Why it’s so important to build muscle
Muscle is incredibly important to our health – not just in keeping our body stable and protecting our joints, ligaments and bones, it's required for a number of other biochemical functions.
We are designed to move. Research, as well as common sense, teaches us that a sedentary lifestyle takes years off our lives, not to mention negatively affecting the quality of our lives. Unless we actively build muscle from the age of 30 onwards, we lose it.
For your whole life, you want the ability to move and have the freedom to undertake the tasks you want and need to do. You do not want to rely on others to tie your shoelaces. Without a functional body, you can miss the joy, freedom and independence of these simple pleasures.
Beyond functional movement, muscle mass also affects our metabolic rate and energy production.
A process known as mitochondrial biogenesis was first described in the field of exercise physiology. It was found that certain types of exercise could induce large increases in muscle mitochondrial content, and thereby increased the ability of muscles to take up glucose during and after exercise, a very important and positive process.
What are mitochondria?
They are cellular organelles that function as power plants within a cell. In the same way that a local power plant produces electricity for an entire city, mitochondria are responsible for the production of energy derived from the breakdown of carbohydrates and fatty acids. They are located in every cell type (except red blood cells) and tissue in the human body, from your brain to the tendons around your knees.
Muscle contains the highest mitochondrial content of any tissue in your body. Mitochondrial biogenesis, mentioned earlier, refers to the process of replicating mitochondria within a cell, resulting in a heightened capacity to build even greater energy. It is very important to maintain or preferably build muscle mass for greater energy.
Muscle mass typically accounts for around a third of total body weight and a quarter of your body's metabolic activity. In contrast, body fat usually accounts for at least 20 per cent of your body weight (and more for many people these days) but only 5 per cent of metabolic activity!
Your ratio of muscle to fat mass therefore greatly impacts your metabolic rate. Which means that if you have a higher proportion of muscle mass, your body uses more energy (calories) simply to sustain these muscles – and this can ultimately lead to less body fat being stored.
Meeting muscles' energy needs
Crash dieting and prolonged stress can actually lead to reduced muscle mass, as your body can convert the protein from your muscles into glucose to meet its energy needs.
After dieting, the majority of people go on to regain the weight they lost (for myriad reasons) plus interest – a reduction in metabolically active muscle tissue may explain why it can become much easier to gain additional weight.
So embrace some kind of resistance training. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to go to the gym. Pilates is a great form of resistance training and yoga uses your own body weight as resistance. Gardening, walking, carrying groceries or children, climbing stairs and farm work all contribute to muscle building. Don't avoid movement – look for more opportunities to move throughout your day.
And don't forget to stretch. Fascia is the specialised connective tissue layer surrounding muscles, bones and joints, giving structure to the body. It aids muscle movement, but also provides a passageway for nerves and blood vessels, and hence the exchange of nutrients, waste and energy.
Therefore, flexibility is a conduit to good energy, hormonal function and detoxification. If the cells aren't receiving the nutrients they need, or aren't able to mobilise waste away from themselves efficiently, this too can cause stress and inflammation within the body.
Written by Dr Libby Weaver. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.