Title: Energy Boost For The Elderly? - Ask Dr. Weil
Headings: Energy Boost For The Elderly?
Energy Boost For The Elderly?
Content: In addition, strength training can help combat age-related weakness. After age 40, we lose one quarter to one-third of a pound of muscle annually (it is replaced by fat) leading to a loss of strength of one to two percent per year. Strength training can slow and even reverse these changes resulting in stronger muscles, improved walking speed and an increase in overall strength. A 2011 German review of the scientific literature on strength training for seniors concluded that healthy men and women, age 60 and older, should train three or four times a week for best results and that those with poor performance at the outset can improve with even less frequent training. Beyond that, a study published in 2015 found that women between the ages of 65 and 75 who lifted weights twice a week had less shrinkage of the brain’s white matter than did other participants in the study who didn’t work out as much. Andrew Weil, M.D.
Sources: Frank Mayer et al, “The Intensity and Effects of Strength Training in the Elderly,” Deutsches Aerzteblatt international, May 2011 DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2011.0359
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