In everyone's impression, obesity is often closely related to high blood lipids, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, etc., and is the public enemy of the elderly, so there is a saying that "it is difficult to buy the old and thin", as everyone knows...
Being too thin is equally dangerous!
In geriatric diseases, there is a disease with "thinness" as the main feature, called sarcopenia, which is mainly manifested as a decrease in muscle mass and decreased muscle function.
In fact, the amount of muscle in the human body has begun to gradually decline after reaching its peak around the age of 25-30.
40-70 years old, 8% reduction in muscle mass every 10 years;
After the age of 70, muscle mass decreases by 15% every 10 years.
This is originally a normal aging process, however, if the muscle mass and the rate of muscle strength decline exceed the normal range, resulting in significant weight loss, general weakness, slow walking, and even frequent unexplained falls and other symptoms, we must be vigilant about the possibility of sarcopenia!
So, is there an easy way to help us self-test for sarcopenia?
According to the standard, we can self-evaluate the following five questions, and finally add up the scores to get a total score, to simply self-test whether sarcopenia occurs.
Is it difficult to lift an object of about five kilograms?
Can I walk around the room on my own without an assistive device?
Is it possible to get up from a chair or bed without arm support?
Is it difficult to climb 10 steps?
Have you had any unexplained falls in the past 1 year?
The total score of < 4 points indicates that there is no risk of sarcopenia, and you can be screened again after a period of time;
The total score of ≥ 4 points indicates a risk of sarcopenia, and it is recommended to seek medical screening in time and actively carry out treatment.
For the treatment of sarcopenia, it is mainly divided into three aspects: nutritional supplementation, exercise, and drug treatment.
Most elderly people, through nutritional supplementation and exercise, can play a good role in maintaining muscle function.
Generally, only when the decrease in muscle mass is very serious, or because the muscle mass is too small, affecting the treatment of other diseases, it is necessary to use drugs such as growth hormone, androgens, and insulin regulators to increase muscle.
/ Nutritional Supplements /
Muscle synthesis relies mainly on protein, and increasing protein intake can reverse muscle loss to some extent.
Therefore, it is recommended to consume 1.0-1.5g/kg body weight per day, especially animal protein, such as choosing whey protein extracted from milk (1000g of milk can extract 7g of whey protein, which can greatly reduce the burden of eating).
Muscles share a common pathway with bone metabolism, so supplementation with 800 units of vitamin D daily is recommended to also improve muscle content and muscle function.
/ Impedance Training /
Effective exercises that increase muscle content are called resistance training, such as lifting dumbbells (or replacing them with mineral water bottles), pedaling bicycles, swimming, etc.
You can also use elastic bands, sandbags, etc. to exercise muscle strength according to the actual situation, preferably sweating slightly, and then gradually, insisting on 3-6 months.
If the elderly have osteoarthritis and cannot do exercises such as pedaling bicycles, they can also perform hydrotherapy, such as walking in the water, swimming, etc., to reduce knee resistance through the buoyancy of the water, and at the same time, the effect of anti-resistance exercise can be achieved.
Of course, no matter what kind of exercise method you choose, what kind of intensity you exercise, you need to decide under the guidance of a doctor. In addition, the elderly should also pay attention to avoid falling in life.
The bone of the elderly is more fragile, which is easy to cause serious fractures, resulting in long-term bed rest, increasing the risk of lung infection, respiratory failure and even death.
In fact, to prevent the occurrence of sarcopenia, not only the elderly population needs to pay attention, from the beginning of thirty or forty years old young and middle-aged people should pay attention to increase exercise, store muscles, eat a balanced diet, and ensure protein intake, in order to achieve the effect of maintaining muscle function.
References: Medical Microvision official website - Kang Lin, Deputy Chief Physician of Sarcopenia