Muscles, especially the core muscles such as legs, are the key reserves to maintain the physical function of adults, especially the elderly, and ensure the quality of personal life. Muscle atrophy is an important sign of human aging, which is likely to cause problems such as fractures and falls. The medical term of sarcopenia is sarcopenia, which is a syndrome of skeletal muscle loss and muscle strength decline. It is silent but hidden, which may lead to disability, loss of self-care ability and even death, seriously affecting the quality of life and healthy life of the elderly.
Myopenia is very common in the elderly. According to statistics, the prevalence of sarcopenia is 5% ~ 13% among the elderly aged 60-70. In the elderly population over 80 years old, the prevalence rate is as high as 1 1% ~ 50%. Studies show that the prevalence rate of men is higher than that of women.
Muscular dystrophy is not only seen in the elderly, but has been quietly lurking since youth. Studies have shown that people's skeletal muscle mass decreases by about 50% between the ages of 20 and 90, muscle strength decreases by about 15% every decade after 50, and decreases by about 30% after 70. It can really be said that "people are not old." With the aging of the population, more and more elderly people are troubled by sarcopenia, which leads to difficulties in standing, tripping, falling, fracture, physical weakness and other adverse consequences.
The culprit is time.
So how does sarcopenia happen? The culprit is time, not time. With the increase of age, the quality and strength of skeletal muscle gradually decline, which is a natural trend.
With the increase of age, the levels of various hormones related to protein's metabolism, such as growth hormone and androgen, decrease, and the inflammatory factors in human body increase. The degeneration of motor neurons will lead to the atrophy and loss of skeletal muscle. If there is a lack of exercise in youth and strong period and the total amount of muscle reserves is insufficient, the middle-aged and elderly people will lose muscle faster in the future.
In addition, underweight (the normal range of body mass index is 18.5-23.9kg/m2,
Walking self-detection
How to screen sarcopenia? In addition to going to the hospital for a specific examination, such as dual-energy X-ray scanning or CT, magnetic vibration and other accurate measurements of human muscle and fat content. Middle-aged and elderly people can also test themselves through some simple methods in daily life, and measuring walking speed is one of them.
People can use pedometer or mobile phone software to measure the time required to walk 6-20 meters at normal speed, and then calculate the pace per second. If the normal speed is less than 0.8 meters per second, they should be alert to "sarcopenia".
Eating exercise is the last word.
How to prevent and treat sarcopenia? Eating exercise is the last word, and both hands should be hard.
In the past, people thought that money was hard to buy old and thin, which reflected the health status of the elderly. Some elderly people unilaterally pursue "getting older and thinner", deliberately become vegetarian, eat as little meat as possible, or even eat no meat at all, but this is overkill. Meat is rich in high-quality protein, but the absorption capacity of the gastrointestinal tract of the elderly decreases, so the quality of protein they need may be higher than that of young people. A large number of studies show that increasing protein intake in the elderly can increase muscle mass.
For the elderly with normal renal function, it is suggested that the total intake of protein per kilogram of body weight per day should be 1.0- 1.5g, with fish, meat, eggs, milk and other high-quality protein as the main ingredients, which should be evenly distributed among three meals a day. Take an elderly person of 50 kg as an example. The daily diet can be arranged as follows:
300 grams of staple food
250 grams of milk
Eggs 1
50g lean meat or100g fish.
Tofu100g
300-350g of fresh vegetables
250 grams of fruit
If converted into a single food, it is equivalent to eating 670g ~ 1kg rice, 600~925g tofu, 240~370g beef/lean pork, 390~590g eggs, or 1.6kg fresh milk every day.
In addition, on the basis of protein's supplement, dietary supplements with various antioxidant nutrients, such as vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoids, selenium, etc., are supplemented appropriately, and the intake of foods rich in antioxidant nutrients such as dark vegetables, fruits and beans is increased.
Besides increasing protein's intake, exercise is also very important. Research shows that resistance exercises such as sitting and lifting legs, squatting against the wall, lifting dumbbells and pulling elastic belt can effectively improve muscle strength, improve physical function and delay the occurrence of sarcopenia.
Experts suggest that patients with sarcopenia should take 40-60 minutes of moderate and high-intensity exercise (such as brisk walking, jogging and swimming) every day on the basis of nutritional supplement, including 20-30 minutes of resistance exercise, and ≥3 days per week. Research shows that resistance exercise is safe for middle-aged and elderly people with mobility difficulties.
At present, the drug treatment of sarcopenia is still in the research stage, among which vitamin D is a miraculous drug, which can not only prevent and treat osteoporosis, but also is the recommended drug for treating sarcopenia at present. There is relatively sufficient evidence that low vitamin D level is closely related to the occurrence of sarcopenia. Therefore, experts suggest that all patients with sarcopenia be tested for blood vitamin D and supplemented with vitamin D600 ~ 800 IU every day to increase outdoor activities.
Aging is inevitable, and everyone will face it eventually. Even if the years are ruthless, we should actively respond, supplement adequate nutrition, actively exercise, increase muscle reserves and slow down the pace of the years.
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