Dr Peter Davies: ‘Our muscles are a deeply under-appreciated tissue of the body’.
Doctor and #walk1000miles champion Peter Davies says something called ‘sarcopenia’ is life’s end-of-level baddie – but walking is our devastating weapon against it.
Just because something is common and develops over time doesn’t mean it’s normal, unavoidable, natural or desirable. Sarcopenia is one of those things. Defined as ‘A progressive and generalised skeletal muscle disorder involving the accelerated loss of muscle mass and function, associated with increased adverse outcomes including falls, functional decline, frailty, and mortality’ it’s perhaps more better known in layman’s terms as getting old. But that’s misleading. Because in fact it’s something which can happen to all of us from the age of 30, and better thought of as a movement deficiency disease.
As humans we evolved to be physically active every day and no part of our bodies – most obviously brain, bones and muscles – flourish without it. Yet we live in a world where movement has emerged as a voluntary physical quirk rather than a daily necessity. And that’s dangerous. Because sarcopenia causes many problems and they get worse over time.
Muscle magic
Our muscles are a deeply under-appreciated tissue of the body – not simply for the joy of movement but the metabolic and mental health they create. The old split between ‘weedy but brainy’ and ‘sporty but dim’ is nonsense – the physically active are more intelligent as well.
There are vicious and virtuous cycles in play here. Without enough exercise muscles get weaker, physical capacity reduces, balance gets worse and falls eventually occur. The inactive body cannot use glucose well. So glucose levels rise easily and the body becomes insulin resistant. Type 2 (insulin resistant) diabetes emerges as an inevitable and entirely predictable long-term outcome.
Walking leads to reduced fat deposition in our arteries, reducing the risk of heart attacks, vascular dementia, strokes and more.
That leads to higher circulating insulin levels which then promotes fat deposition along the walls of the arteries. From this narrowing (atherosclerosis) come erectile dysfunction in men, heart attacks, strokes, vascular dementia, and peripheral vascular disease. The brain of the under-exercised person makes fewer connections, loses neurones and starts to slow down. Over time this progresses to recognisable medical illnesses such as dementia and depression. The inactive person ends up flabby, forgetful, frustrated and likely to fall. They spend a lot of time seeing their doctor. We call this ‘chronic disease management’ – medicine often simply describing the end results of processes that have been running for many years beforehand. Sarcopenia is one such process that need not run at all.
“There are really two choices we face. To get flabby, frustrated and flustered. Or to get up, walk 1000 miles, and take life in our stride.”
New connections
The virtuous cycle involves people moving and exercising regularly – your daily hour spent furthering your #walk1000miles goal being the perfect example. This stimulates muscle growth. Muscle growth strengthens neural connections between muscle and brain leading to neurogenesis (generation of new nerve cells), and new connections between nerve cells. The connection between brain and body is strengthened. These changes feed forward into brain health benefits including better memory, better concentration, better creativity, better mood, less anxiety, less depression, less dementia.
The walking improves metabolism as active muscles absorb glucose readily for their energy needs. The more metabolically active you are and the more insulin-sensitive you are the better your body works, the better blood flows along your arteries, the fewer heart attacks and strokes you have. Your risk of impaired glucose tolerance and Type 2 (insulin resistant) diabetes mellitus is significantly reduced.
Physically you can move more easily, stand up straighter, do more, and stay healthier for longer. Your mental and physical capacity is maintained and improved as you exercise. You see a flight of stairs and before you know it you’re up them. You see a hill and think it’s an easy walk to the top.
Ambulo ergo sum
As humans we are walking beings who feel our way through our encounters with the physical world of objects and relationships. We’ve been labelled ‘homo sapiens’ – wise man – and taught ‘cogito ergo sum’ (I think therefore I am). But we’ve got the descriptions entirely backwards. We walk first and encounter the world through our movements and senses. Our brain primarily exists to guide our walking and exploring. Any thinking we do, and any wisdom we achieve, are secondary to our basic experiences of walking and sensing. The more you do that, the more human you become. There are really two choices we face. To get flabby, frustrated and flustered from sitting around waiting for sarcopenia. Or to get up, walk 1000 miles, and take life in our stride.
