Sarcopenia: Another reason to get off our ass and out the door

Sarcopenia "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sarcopenia is the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass (0.5–1% loss per year after the age of 50), quality, and strength associated with aging.[1] Sarcopenia is a component of the frailty syndrome. It is often a component of cachexia. It can also exist independently of cachexia; whereas cachexia includes malaise and is secondary to an underlying pathosis (such as cancer), sarcopenia may occur in healthy people and does not necessarily include malaise. The term is from Greek σάρξ sarx, "flesh" and πενία penia, "poverty".

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/03/well/live/preventing-muscle-loss-among-the-elderly.html

A quote from the NY Times article: In 1988, "Walter R. Frontera and colleagues at the Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University demonstrated that 12 previously sedentary men aged 60 to 72 significantly increased their leg strength and muscle mass with a 12-week strength-training program three times a week."

Conclusion: To maintain our ability to play over the long term we need to be healthy enough to pick up our instruments, get out the door, and survive a few hours of playing. Twelve weeks of strength training, at any age, apparently does wonders. So does a healthy diet, proper rest, and social contact. 

See you at the gym.

Best,

David 

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