The gorgeous tail feathers of male peacocks, the gentle singing throat of male kingfishers, and the mane of lions are all sharp tools for attracting females and obtaining mating rights, and the 6-pack abs of human males also play a similar role.
Studies have shown that women prefer muscular men and are more willing to go on short-term dates with muscular men than men without muscle.
Correspondingly, muscular men also consider themselves more sexually attractive to women, having more sexual partners and having less of their first sexual encounter than other men.
Not only small fresh meat needs muscles to add sexual charm, old bacon also needs muscles to maintain health, with aging, muscle reduction, muscle strength decline, muscle function degradation, will lead to middle-aged and elderly people fall, weakness, increased risk of death.
Sarcopenia is defined as progressive, decreased muscle mass and/or decreased muscle strength or decreased muscle physiology associated with increased age. Patients may present with weakness, easy falls, difficulty walking, slow gait, slender extremities, and weakness, and their diagnosis depends on an assessment of muscle strength, muscle strength, and muscle mass.
It is easy for the public to associate sarcopenia with "old and thin", but middle-aged and elderly people with moderate stature or even obesity may also suffer from sarcopenia, and some people look "like", just because subcutaneous fat replaces muscle and supports the contours of the body.
Figure Note: a. Muscle b. Fat
The prevalence of sarcopenia in the elderly in Asia is not low at all, about 6.8%-25.7%, after the age of 40, the human muscle content began to decline, after the age of 75, every decade fell by 15%, coupled with insufficient protein intake, reduced exercise, chronic wasting diseases, will promote muscle loss in the elderly, resulting in the occurrence of sarcopenia.
It is also very simple to check whether you are likely to suffer from sarcopenia, the circumference of the male calf is< 34 cm, the female < 33 cm, you can also use the index finger and thumb of both hands around the thickest part of the non-dominant calf, if the measured calf is just right or smaller than the "ring", the risk of developing sarcopenia will increase.
The picture is compiled by the Department of Geriatric Medicine of Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Nian Yuan
You can also self-evaluate through the Simple Five Scoring Questionnaire (SARC-F) scale, and middle-aged and elderly people with a total score of >4 points need to go to the hospital for further examination.
A recent study in The Lancet's journal EClinicalMedicine revealed an important link between muscles and cardiovascular health in middle-aged and older adults – the risk of cardiovascular disease increased by 72% in people with sarcopenia, compared with 29% in people with underlying sarcopenia! From this point of view, for cardiovascular health, people to middle age, really "muscle" can not be lost!
The data for the study comes from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a 2011 study that collected data on middle-aged and elderly people over the age of 45 across the country to analyze the aging population in mainland China.
The study is divided into two parts: horizontal and longitudinal studies:
Transverse studies are used to compare the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in patients with sarcopenia and in non-patients;
Longitudinal studies were used to compare the onset of new cardiovascular disease in patients with sarcopenia and non-patients over a 3-year period (2015-2018).
In the transverse study, the average age of the participants was 60.6 years, and the proportion of people with potential sarcopenia (possible sarcopenia) and sarcopenia was 24.3% and 7.7%, respectively. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, including age, sex, education level, marital status, area of residence, and health-related factors such as BMI, smoking, alcohol consumption, and chronic illness, the researchers found that:
Compared with the asymptomatic population, the risk of cardiovascular disease in the potential sarcopenia and sarcopenia increased by 29% and 72%, respectively, of which the risk of heart disease increased by 17% and 55%, respectively, while the risk of stroke was more significant, 118% (2.18 1.60 2.97) and 170% (2.70, 1.75 4.16), respectively.
In the ensuing longitudinal study, 11,836 participants who had no previous cardiovascular disease had a total of 1273 new cardiovascular disease events over an average follow-up period of 3.6 years.
Compared with people without sarcomia, the risk of new cardiovascular disease in the potential sarcopenia and sarcopenia increased by 22% and 33%, respectively, of which the risk of heart disease increased by 6% and 21%, respectively, which was not very significant, but the risk of stroke increased by 59% and 67%, respectively.
It should be pointed out that in the case of no decrease in muscle strength and muscle physiological function, the risk of cardiovascular disease will not increase significantly if the muscle mass is reduced, which is why the increase in the risk of heart disease in the potential sarcopenia population is not as obvious as that in the sarcopenia population.
Muscle weakness refers to the dominant hand strength< of 28 kg for men and 18 kg for women <, and the decrease in muscle physiological function can be determined by walking speed of 6 meters< 1.0 m/s, 5 chair sitting time > 12 seconds or the recommended physical fitness measurement scale (SPPB) score ≤9.
Since muscle is so important to cardiovascular health in middle-aged and elderly people, how should we prevent sarcopenia?
The first is nutritional intervention: adequate supplementation of high-quality protein; increased intake of Ω-3 unsaturated fatty acids; supplementation of adequate amounts of vitamin D.
This is followed by exercise interventions:
"Muscle Decay Syndrome Nutrition and Exercise Intervention Chinese Expert Consensus 2015 Edition" mentions that resistance-based exercise-based exercises such as: sitting leg lift, static squat against the wall, lifting dumbbells, pulling elastic bands, etc., can effectively improve muscle strength and body function.
The consensus recommends that the elderly carry out a cumulative 40 to 60 minutes of medium-high-intensity exercise (such as brisk walking and jogging) every day, of which impedance exercise is 20 to 30 minutes, not less than 3 times a week. People with sarcopenia need more exercise.
Finally, only severe sarcopenia, clinical need to rely on ventilator to assist breathing, or need to undergo surgery, but sarcopenia will seriously affect the prognosis of surgery, doctors will use growth hormone, androgens and other short-term treatment.
For most middle-aged and elderly people, nutrition and exercise can help maintain muscle function very well. Young people should also exercise more, not only to create a good body, but also to take precautions and save a little pension "muscle" for entering the old age.
References:
1. Gao K, Cao LF, Ma WZ, Gao YJ, Luo MS, Zhu J, Li T, Zhou D. Association between sarcopenia and cardiovascular disease among middle-aged and older adults: Findings from the China health and retirement longitudinal study. EClinicalMedicine. 2022 Jan 10;44:101264. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101264. PMID: 35059617; PMCID: PMC8760427.
2. Batsis JA, Villareal DT. Sarcopenic obesity in older adults: aetiology, epidemiology and treatment strategies. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2018 Sep;14(9):513-537. doi: 10.1038/s41574-018-0062-9. PMID: 30065268; PMCID: PMC6241236.
Written by | Four five seven
Edit | Swagpp
Source| Metz Medicine