{"id":277167,"date":"2020-11-30T06:20:22","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T11:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=277167"},"modified":"2020-11-30T06:20:22","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T11:20:22","slug":"dangers-of-a-sedentary-covid-19-lockdown-inactivity-can-take-a-toll-on-health-in-just-two-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/11\/30\/dangers-of-a-sedentary-covid-19-lockdown-inactivity-can-take-a-toll-on-health-in-just-two-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"Dangers of a sedentary COVID-19 lockdown: Inactivity can take a toll on health in just two weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"
Being inactive even for short periods of time can affect health.
\n(Pixabay)<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the world digs in for the second wave of COVID-19, flu season and winter, people also face a serious risk from reduced physical activity<\/a> \u2014 especially older adults. Developing a plan to be physically active now will help you to stay strong and healthy through the long winter ahead.<\/p>\n

While most people are aware of the benefits of physical activity<\/a> \u2014 increased muscle and strength, reduced risk of disease, better quality of life and a lower risk of death \u2014 we tend to be less aware of how damaging<\/a> and expensive<\/a> reduced physical activity can be.<\/p>\n

The loss of muscle and strength as you get older (known as sarcopenia<\/a>) is something with which we are all familiar. We have all heard older family members say, \u201cI\u2019m just not as strong as I used to be,\u201d or \u201cI just can\u2019t do that anymore.\u201d But did you know that inactivity can make muscle loss a whole lot worse?<\/p>\n

Health effects of inactivity<\/h2>\n

Physical inactivity can be forced on a person by an acute event such as a broken arm or leg or becoming bed-bound due to illness. However, reduced physical activity, such as step reduction, is a long-term choice that brings about multiple negative health consequences.<\/p>\n

Insulin resistance (a warning sign for the development of type 2 diabetes), reduced muscle mass, increased body fat and poor sleep quality are just some of the health concerns<\/a> caused by physical inactivity. Physical inactivity is also a major contributor to poor mental health and social isolation<\/a>, which can be particularly problematic for older adults.<\/p>\n

The health effects of inactivity start piling up within days.<\/p>\n

McMaster University researchers have shown<\/a> that reducing daily steps to fewer than 1,500 \u2014 similar to the activity level of people who are housebound during this pandemic \u2014 for just two weeks can reduce an older person\u2019s insulin sensitivity by as much as one-third. The same period of inactivity also led to individuals over age 65 losing as much as four per cent of their leg muscle.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, once an older individual loses muscle, it is much more difficult to restore. Even when the research subjects returned to their normal daily routines, they did not regain their lost muscle. Effectively, older individuals simply don\u2019t possess the same ability to bounce back that younger people do.<\/p>\n

Regaining muscle requires deliberate effort. So, it truly is a case of use it or lose it.<\/p>\n

Resistance is not futile<\/h2>\n

As a muscle physiologist with a keen interest in healthy aging, I\u2019m pleased to report it\u2019s not all doom and gloom. There are some things you can do \u2014 resistance exercise and eating your protein<\/a> \u2014 to keep and even build muscle, get stronger and maintain your health for this winter and beyond.<\/p>\n

The most effective way to maintain the muscle you have is strength training, or resistance exercise<\/a>, which, put simply, means performing work against an additional load. And it doesn\u2019t have to be complicated. If you have access to a gym to use free-weights and guided-motion machines, that\u2019s great. However, there are many valuable alternatives you can easily do at home<\/a>. Body-weight exercises such as push-ups, squats and lunges, elastic-band exercises and stair-climbing are just a few options that will help you to meet the World Health Organization\u2019s latest physical activity guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A
Lower-intensity strength exercises such as yoga or Pilates can have significant physical and mental health benefits.<\/span>
\n(Pexels)<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The good news for those who may be put off by the sound of resistance exercise is that doing any exercise with a high degree of effort will help you to get stronger and prevent (at least some) muscle loss. If, for any reason, performing resistance exercise isn\u2019t possible, simply adding a walk, a bike ride or some lower-intensity strength exercises such as yoga or Pilates to your daily routine can have significant physical and mental health benefits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Protein and muscle<\/h2>\n

Of course, a healthy diet<\/a> and avoiding overeating are also critical to staying healthy. Protein-rich foods are particularly important, since they make you feel fuller for longer and provide building blocks for your muscles.<\/p>\n

It is generally agreed that older adults need more protein<\/a> than current guidelines<\/a> suggest.<\/p>\n

A good, easily achievable, target would be to eat 25 to 40 grams of protein with each meal (about one or two palm-sized portions). This equates to approximately 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body mass each day. Also, getting your protein from both animal (dairy, meat, fish, and eggs) and plant-based (beans, nuts, seeds, and lentils) sources may be beneficial.<\/p>\n

Given how quickly inactivity and poor nutrition can sap your strength and your health, doing something now is the best way to power through the cold, dark winter and beyond.\"The<\/p>\n

James McKendry<\/a>, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in exercise physiology, muscle protein metabolism and aging, McMaster University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being inactive even for short periods of time can affect health. (Pixabay) As the world digs in for the second …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":277168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","mauthors-james-mckendry-mcmaster-university","mauthors-the-conversation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277169,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277167\/revisions\/277169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}