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Writer's pictureJake Lawrence

Protein's Importance in Aging

Aging and the diseases of modern civilization are 100% related to pathological muscle loss that occurs with aging… AKA sarcopenia.


MUSCLE MASS & STRENGTH

  • Skeletal muscle is our largest endocrine/immunogenic organ

  • Strength is independently associated with functional ability and balance

  • 30% loss of strength over 12 years in elderly… restored in 1 year of strength training (can be achieved in weeks with proper training)


BONE DENSITY

  • Strength reductions precede osteoporosis

  • Strength increases predict improvements in bone mineral density

  • Used to be thought due to mechanical loading/stress

  • Now we know it to be largely due to myosin signaling

  • You don’t have to risk a fracture to increase bone density


BODY COMPOSITION

  • It’s not just calories in/calories out

  • Your body’s tissues in competition

  • Myokines shift the home-field advantage toward lean muscle

  • IL-15 leverages the battle

  • mTOR (build)/AMPK (repair) balanced = restoration of health

  • We are overfed and inactive so mTOR is disproportionately elevated compared to AMPK

  • Accelerates aging and shortens life spans


BLOOD LIPIDS

  • Strength training raises HDL/lowers LDL

  • Does that because it controls insulin and opposes inflammatory cytokines


HEMODYNAMICS

  • HIT reduces systemic vascular resistance

  • Enhanced venous return

  • Enhanced stroke volume/coronary artery perfusion

  • Decreased systemic vascular resistance


BLOOD GLUCOSE CONTROL

  • Your muscle is the largest glucose reservoir in your body (70 in liver/250 muscle)

  • When you take in more glucose while every store is occupied, the liver has to protect itself, which then turns it into triglycerides and stores it as fat.

  • One molecule of adrenalin during HIT cleaves off (millions of molecules of glucose) and creates a huge glucose sink. 

  • This invokes the antithesis of the metabolic syndrome, which is an overaccumulation of glucose


AEROBIC CAPACITY

  • NOT CARDIO

  • Anaerobic metabolism to generate energy

  • The way to improve the aerobic subset of your metabolism is by doing hard anaerobic work

  • HIT, 12-15 minutes, for 30+ minutes beyond you are still pumping lactic acid back to pyruvate and jamming it through the mitochondria. Equals 45 minutes of running


GENE EXPRESSION- Dr Simon Melov

  • 179 genes related to aging that reverted to youthful levels of expression from 26 weeks of strength training

  • First successful reversal of aging at the genetic level in humans

  • Based on a strength increase of 50%, which is poor


EPIGENETICS/DNA METHYLATION

  • Methylation. Train them up for 7 weeks. Detrain for 7 weeks. They come back really fast. This is muscle memory.


BRAIN FACTORS

  • BDNF… improving this is a big big thing


LIFE EXTENSION: the pace of technology is accelerating largely due to private sector funding.


HUMAN LONGEVITY AND BRAIN SIZE CO-EVOLVED

  • What promotes our longevity and brain evolution is that we are a species that can produce inter-generational wealth knowledge and transfers.

  • Ageism is BS, and very wrong.

  • This is our real value as humans

  • Stay engaged, stay interested.


AGEISM WILL NOT WORK: the only way forward is increased lifespan, increased health span, and prolonged productivity that matches our evolutionary background. RESISTANCE EXERCISE IS THE WAY.

  • Money is running out. Medicare/SS are not investments.

  • WE MUST CHANGE OUR PARADIGM ABOUT HOW WE THINK ABOUT AGING.

  • EXERCISE CAN SAVE US.


RESISTANCE EXERCISE

  • Addresses all 10 biomarkers of health and aging

  • Increases physiological headroom (y-axis)

  • Bridge to technological advances to come

  • Increases AUC (y and x-axis)




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