In recent years, there’s been an increased understanding and emphasis on the vital role that muscle building plays in a long, healthy life.

Acting as a “metabolic sink,” muscles are critical to the absorption and regulation of blood sugar and cholesterol. They reduce the risk of diabetes and other chronic metabolic diseases, trigger greater bone density, and support better brain and tissue health through reduced inflammation.

For older populations, the emphasis on muscle building in addition to cardiovascular exercise takes on even more importance due to concerns over frailty and the normal loss of muscle with aging, called sarcopenia.

“For a long time, from a medical and health benefit standpoint, there was a lot of emphasis on cardiovascular exercises, which I absolutely think is vitally important,” says Dr. Jessica Schwartz, a concierge medicine physician at Jupiter Medical Center. “Now we’re realizing that your overall metabolic health—in addition to blood pressure and heart function—is largely regulated by your muscle mass.”

Exercises for cardiovascular health are central to a well-rounded fitness regimen, along with stretching to support recovery and decrease injury risk. “But we’re missing a large piece of the pie by not focusing on muscle mass as people get older,” Schwartz says. Seniors who are frail and have sarcopenia “are much more likely to not be able to do activities of daily living, which are vitally important for independence.”

A METABOLIC SINK

The idea of the muscles as a metabolic sink comes, in part, from the role they play in absorbing about 80 percent of post-meal glucose—sugars consumed as carbohydrates—from the bloodstream. More muscle means more sugar stored safely for use later as energy. It also means the compound benefits of more efficient sugar absorption. “I would almost call them a sponge,” Schwartz says of muscles, which store about 75 percent of the body’s consumed sugars.

Less muscle, conversely, can lead to insulin spikes, worsening insulin resistance, and ultimately a host of metabolic diseases impacted by what Schwartz calls the neurotoxic effects of excess sugar in the bloodstream. “When you have all this excess sugar just sitting in the blood, that’s when it starts to cause inflammation in the arteries. It causes damage to the nerves. It affects the small vessels in your kidneys and in your brain and in your eyes,” she explains. “It causes all these issues related to diabetes. All that sugar causes an inflammatory cascade.”

The metabolic benefits of muscle go beyond glucose absorption. They also improve cholesterol by pulling in and breaking down more fatty acids and working in conjunction with the liver to help regulate cholesterol. “People with more muscle have better utilization of their cholesterol,” Schwartz notes. “They have better good cholesterol, which is your HDL, and ultimately lower bad cholesterol, LDL.”

Because muscle burns more calories than fat, even at rest, increased muscle mass also is associated with a better resting metabolic rate, itself a key factor in weight management and other health measures.

Bone density, another age-related concern, benefits from more muscle mass, too. Taxing muscles during exercise triggers increased blood flow to the bones, supplying critical nutrients like calcium and Vitamin D.

Schwartz tells patients, “The stronger your muscles are, the stronger the bones are underneath” and explains the constant “evolution” of bone composition through simultaneous growth and loss, which worsens with age. “You have a mismatch between how much bone turnover is happening versus bone growth.”

USE IT OR LOSE IT

The good news: it’s never too late to work on building muscle. “I feel very strongly that if you do not use it, you will lose it,” she says.

Tests for grip strength and the ability to go from sitting on the floor to standing provide important barometers of overall health and longevity. A body scan known as a DEXA scan also provides a measure of a person’s relative muscle mass.

Muscles on average make up between 30 and 40 percent of individual body weight but vary by age, gender, and fitness. Because muscles are mostly made of protein, a diet rich in protein also is the standard recommendation for building muscle.

For newcomers of any age, Schwartz says it’s important to start “where you are physically and progress from there.” That can mean using only body weight for resistance at the outset before adding weight over time. “The way to muscle growth is through progressive overload— the continual addition of extra weight to always be challenging the muscles,” she says. “Anything that challenges the muscle counts.”

LET'S GO!

If you are new to strength training, find a certified trainer to help guide you through proper techniques to prevent injury. A great place to start is Jupiter Medical Center’s Cary Grossman Health & Wellness Center, a state-of-the-art facility that offers weight-training equipment and trainers as part of a full-service menu of wellness disciplines. Learn more: 561-263-5775 or jupitermed.com/locations/cary-grossmanhealth-wellness-center.