Age and Muscles

I find this MRI cross section of leg muscles utterly fascinating (and sobering).

(via JayParkinson)

19 Comments leave a comment below

  1. That is fascinating. The human body is blowing my mind lately. (Reading the Four Hour Body – Tim Ferris). Hope you’re well by the way, I had the Positive Posters team watching a bunch of Creative Mornings videos yesterday over lunch. Brilliant.

  2. One of my clients is a pharmaceutical company and I’ve used these images myself in PowerPoints I’ve prepared for them regarding age-related muscle loss (I’m a designer).

    Unfortunately all lose muscle mass as we age, and the rate of loss increases as we age. And elderly people can lose it at an alarming rate if they’re sedentary.

    An elderly person who was functioning fairly normally but then was completely bedridden for several weeks can sometimes be surprised to find that they are now too weak to walk and must use a wheelchair. Occasionally they never recover sufficient strength to walk.

    What I’ve learned has led me to encourage my elderly mother to get more exercise (walking) and to get more protein in her diet to help maintain muscle mass, and over time I’ve seen her muscle fitness gradually improve. There are also nutritional supplements that are helpful in some instances if the person can’t or won’t eat a proper diet.

  3. Another cool thing about these images is the bone sizes of the subjects. The bone mass of the sedentary person is about 1/3 the size of either triathlete. Stressing the body through exercise keeps muscle mass and bone mass.

  4. Use it or lose it. MRI images show it quite clearly.

  5. That’s all I need to get me moving.

    As with so many things in life, it really is use it or loose it.

    And the same thing is true for the old grey matter too!

  6. Great share. Really drives it home! But anyone else noticing how much the top and bottom images look like a slice of ham? Makes me want to be a vegetarian…

  7. thanks for sharing, good post…

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  8. I see motivation posts all the time on pinterest, hot bodies, abs, backs blah blah, if this doesn’t get your moving then nothing will. It takes just as much work to be unfit as it does to work out.

  9. This link to a science blog shows why this series of images was (unintentionally?) deceptive. FYI.

    http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2012/02/use-it-or-lose-it.html

  10. Thank you for posting this. I will definitely pass it along…

  11. There is no fountain of youth like VIGOROUS excersise. Go until you can`t , Regular use of adrenelin will keep you strong for long.

  12. Very inspiring! And brain images? No doubt exercise has positive effects on the brain over the long-term as well. Thank you for sharing!

  13. I’d like to see the results for a 74 year old who is moderately active, but not a triathlete. Someone who, say, walks 4-5 miles a day but doesn’t do any kind of aggressive running. Will they still suffer a lot of muscle loss? A little? Inquiring minds want to know!

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