires a multifaceted approach. While diet and exercise take center stage, other healthy habits, like maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking, play crucial roles.
Exercise
Exercise is essential throughout life, but it becomes particularly important as we age, as it helps protect us from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, strokes and even some types of cancer. It also helps our mental health and the ability to perform daily activities.
If you’re concerned about building or maintaining muscle, experts point to resistance training (for example lifting weights or using resistance bands) as the best form of exercise for these purposes.
“Resistance training challenges muscle in a way that initially promotes better communication with the nervous system and then [muscle] growth,” says LeBrasseur. “This is referred to as hypertrophy. Even in late life, resistance exercise training can have marked benefits on skeletal muscle mass and, even more importantly, skeletal muscle strength.”
In a recent review of 14 studies of more than 500 healthy adults over the age of 65, resistance training was shown to be an effective measure of improving muscle strength and performance in older adults with sarcopenia.
“In general, the intensity (how much weight, how many reps, how many sets, how much recovery between), duration (how long the session lasts) and frequency (how many days a week) are the key variables and should be tailored to a person’s current fitness level,” says LeBrasseur. He also notes that high-intensity resistance has been known to increase leg strength and muscle size—and that it’s never too late to start.
However, that doesn’t mean you should give up your brisk walks or weekly tennis game for weightlifting in the gym.
“Aerobic exercise is also important,” says Thomas Buford, Ph.D., a professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s division of gerontology, geriatrics and palliative care and director for the Center for Exercise Medicine. “It’s important for oxygen utilization, vascular health and mitochondrial (structures within cells that change energy from food into usable energy for cells) health,” he says. “I’d recommend people get 10 to 30 minutes of activity that gets their heart rate up four-to-five times a week, and aim for resistance training two-to-three days a week.”
Limit Alcohol
Studies show that heavy drinkers tend to have lower muscle strength and more muscle wasting than people who don’t drink heavily. These results hold true even after adjusting for factors like age, sex and body mass index (BMI). This may be due to the fact that alcohol can interfere with protein synthesis (a biological process that helps build muscle), according to researchers. Alcohol consumption may also be associated with having a poor diet and malnourishment, both of which can contribute to loss of muscle and muscle strength.
Quit Smoking
How smoking affects muscle is hard to ascertain, says Dr. Buford, as smoking is often seen in tandem with other unhealthy habits, like having a poor diet or a sedentary lifestyle. Smoking may also impair the amount of oxygen muscles receive, causing them to weaken. One study shows that men who smoked 100 grams of tobacco per week reduced their knee muscle strength by nearly 3% while women saw a reduction of 5%.
Eat a Well-balanced Diet With Plenty of Protein
Protein is one of the building blocks of muscle, and not eating enough protein can lead to a loss of muscle mass. Research also shows that people who consume high amounts of protein (found in lean meats, fish, low-fat dairy, eggs, legumes and nuts) score higher on tests measuring grip strength and gait than those with lower protein intake.
One study of nearly 3,000 people found that those who consumed high amounts of protein (median was 92.2 grams of protein per day) had a 30% lower risk of functional integrity and frailty than those who had lower intakes of protein (the median was 64.4 grams per day.
While protein is important, so are other healthy nutrients like vitamin D and B vitamins. In fact, some studies suggest that vitamin D—found in fatty fish and fortified foods like milk—may help regenerate muscle, and a lack of certain B vitamins—found in enriched whole grains, eggs, meats and other foods—may lead to muscle loss.
“I don’t think there’s any one macronutrient you should be focusing on,” says Kristina G. Balangue, M.D., a geriatrician and clinical assistant professor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix. Your diet is dependent on your weight, your health goals and any disease factors you may have, she adds. “For example, someone who is hypertensive may need to eat a diet that’s low salt and low fat. If you’re increasing how much you exercise, you may need more carbohydrates [for energy]. You want to focus on a diet that maintains the integrity of your health.”
Dr. Balangue also recommends visiting your health care provider for a general blood test to see if you’re deficient in any essential nutrients, and consulting with a nutritionist who can offer advice about a specific diet for building muscle.