Active for Life

As we age, staying physically active becomes increasingly important for overall health and wellness. However, building and maintaining muscle mass can be a challenge, especially for individuals over the age of 60. That said, it’s far from impossible. This comprehensive guide aims to provide you with valuable insights into building muscle after 60, from understanding the challenge to implementing effective strategies.

Understanding the Challenges

Hormonal Changes 

Hormones play a crucial role in muscle building. After 60, decreased levels of hormones like testosterone, growth hormone, and insulin-like growth factors can slow down muscle growth. That’s why adopting a holistic approach to muscle building, focusing not just on exercise but also on diet and lifestyle, is key.

The insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are proteins with high sequence similarity to insulin. They form a part of the system that makes it possible for cells to communicate with their physiologic environment.

Sarcopenia (Age-Related Muscle Loss)

As we age, we naturally start to lose muscle mass in a process known as sarcopenia. This is a gradual process that can start as early as our 40s but accelerates after the age of 60. However, regular strength and resistance training can slow down this process, helping you maintain your strength, independence, and quality of life.

Sarcopenia is a type of muscle loss characterized by the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle-mass, quality, and strenght, and it is related to changes in muscle synthesis signalling pathways. Several factors inpact the rate of muscle loss, such as nutrition, exercise, and health conditions. We still do not know the exact mechanics behind sarcopenia and it is believed to the be result of multiple interacting factors, including hormonal changes, nutrition, neurodegenerative changes, and immobility.

Sarcopenia is a factor in the changing body composition common in aging populations. In general, the first areas to show any noticable change are the anterior thigh and abdominal muscles. The degree of sarcopenia is determined by both the initial amount of muscle mass and the rate of decline. Immobility is known to drastically increase the rate of decline in muscle mass, so staying physically active is important.

So, is sarcopenia and cachexia the same thing? No, cachexia is when muscle is degraded by cytokine-mediated degradation.

Strategies for Building Muscles After 60

Resistance and Strength Training 

Strength and resistance training are crucial for slowing muscle loss and building new muscle mass. Lifting weights, bodyweight exercises, and resistance bands are all great ways to challenge and strengthen your muscles. A well-designed program should target all major muscle groups and progressively increase in intensity to continuously challenge your muscles as they become stronger.

Consuming Protein-Rich Foods 

Consuming sufficient protein is another critical part of building muscle. Protein is the building block of muscle and helps repair and build new muscle tissue. Include plenty of lean protein sources in your diet such as chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, and low-fat dairy products.

Examples of vegan protein sources are lentils, beans, chick peas, green peas, chia seeds, quinoa, hemp seeds, peanut butter, and almonds.

Staying Hydrated 

Hydration plays an essential role in muscle health. Dehydration can compromise muscle mass and strength. Therefore, you should make sure you drink plenty of fluids throughout the day.

Get Enough Sleep 

Sleep is when our bodies recover and regenerate. Poor sleep or inadequate sleep can hinder muscle recovery and growth.

Consult Health Professionals

Lastly, always consult with your doctor or a qualified personal trainer before starting any exercise program. They can provide you with personalized advice, ensuring your training program is safe and effective.

Conclusion

Building muscle after 60 may seem like a daunting task, but with the right strategies and consistent effort, it’s definitely achievable. Embrace progressive resistance training, ensure a protein-rich diet, stay hydrated, and prioritize sleep to fuel your muscle-building journey. Remember, it’s not just about looking fit—it’s about staying healthier, stronger, and independent as you age.

Scrapbooking is a way of preserving and presenting memorabilia, such as photographs, tickets, sketches, notes and coins in scrapbooks, although some types of scrapbooking forgo the traditional book and does instead preserve and present the memorabilia in boxes, on cards, as big collages, or similar.

The pages of a scrapbook are typically decorated and contain a mix of different items, such as pretty journal entries, tickets from a show or trip, photographs, coins glued to the page, etcetera.

Crops – the social side of scrapbooking

Crops are scrapbooking events where scrapbookers meet to work on their respective scrapbooks in a social environment. It is similar to a sewing circle or quilting bee, but for scrapbooking.

A crop is a great place to share scrapbooking ideas, learn new techniques, try out products and just generally learn from other scrapbookers in a congenial environment.

Crops are usually small scale events that take place in the home of one of the participants, but large scale crops also exist – sometimes arranged or sponsored by companies that sell scrapbook materials. The largest crops are multi-day events in the United States with hundreds of attendees.

The album

A wide range of albums can be used as scrapbooks, and albums intended specifically for this purpose are available from several manufacturers. Some albums are permanently bound, while others make it easy to insert pages.

Novices who are entering the world of scrapbooking typically chose albums of the A4 format (297 mm x 210 mm), of U.S. letter-size (11 inches x 8.5 inches) or go for the 30 cm x 30 cm square style.

Supplies

Here are a few examples of supplies that can come in handy when making a scrapbook.

• Clear page protectors that will protect each finished page in the scrapbook
• Corner mounts for photographs
• Various background papers, e.g. cardstock paper and printed pattern paper
• Adhesive dots, photo tape, acid-free glue and similar adhesive products
• Die-cut templates
• Rubber stamps
• Craft punches
• Stencils

A wide range of embellishments can be used to decorate the pages of the scrapbook, such as rub-ons, stickers, lace, sequins, ribbons, beads, etc.

Long-lasting scrapbooks

If you want to limit the detrimental impacts of aging, it is important to select supplies of high archival quality for your scrapbook, such as paper that is acid-free and lignin-free. Pigment-based fade-resilient inks are popular, especially the ones that are also waterproof.

The buffered paper will protect photos from acids leaching from the various memorabilia.

Since oil from the hands can cause damage over time, some serious scrapbookers wear cotton gloves when working with their scrapbooks.

Marielen Wadley Christensen

The art of scrapbooking have roots that go back to at least the 1400s, when so-called Commonplace Books were created in Europe. Since then, the popularity of scrapbooking has waxed and vaned, and a multitude of different styles have developed.

Marielen Wadley Christensen is largely credited with kick-starting a revival for scrapbooking in the United States in the 1980s. At the start of the decade, she was invited to showcase her 50+ photo albums at the World Conference on Records in Salt Lake City. This was 3-ring binders filled with creatively designed pages for her family´s photographs. After the conference, Marielen and her husband authored and published the how-to booklet “Keeping Memories Alive” and opened a scrapbook supply store in Utah.