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As the body ages muscles gradually get weaker and less able to bear load. This has a huge impact on the whole body as muscles help to support the body organs and keep everything together. Also quality of life issues are impacted as with the reduction in strength comes the reduction in ability to carry about basic tasks and keep mobile. However it is possible to slow down and temporarily reverse these effects by doing strength training. It is already well known that resistance exercises improve muscle strength of old and young alike, but new research suggests that the effect may be actually turning back on the clock on the muscle aging.

This was identified in the online journal PLoS One. The gene expression profile in older adults muscle was compared with healthy young adults. Researchers found that the profiles deferred significantly. The difference indicated that the older muscle tissue had mitochondria (’powerhouse’ of the cell) which were not functioning as well. However this was reversible, as was shown when 14 of the older adults spent 6 months strength training. After this period their gene expression profile matched more the youthful gene profile appearance. The lead study author was Dr. Simon Melov of the Buck Institute of Age Research.

SOURCE: PLoS One, online May 23, 2007.

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Adopting four healthy behaviours can add up to 14 years of extra life if you were not following them before. This includes not smoking, moderate alcohol intake, taking exercise and eating five servings of fruit and vegetables per day. These results come from a study published in PLoS Medicine journal. This conclusion was identified by comparing people who adopted these strategies from people who did not. Although there is much evidence to show that these factors on their own have a large impact on life span, this study shows that when combined they tend to have a cumulative effect.

The study was conducted by the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council (MRC), on data from 1993 to 1997, on 20,000 men and women between the ages of 45 and 79. Death amongst these people was recorded until 2006. A point scale was given to each person, where each point was awarded for a ‘healthy’ behaviour. With the lowest scorers as having the same likelihood of death as a 4 point scorer. Note that these factors where independent of social class and body mass index.

Although this study does not conclusively prove that changing lifestyle to be more inlign with this behaviour, it strongly suggests that adopting these behaviours will extend the lifespan of someone who does not currently follow them. Also note that the study took into account social class and BMI, adding further weight to the findings. At the end of the day these four strategies are not time consuming or too onerous.

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Heart disease not only has a high risk of death it also carries with it a huge quality of life burden. So even though medical breakthroughs have allowed heart attack survivors to get extra years, it also means that increasing numbers will end up with disability or have to live in a nursing home.

This was highlighted by a new study from the University of Michigan Health system and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. Among people with Congestive heart failure, it was found that they were much more likely to be disabled than people who lacked the condition. They were also found to have more problems with standard daily life activities, e.g. cooking, cleaning and walking around. They were also more likely to need care from a nursing home.

The study is from data of the 200 data of the Health and Retirement Study. Important points from the study:

People with Congestive Heart Failure are more likely to have home care (42%) compared to other groups (11%). 10% of people with heart failure are in nursing homes compared with 2%. People with heart failure are much more likely to have problems in daily living. For example 42% of CHF patients had limitations with walking across a room, compared with 12% for others.

This clearly demonstrates that heart disease, most specifically congestive heart failure not only has a huge mortality risk it also makes a great reduction in quality of life.

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