Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

As we age we lose muscle mass and strength, a process termed sarcopenia. This loss of muscle mass, and particularly the loss of strength, can be detrimental to the health of our aging population, increasing the risk of falls, and metabolic diseases such as diabetes and decreasing independence and quality of life. Older adults also perform less physical activity and there are likely to be more periods of muscle inactivity resulting from a variety of circumstances such as illness and hospitalization. Our research has shown that these periods of complete muscle inactivity can accelerate the loss of muscle mass and strength and reduce our body's ability to handle blood sugars, increasing the risk of developing diabetes. However, it is not just complete inactivity that accelerates the loss of muscle mass in older adults. We have shown that even brief periods of reduced physical activity (less than 1500 steps per day) speeds the loss of muscle mass and can put older people much closer to becoming diabetic. These brief periods of reduced activity, which can arise as a result of illness or recovery from surgery, increase in frequency with age. It also appears that older people have a difficult time regaining the muscle and strength they have lost, as well as regaining control of their blood sugars after such a period. However, we do know that muscle activation, achieved using resistance exercises, can offset the decline in muscle mass and strength that accompanies periods of complete or partial muscle inactivity. Resistance exercise and, potentially, nutritional strategies that can offset the loss of muscle mass and strength and maintain our body's ability to handle blood sugars are needed so that we can formulate plans for what to do with people who we know are going to be sedentary for even a short time in order to prevent chronic disease and maintain quality of life in our older population.