Muscle is longevity: why protecting your muscle mass after 40 matters

For a long time we associated muscle with aesthetics, weight or athletic performance. But after 40, the conversation should be different.

Muscle is one of our main reserves of health. It allows us to get up from a chair, climb stairs, carry a suitcase, keep our balance, protect our bones and maintain our autonomy. And it also plays an active role in our metabolic health.

As the years go by, muscle mass and strength tend to decrease. This process can accelerate during the menopausal transition, in a context of ageing, hormonal changes and shifts in body composition.

That is why menopause is not the time to start caring for muscle. It is the time to understand why we should have started already.

It is not only how much you weigh. It is what you are made of

The scale can tell us how much we weigh, but not how much muscle we have, how that muscle works or how able we are to move and respond to effort.

Two women with the same weight can have completely different body compositions and physical capacities.

That is why, in longevity, we increasingly talk about body composition, strength and function, rather than weight alone.

The goal should not simply be to «weigh less». It should be to keep the ability to live as we want for more years.

What happens to muscle during menopause?

Loss of muscle mass and strength is part of ageing, and can be influenced by hormonal changes, lower physical activity and insufficient energy or protein intake, among other factors.

This has consequences that go far beyond aesthetics. Less muscle can mean:

• less strength
• lower functional capacity
• poorer balance
• greater difficulty performing certain daily activities
• greater vulnerability to falls and loss of autonomy

And here a key word for SHOMMA appears: healthspan. We do not only want to increase years of life. We want to increase the years in which we can live with health, autonomy, strength and functional capacity.

Strength is an investment, not a punishment

Strength training is one of the most important tools for preserving muscle mass and function. Available evidence in menopausal women shows that exercise can improve lean body mass and different measures of strength, and that resistance training plays a particularly relevant role.

In addition, strength training also benefits bone. Organisations such as ACOG recommend strength exercise and weight-bearing activities as part of health care during and after menopause.

That is why lifting weights should not be seen as something reserved for athletes. It is a prevention tool.

Muscle also speaks about metabolism

Muscle is one of the main tissues involved in glucose utilisation and energy metabolism. That is why maintaining good muscle mass is part of a broader metabolic health strategy, especially as body fat distribution changes with age and the tendency to accumulate visceral fat increases.

And this also changes the way we approach weight. Instead of only asking «how can I lose weight?», we can start asking: «how can I lose fat without losing muscle?». It is a small difference in wording, but a huge difference in strategy.

What role does protein play?

Nutrition also matters. Adequate protein intake, together with resistance exercise, is part of the strategies used to maintain muscle function with ageing. However, individual needs depend on factors such as age, physical activity, body composition, diet and clinical situation.

So it is not about copying someone else's diet or starting supplements without assessment. It is about knowing what your body needs.

Do not wait until you lose strength to start recovering it

One of the great advantages of muscle is that it responds to stimulus. Even when loss of mass or strength has already begun, resistance exercise can improve muscular capacity. A review of clinical trials in menopausal women found benefits of exercise on lean mass and strength, especially with resistance programmes maintained over time.

The key lies in progression, technique and consistency. You do not need to train like an athlete. You need to train according to your body, your history and your goals.

Your muscle is part of your future freedom

Perhaps this is the most important idea. Muscle is not only about having more defined arms or a certain waistline.

It is about being able to keep travelling. Getting up from the floor. Climbing stairs. Playing with your children or grandchildren. Carrying your own suitcases. Keeping your balance. Having the strength needed to recover after an illness, an injury or surgery.

Muscle is capacity. And capacity is autonomy. That is why caring for muscle mass from the age of 40 is not an aesthetic issue. It is a longevity decision.

At SHOMMA we believe in a longevity that can be lived

Prevention is not about waiting for a problem to appear before acting. It is about knowing how you are today, identifying what is changing and building a strategy before loss of capacity becomes a limitation.

Muscle. Bone. Metabolism. Hormones. Sleep. Nutrition. Emotional health. Everything is connected. And the sooner we start caring for our health reserve, the more likely we are to reach the coming decades with something far more valuable than a number on the scale: strength to keep living our life.