Equally for women and men, the natural hormonal changes of the ageing process can produce side effects of insomnia, night sweats, joint pain, tiredness, bladder issues, anxiety and mood changes. While bone density, muscle mass and libido can start to decrease and decline, weight seems to creep up and stay in all the wrong places and refuse to shift.
People over a certain age start to talk about how easy it is to gain weight and how hard it is to lose it. New research shows that as we age fat starts to accumulate in the abdomen causing increased waistlines (Ambikairajah 2019). Just as increases in body fat should be managed throughout life, it is important to pay attention the accumulation of central fat from the mid 40’s on. A high waist circumference is associated with increased risk for diabetes, excess fat in the blood, high blood pressure and heart disease (Ashwell et al. 2014). Slowly a body shape may shift from being pear or pillar-shape to an apple on thin legs…
Contrary to what some may suggest though, there is no such thing as spot fat reduction. Fat is lost throughout the body in a pattern which is different for everyone depending on genetics, gender, hormones and age. The adipose tissue (fat) that accumulates around the midline is visceral-fat and instead of sitting under the skin, collects around the liver, the intestines and the pancreas. As it is more liquid it can get into the blood stream affecting blood pressure, blood sugar, and total cholesterol levels (Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2016).
The good news is in order to combat the accumulation of visceral-fat the usual rules regarding healthy eating, drinking and exercise apply. The most effective management for achieving weight loss is through dietary modifications however physical activity, resistance exercise, endurance and interval training are key to making weight shift and stay off (Boa et al. 2017). Regular exercise increases fat oxidation, which induces a loss of fat mass and increases energy expenditure. It also improves insulin sensitivity, mental health, mood, cognition, memory and sleep and can be considered an anti-inflammatory treatment. Even after a single bout of swimming, exercise was shown to improve insulin action and sensitivity and plays a major role in maintaining weight after the initial weight loss ((Boa et al. 2017; Swift et al. 2014).
Current research indicates that every individual has a unique response to diet and exercise. Hormonal responses to muscle actions i.e. exercise, are affected by load, volume, time-under tension, and rest-period intervals, training status, gender, and age all indicating it is vital to find what works for you. Slogans like “keep your waist circumference less than half your height” are unhelpful for some as they are too general, confusing and shame-ing. Increasing exercise and improve cardiovascular fitness required to maintain a healthy shape over a lifetime (Bajer et al. 2015).
An exercise program designed for your individual maximal response may help reduce or prevent some of the pesky symptoms of aging as well as make you look and feel more comfortable both in and out of your clothes.
Ambikairajah et al. 2019. Fat mass changes during menopause: a meta-analysis American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Ashwell, Mayhew, Richardson, Rickayzen 2015 Waist-to-Height Ratio Is More Predictive of Years of Life Lost than Body Mass Index PLOS One Vol 9, 9
Bajer B, Vlcek M, Galusova A, Imrich R, Penesova A. 2015 ‘Exercise associated hormonal signals as powerful determinants of an effective fat mass loss’ 49 3
Boa, Yudkin, van Hinsbergh, Bouskela, Eringa 2017, ‘Exercise effects on perivascular adipose tissue: endocrine and paracrine determinants of vascular function’ British Journal of Pharmacology 174 3466–3481 3466
Iliodromiti et al. 2018 The impact of confounding on the associations of different adiposity measures with the incidence of cardiovascular disease: a cohort study of 296 535 adults of white European descent. European Heart Journal Vol 39 17 pp. 1514-1520.
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