As we get older, will our muscles inevitably decline and become weaker and weaker? Wang Siheng, a physician at Hengxin Rehabilitation Clinic, said that a latest human study included 4 types of subjects. The training group exercised at least 3 times a week for at least 1 hour each time for 1 year. The results show that about 50% of the age-related molecular differences that generally appear between the elderly and young people do not appear in the elderly who have been trained regularly for a long time. In addition, research has also found that even if the elderly who are generally active walk every day, their muscles may still contain some aging molecular characteristics, indicating that walking cannot completely replace regular training.
Wang Siheng posted on Facebook that a study published in "Nature Aging" included a total of 47 people, including: young people, old people who have been training regularly for a long time, old people who are generally active, and old people with poor physical functions. The training group exercised at least 3 times a week for at least 1 hour each time for more than 1 year. In addition, the research team also examined the genetic instructions, metabolites and lipids in the subjects' muscles and collected muscle samples before and after an exercise session.
Study: Long-term training of the elderly reduces molecular differences by half
Wang Siheng said that in terms of the difference between the general activities of the elderly and young people, research has pointed out that the expression of genes related to cellular respiration and energy production in the muscles of the elderly decreases, which means that the "power plants" of the muscles are not as active as when they were young. However, research has also found that half of the molecular differences between the elderly and young people cannot be seen in the elderly who have been trained for a long time.
Research shows that about 50% of the age-related molecular differences that generally appear between the elderly and young people do not appear in the elderly who train regularly for a long time. Wang Siheng emphasized that the so-called "half less" here only refers to age-related molecular differences, and does not mean that muscle age is halved, youth is restored, or lifespan is increased.
Elderly people who are generally active still have muscle aging characteristics
In addition, even if the number of daily steps and high-intensity activity time of the elderly who are generally active are similar to those of young people, they still have some molecular characteristics of muscle aging. Wang Siheng said that walking is a great activity and encourages everyone to walk more, but walking cannot replace regular training.
Wang Siheng reminded that this study does not look at occasional exercise, but shows that the molecular characteristics related to energy production and utilization in the muscles of people who have maintained training for more than one year, as well as the genetic responses after exercise, are closer to those of young people, indicating that long-term regular training may be related to the retention of these functions in muscles.
