An unfortunate fact of life is that our bodies age with time, and included in that ageing process is a loss of muscle mass and strength (sarcopenia) as well as a lowering of bone density (osteopenia). It was also touted that your metabolism declined after the age of thirty leading to spreading waistlines, but that has now been proved wrong and someone’s metabolism remains pretty stable until their mid-sixties. So things will inevitably just keep going downhill as we get older? Might as well give in to that biological ageing and accept it, eh? Nope!

Age was defined by a group of scientists in 2005 as: “A process or group of processes occurring in living organisms that with the passage of time lead to a loss of adaptability, functional impairment and eventually, death.” (Spiriduso, Francis et al). 

Well that’s cheerful! Can’t we do something about that? Oh yes we can! Look at the centenarian who took up skateboarding in his seventies, or the octogenarian who started lifting weights in her late sixties. We can certainly stall the ageing process, and in some ways reverse it. 

We age in different ways. There is the good old fashioned chronological ageing, which is indicated by how many times around the sun you have been – your birthdays tell you that you are a certain chronological age. Beyond that there are several other ways in which we age.

Biological and physiological ageing are the processes that Mr Spriduso and his cheerful friends were referring to. But what is missing from that definition they gave is that the rate and extent to which biological ageing occurs varies between individuals, and it has been said that “biological processes have their own timetables and do not celebrate birthdays.”

We also have psychological ageing, which refers to someone’s capability to maintain a variety of mental or cognitive functions, including memory, learning and perception. 

All of these ways of describing the ageing process don’t take into account what we call someone’s functional age – how well they can perform activities for daily living. But more than that. Are they ageing successfully? Are they retaining their physical abilities?

I’ve said it many times, and it is worth repeating once again. Our bodies are amazing bits of kit. They adapt to what is asked of them. Ask nothing of them and they will decline. Muscle mass and strength will decrease. Bone density will diminish. Body composition will change with less lean muscle and more fat mass. On the flip side of that, ask more of our bodies and they will respond positively. Muscle mass, strength, bone density, lean muscle mass will all increase and fat mass will get smaller. All of which means that we will put off that decline and creep into old age, and along with that stave off the metabolic diseases that tend to accompany the ageing process.

And it is never too late to start. Your body will thank you for investing time and energy into it. In turn it will help you to live longer, better, more functional lives.

So what are you waiting for? 

Get in touch and let’s have a chat about how we can get you living your best life.