The reasons why muscles wither with age is a problem that is intriguing a growing number of scientists. Drug companies are trying to develop drugs that can build muscles or forestall their weakening, while food companies are exploring nutritional products with the same objective.
Both doctors and patients need to be more aware that muscle deterioration is a major reason the elderly lose mobility.
According to the New York Times:
“... [S]arcopenia [age-related loss of muscles] affects about 10 percent of those over 60, with higher rates as age advances ... Causes of the loss of muscle mass or strength might include hormonal changes, sedentary lifestyles, oxidative damage, infiltration of fat into muscles, inflammation and resistance to insulin.”
The best approach to restoring or maintaining muscle mass and strength is exercise. I would recommend trying Peak Fitness, a term I am coining to represent a comprehensive exercise program that includes far more than typical cardio training. The major change is that once or twice a week you do peak exercises, in which you raise your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold for 20 to 30 seconds, and then you recover for 90 seconds.
You would repeat this cycle for a total of eight repetitions. We call it "peak fitness" because if you graph your heart rate, you will see that it peaks 8 times during the workout. One of the major reasons I am so enthusiastic about peak fitness is that it can actually increase your growth hormone level. This dramatically improves your muscle tone, and has many other beneficial effects as well!