Use it or lose it, something we have all heard at one time or another. We know that things left unto themselves with no outside input will breakdown. Well that includes our bodies and even our spiritual walk. In this article we will look at the impact of aging and neglect on our physical muscles and strength along with our faith.
Like myself, if you have lived long enough you notice changes in your body from when we were in our 30’s, heck even our 20’s. We may feel the same in our heads, but some definite changes have taken place.
In fact, muscle strength peaks for most in their mid-20’s and can be relatively maintained into our 60’s. However even with our best efforts by the time we reach our 80’s our strength is half that of a younger adult. *1,2
This age-related process of muscle atrophy is called Sarcopenia which literally means “lack of flesh” (Ooh! There is a whole article right there on good sarcopenia in our spiritual lives!)
Well this loss is important because our muscles do so many amazing things besides letting us open that pickle jar in the fridge.
Muscle is incredibly important:
- To Joint health, they take stress off the joints.
- To Posture and body symmetry. Placing less stress on our connective tissue.
- On our ability to perform activities of daily living and maintain our independence.
- For diabetes management, prevention, and insulin sensitivity.
- It helps with fat loss and metabolism. Like upgrading your engine.
- Makes movement less fatiguing and more enjoyable.
- Give us confidence to move safely.
- Improves fall prevention, overall balance and fall resilience if suffering a fall.
NATURAL AGING PROCESS, INJURY AND ILLNESS
Not all muscle loss is from simply growing older. Often a prolonged illness or an injury that reduces our ability to exercise and move can have a significant impact on our muscles atrophying or wasting away. The key here is to have a healthy reserve of strength and muscle from your past efforts. That is one of the great takeaways of physical activity. You are more likely to literally survive an illness or injury because you came into it healthier and stronger instead of weak and frail.
Actually, loss of muscle mass and strength has been shown to be the single biggest predictor of loss of quality of life and mortality. It robs us of the things we love to do and increases many other health risks.
CAN I SLOW OR REVERSE THIS PROCESS?
The great news is that this state can be reversed, quite impressively so. Research has shown that a two to three fold increase in strength can be accomplished in as little as 3-4 months.*3
The key? As you may have already guessed is resistance training. Not only will it improve muscle strength and muscle mass it can:
- Reduce depression, anxiety, stress and improve mood.
- With a single bout, increase insulin sensitivity for 16-24hrs helping blood sugar regulation and diabetes prevention.
- Lower blood pressure and improve cholesterol numbers.
- Delay and/or prevent the onset and severity of osteoporosis*4
- Help preserve our ability to perform activities of daily living, thus maintaining independence.
- Extend how long and how enjoyable our hobbies, sports and lives are in later years.
Especially in times of lockdowns, gym shutdowns and isolation it’s imperative now more than ever to make a concerted effort against this from occurring. So how?
ATROPHY IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIVES
Just as in our physical walk, there is a spiritual parallel to this. I offer to you that comfort, apathy and isolation are the enemy. Muscles as well as our faith are strengthened under repetitive use along with adverse circumstances and struggles.
We were not created for a life of ease and entertaining ourselves into boredom and apathy. We were made with gifts and talents for a purpose with a desire and drive for significance, impact and meaning.
It’s not productive to rest on past things God has done in our lives. We need continual and purposeful action to maintain a healthy walk and relationship with God. Do this and our relationships with others will be positively impacted as well as our mental sanity. We have an assurance that no matter what is going on in this world our eternal destiny is secure and a bright, a wonderous and glorious adventure awaits us. No matter what happens we are going to be all right.
So how do we combat this atrophy or wasting away? Here are a few ways to keep your faith strong as you age:
- By being others centric and shift our focus from being on ourselves only.
- Having an eternal mindset. Do not let the temporary challenges take our eyes off our true destiny and citizenship.
- Focusing on Jesus, the only One who can satisfy our soul and fill that God shaped hole in our hearts instead of trying to use things or people to do so.
- Daily exposure to God’s word [the Bible] no matter how small, especially in the beginning. The habit and daily communication are more important than the duration.
- Bring someone else into your world; we were not called to walk this spiritual walk alone, even if during a pandemic it’s watching a church service on YouTube and getting connected with an online group. One of my favorites is Grace Chapel in Leipers fork, TN or Harvest at Home.
TAKE THE SAME APPROACH TO FIGHTING ATROPHY AND WASTING AWAY PHYSICALLY
- Same, be others centric. This is not just about losing weight but about having the strength, energy, and less stressed condition to be there for your family and accomplish your calling. To live out the second half of our lives with as much dignity, independence, and vitality as possible that depends on us.
- Focus on large muscle groups, especially if you do not have the time or are not particularly “into this” at first. If you’re just doing 10 minutes – work your larger legs and back muscles over doing arm curls for example. Challenge more muscles at once.
- Daily exposure again no matter how small. Short 10-minute increments add up. An example looks like this:
DAY 1 might be a wall sit at home while watching a show for 30-60 seconds. Buying a pair of exercise bands and doing those back rows.
DAY 2 do a brisk 5-10 minute walk down the driveway and back multiple times, etc… You get the idea; it doesn’t have to be a 45minute-1 hour intense event. When you are just beginning you reap benefits of even the smallest efforts. You’ll feel better and over time you can increase your intensity and exposure. Remember consistency always beats out intensity.
- Get someone else to meet you for your walk, even if over the phone and chat. Set up challenges and check in with each other whether they did their exercises for the day. You come up with one workout to do and they put together the next. Make it something fun, it’s your personal time with a friend or in communication with God.
PANDEMIC LESSON
ThE 2020 pandemic really solidified the once theoretical concept for many that we are not meant to be isolated. Flip the mindset and instead of thinking of why you don’t have someone in your life, consider how you can be that person for another. Don’t wait for it to magically happen but pray about it and make an effort to reach out to another person. Remember left alone and to ourselves with no engagement all parts of our lives waste away.
Make the effort today you really can do it!
[WATCH THIS VIDEO TO SEE JUST HOW KEEPING MUSCLES AND FAITH STRONG WITH AGE PAYS OFF.]
References:
1.(Lindle RS, Metter EJ, Lynch NA, et al. Age and gender comparisons of muscle strength in 654 women and men aged 20–93 yr. Journal of Applied Physiology. 1997;83(5):1581–1587.)
2. (Doherty T, Vandervoort A, Brown W. Effects of ageing on the motor unit: a brief review. Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology. 1993;18(4):331–358.)
3. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: July 2009 –Volume 41 – Issue 7 – pp1510-1530 doi:10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181a0c95c SPECIAL COMMUNICATIONS: Position Stand
4. Fransen M, McConnell S, Bell M. Exercise for osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2003;(3):CD004286.)
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