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A week in bed ages your muscles by one year*
Posted: Sun May 29, 2022 11:32 am
by Séimhe
*That applies to people between the ages of 20 and 60 according to Niall Moyna, Professor of Clinical Exercise Physiology at the School of Health & Human Performance in Dublin City University.
What does a week in the office do to us?
He goes on to say that if you’re over the ages of 60 and lie in bed a week, your muscles will age a decade.
Thankfully it’s reversible.
This is from a 13 minute clip on resistance training on RTÉ radio
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22100250/
Re: A week in bed ages your muscles by one year*
Posted: Sun May 29, 2022 12:50 pm
by marhay70
I tend to agree. All my life I have been what used to be called "a mullicker", anything that needed to be shifted, dug, torn down, broken up etc. I was there. In the last couple of years though, the little engine that drove all this has decided, enough is enough and the learned medics have told me to take it easier.
The transformation has been incredible, hands, knees, feet, indeed any joint that would have moved, have seized and refused to function without protest but recently, my son, a trained physio, handed me two 1kg bags of sugar and a program of exercise which involved lifting the bags of sugar while placing the stress in one or other of the troublesome joints. The results were amazing, after initial protest, the joints have started to gain suppleness again.
I will move on to something more sophisticated than bags of sugar, but while the learned medics are figuring how best to fix the little engine, at least I might be able to move around a bit more freely.
Re: A week in bed ages your muscles by one year*
Posted: Sun May 29, 2022 1:02 pm
by Séimhe
They seem to be saying here that good form is more important than the weight you use, otherwise the result can be suboptimal or even damaging. So the focus should be on good range at first.
So there might be scope to take it easier than you where while still getting sufficient resistance work in. The sugar bags sound great actually!
Re: A week in bed ages your muscles by one year*
Posted: Sun May 29, 2022 2:39 pm
by marhay70
Séimhe wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 1:02 pm
They seem to be saying here that good form is more important than the weight you use, otherwise the result can be suboptimal or even damaging. So the focus should be on good range at first.
So there might be scope to take it easier than you where while still getting sufficient resistance work in. The sugar bags sound great actually!
Again I would tend to agree, the program is very gentle and designed just to mobilise you rather than turn you into an Olympic weightlifter.
The problem with medical advice telling you to take it easy is that people, and I include myself in this, take it too literally and retire to a chair in front of the TV or PC for half the day, we stop rather than change gear. The answer then is to start you in first and move up through the gears.
Re: A week in bed ages your muscles by one year*
Posted: Sun May 29, 2022 5:13 pm
by Hairy-Joe
I can understand that alright. A few years ago I "damaged" a shoulder (according to the consultant, one of the best attempts he'd seen at non surgically removing an arm that didn't want to be removed). I had the arm immobile for a while. I had very limited movement and power in the arm but physio did wonders, along with a milk carton. Movement is almost there but it'll never get to 100%.
I attempt some cycling (for fitness) and if I don't stretch the legs before a 2 to 3 hour spin, I'll know it the next day. Strangely if I don't cycle for a week or so and then attempt a cycle, the muscles will complain....
Re: A week in bed ages your muscles by one year*
Posted: Sun May 29, 2022 5:26 pm
by marhay70
Celchick wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 4:57 pm
This is more about the cardiovascular aspect, but "Sitting is the new smoking" was a public health thing before Covid. Bit over-wrought, but lack of activity IS very bad for you. Keeping your muscles stimulated strengthens them and prevents injuries. Constant stiffness building up causes muscle pains and aches.
Activity is important too for your spine/posture and the rest of your frame. It's obviously important for your heart and blood vessels. And it's essential for your mental health. And all it has to be is a good walk. Not even every day.
Yes, mine is a cardiovascular problem, and I agree that sitting around affects your muscles and your spine. Human beings aren't designed for sitting down.
You do however need a gentle nudge out of your sedentary life whether it be for cardiovascular or muscular and spinal reasons. Starting into too robust an exercise routine can be counterproductive and even with muscular problems, which I also have, getting the elasticity back into those muscles needs to be a gradual process or it can be painful. Been there, done that.
Re: A week in bed ages your muscles by one year*
Posted: Sun May 29, 2022 5:53 pm
by BrianD3
I was an avid weight trainer for many years but that has nearly stopped now due to my caring responsibilities which have consumed my life. Need to get doing a bit again especially as I'm middle aged now. I have lots of equipment and weights at home but its possible to do great work with very little. I'd say deadlifts and farmers walks (best done outside) are two of the best exercises and don't need fancy machines or racks.
Also, I have been doing a significant amount of light, functional resistance work with the elderly person I care for e.g. getting them to sit up and down in a chair for 10 reps holding light weight. If I wasn't doing that they might well need far more care, be unable to toilet without assistance etc. When a person starts to lose strength and mobility they can be on a very slippery slope. Muscle wastage and sitting too much can also lead to pressure sores and skin breakdown in the elderly which is also a very slippery slope. Also constipation and metabolic problems. Then there's the mental health benefits from exercise
Re: A week in bed ages your muscles by one year*
Posted: Mon May 30, 2022 2:41 am
by knownunknown
Being an astronomy geek I remember once seeing that the pee taken from astronauts while in space is one of the most protected substances, expensive substances in the world, since they get to study the effects of zero gravity on the human body.
You lose about 2.5% bone density per month in zero gravity! They had to develop special resistance training machines that work in space specifically for astronauts.
Re: A week in bed ages your muscles by one year*
Posted: Mon May 30, 2022 7:53 am
by 765489
BrianD3 wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 5:53 pm
I was an avid weight trainer for many years but that has nearly stopped now due to my caring responsibilities which have consumed my life. Need to get doing a bit again especially as I'm middle aged now. I have lots of equipment and weights at home but its possible to do great work with very little. I'd say deadlifts and farmers walks (best done outside) are two of the best exercises and don't need fancy machines or racks.
Also, I have been doing a significant amount of light, functional resistance work with the elderly person I care for e.g. getting them to sit up and down in a chair for 10 reps holding light weight. If I wasn't doing that they might well need far more care, be unable to toilet without assistance etc. When a person starts to lose strength and mobility they can be on a very slippery slope. Muscle wastage and sitting too much can also lead to pressure sores and skin breakdown in the elderly which is also a very slippery slope. Also constipation and metabolic problems. Then there's the mental health benefits from exercise
My father, who is in his seventies, does two hours of walking everyday. An hour in the morning and another in the evening walking around a track in our fields. I'm working with lads and lassies that wouldn't walk 30 yards if their life depended on it. I agree that you don't need fancy equipment just get out and be active.
I've been advised by my physio to do some resistance training on my lower back but I haven't got around to it yet. Looks like a very good way of building strength in areas of weakness.
Re: A week in bed ages your muscles by one year*
Posted: Mon May 30, 2022 8:15 am
by CelticRambler
I'd slightly argue with the "ageing" concept of the title as it applies to muscles, but agree with the overall concept. And it's not just muscles, but joints as well. I'm the unfortunate owner of several disintegrating intervertebral discs, in my neck and my lower back. Before having the x-rays to confirm just how bad they were, I used to treat the occasional episodes of "lumbago" with as much rest as I could get ... often without much effect before I had to get up and about again.
Eventually, with the x-rays and my GP's advice (he happens also to be a sports medicine doctor), I realised that the best treatment to take, as soon as I felt one of the characteristic twinges, was to
increase my range of movement. Somewhat paradoxically, one of the activities that helps most is ... using the strimmer! Wearing the harness forces me to adopt a good posture, and the swinging motion is a kind of natural physio. The best therapy, though is
(quelle surprise) dancing: nothing like leppin' about for four hours to give the aul' bones and ligaments a good shake up!
