BOLD Summary: Don’t let muscle mass go to waste - from Harvard Health

This week as part of the BOLD Summary Series we're looking into this article from Harvard Health 

Overview

Not using your muscles enough for an extended period of time can lead to physiologic atrophy. It’s not all bad news though, you can help prevent physiologic atrophy and even build back up muscle that has been lost. 

Top Five Insights

1. No matter what your age with the right strategy you can protect yourself from muscle atrophy and bounce back faster if it does occur. 
2. Atrophy doesn’t just set in from physical setbacks such as illness. Even a break in your routine for 2 or more weeks can lead to significant muscle loss.
3. If you know you’ll be having downtime, for example over a holiday or for surgery then make building up your muscle beforehand a priority. 
4. Weight training is ideal for helping to build and maintain muscle. 
5. If you’ve experienced muscle atrophy take things slow at first, it will take time to build yourself back up to where you were.

Read the article in full:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/dont-let-muscle-mass-go-to-waste

Further Reading

Check out our post on How to reduce sarcopenia (muscle loss) through nutrition and exercise here. 

What is the BOLD Summary Series? 

We created the BOLD Summary Series to help bring you the latest health news in a quick, convenient and easy to understand format. Our summaries aim to leave you with all of the good bits and none of the fluff.