If our body is trying to conserve energy by losing muscle mass we’re not using, why does being sedentary ultimately end up being more harmful?
In: Biology
It is more energy taxing for the body to maintain lean muscle than it is to hold fat. If the muscle tissue isnt consistently stimulated in order to promote maintenance or building of lean tissue, the body wont waste calories to do so. Holding adipose (fat) tissue allows the body simpler and less energy intensive stores of energy for use in case of a lack of calories.
Therefore sarcopenia (loss of muscle tissue) occurs as one ages and is sedentary, and the rate of sarcopenia increases as we age due to hormonal changes that occur naturally.
So we conserve energy by eliminating lean tissue and we will happily store excess energy as adipose fat. Adipose Fat storage and Low Lean mass had been directly correlated to all cause mortality and a slew of secondary diseases such as Hypertension, Diabetes, etc
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