If you want to withstand well, you probably already know the basics: take a balanced diet, go for a walk, remain socially busy. But there is one habit, which, according to experts, matters, and in some cases more or more long-term health: strength training.
For decades, heavy athletics was considered as an area of bodybuilders, powerlifter or young athletes. But research over the past 20 years has turned this assumption. Lieting weights – or using our own weight against resistance – causes us one of the most powerful tools to protect health when passing decades. This is not about the persecution of large biceps or six packages. We are talking about increasing bones, maintaining metabolism, preventing falls and reducing the risk of chronic disease.
Stronger bones mean less breaks
Bones can feel firm, but they are surprisingly dynamic. They react to the stresses that you apply to them, becoming stronger when they challenge and weaker when they are not.
“Each time you do squat, push -ups or lift weight, you put it gently on your skeleton,” says Kristen Lettenberger, a physiotherapist in New York.
She explains that the pressure acts as a signal for your body to enhance the bone, activating the cells that build a new bone tissue. Over time, the bone density increases, and its structure becomes more and more.
Bone density Naturally, peaks in our 20s And it begins to decline by the 30s, and this decrease is at first slow, but accelerates with the shift of hormones.
“While the loss of bone mass affects both men and women, menopause or any decrease in estrogen, such as early postpartum acceleration, accelerates the decrease,” says Lettenberger. “The fall of estrogen reduces the density of the bone, causing the loss of bone mass and increases the risk of osteoporosis and fractures.”
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In particular, for women, strength training can be one of the most effective ways to push these changes.
Dr. Rahul Shah, an orthopedic spine surgeon in Premier Orthopeic Associates in New Jersey, emphasized that this is not just a theory – this has been observed for more than a century. “Loading joints and bones with increased load and progressive overload, the cells inside the bones react to stress,” he says.
Familiar as the Wolf law described by the orthopedic surgeon Dr. Julius Wolf in the 19th century, bone tissue adapts and reconstructs an increase in stress.
“This becomes a good counterweight to natural changes that occur with age,” says Shah.
Muscle – your metabolic engine
The advantages of strength training do not stop with bones. The muscle itself is a metabolically active tissue, which means that it burns calories, even when you are sitting still. Think about it as a built -in body engine, quietly buzzing to preserve your metabolism.
“The muscles are thermogenic by nature,” says Lettenberger. “They burn more calories at rest.”
Compared to fat, muscles are much more effective in burning energy both at rest and during activity. This effectiveness turns into a higher basal metabolism rate (BMR)-cellular burning of the body, even when you do not move.
Dr. Loren Borovski, a sports medicine center in the center of female sports medicine in NYU Langone Health, adds that with age we lose both bone density and muscle mass.
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“Most people know about osteoporosis and loss of bone density, but they may not realize that there is a real loss of muscle mass, called sarcopenia, which begins to occur at the age of about 40,” she says.
Clinicists see the influence of this first -hand. According to Borovsky and Letonberger, patients with a greater muscle, as a rule, have better sensitivity to insulin and glucose metabolism, which, in turn, reduces their risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes. In other words, maintenance of muscles is not just to look strong is the protection of long-term health.
But here is the problem: the muscle mass does not remain constant. Starting from 30 years old, average person loses about 3-8% of muscles every decadeThis decrease not only reduces power – it slows down metabolism, which makes a more likely weight increase, even if the power habits have not changed since the moment of adulthood.
Balance and independence key
For the elderly, one of the greatest fears is not just a disease – it falls. The only fall can cause a cascade of health problems, from broken bones to loss of confidence in free movement. Statistics are sobering: falls are the main reason for visits to ER associated with injuries for people over 65 years old.
Power training helps to change this equation. “Falls often happen when strength and stability (propriocument) are inferior,” says Lettenberger. “Training with resistance, more specifically exercises for one leg, create muscles and proprioceptive signals that support posture and movement, in the legs, hips and nucleus.”
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Tom Konnolly, a personal coach in the OAK Park tennis and a fitness center in Illinois, explains that balance is not only strong legs. “Good Balance has two main components,” says Connolly, which is Spry 74. “One of them is how the brain reacts quickly when its proprioceptive inputs signal that we did not remain out of balance. Secondly, the second has speed and strength to restore balance. ” Power training, he said, helps with both.
This combination is a more active reaction of the brain of the brain and stronger muscles-it can mean the difference between a harmless spock and a fall in a change in life.
Lift for longevity
Power training also provides protection against many of the most common chronic aging diseases. Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and even some cancers were associated with inaction.
“Power training increases muscle mass, which, in turn, improves how the body uses insulin and helps to remove glucose from the blood to the cells for energy,” says Lettenberger. “This can reduce blood sugar, improve insulin sensitivity and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, or help control this disease.”
Dr. Chiraga Panell, a family medicine in Florida, adds that the muscles help improve the use of glucose, which is one of the “keys to prevent and control diabetes”.
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Research It also shows that strength training helps improve health of cardiovascular diseases and reduce risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol. Big Research Also tie the resistance training with a lower risk of certain types of cancer. The data also indicate that this can maintain brain health, improving blood flow and reducing inflammation, potentially reducing the risk of dementia. It can also Reduce the risk of death for any reason About 15%.
You do not need to raise the most heavy weights in the gym or push yourself to exhaustion. It is more important, it is regularly appearing, gradually build up strength and make it a habit that you can withstand for years. Even short, stable sessions several times a week can fold To significant successes in muscles, metabolism and general health.
“Bone health is that you need to prioritize before many people realize,” says Letonberger. “The muscles may be the biggest gift that you give yourself with age.”
