What’s Causing Your Decline in Muscle Tone?

Posted: March 4, 2015

The loss of muscle in aging men is a complex and often misunderstood issue. There are many contributing factors, but the results are always the same — a decline in strength, which increases the risk for injury, disability, and the need for assistance to complete daily tasks.

Muscle building involves several components: a proper training regimen; a good diet; and the absence of stress, toxins, and viruses or illness. Provided these factors exist, men in their teens, 20s, and even 30s often have little trouble building and maintaining muscle.

However that formula often fails to achieve the desired results once a man hits 35 or 40. Here are some factors as to why:

• Neural factors: The brain sends messages to your muscles when exercising. As we age, that process slows down, so muscles aren’t activated as quickly or as powerfully as before, resulting in a loss of strength.

• Muscle damage: When we strength train, we actually make microscopic tears in our muscles. When the body repairs them, it promotes muscle growth. As we age, our body’s ability to repair these tears or from injury slows down, stunting the growth that used to occur.

• Hormonal changes: For men, the dominant hormone is testosterone, responsible for the growth and building of lean muscle. Once men hit age 30, natural production of testosterone decreases. Over time this decline results in an inability of the body to build, repair, and maintain muscle as it did before.

For men approaching middle age, there is information available to help overcome this hormonal decline. Maintaining a proper exercise program, making sound nutritional choices, living a healthy lifestyle, and reducing stress levels are all part of a successful plan – but so is monitoring your testosterone levels.

The providers at Low T Center specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of low testosterone. By administering a simple blood test, we can determine if you are a candidate for treatment and professionally discuss the best course of action.

Related Posts

Disclaimer: This article is made available for general, entertainment and educational purposes only. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Low T Center. You should always seek the advice of a licensed healthcare professional.