Hey there!
I hope your weekend was amazing and the week is proving to be productive. This week, we are discussing muscle health and strategies for rebuilding strength and muscle.
Muscles, tendons, and bones need mechanical stress to maintain size and function. The key to healthy muscles, tendons, and bones is continuous breakdown and rebuilding. Without movement, muscles begin to degrade, resulting in a noticeable loss of strength and function.
Muscle atrophy, the wasting or loss of muscle tissue, can occur rather quickly, posing serious issues for those recovering from chronic illness or extended periods of inactivity. In a study by scientists from Spain, it was found that just three days of simulated total bed rest resulted in a more than 10% loss of muscle tissue and increased fats in the muscle.
Aging and Muscle Atrophy
Aging is a significant factor in the development of muscle atrophy. Our bodies naturally lose muscle mass and strength as we age, a process known as sarcopenia. This decline begins as early as age 30, with muscle mass decreasing by 3 percent to 8 percent per decade, and the rate of loss doubling at about age 60, making it even more challenging to maintain muscle health.
Even more troubling is the loss of strength and power, occurring two to three times the rate of muscle mass loss, respectively. These changes can significantly impact daily activities and overall quality of life.
Nutritionally, the maintenance of muscle mass is dependent on the balance of two processes: the rate of protein synthesis and protein degradation. Under atrophy conditions, there is a shift in the balance of these two processes such that there is a net loss of muscle proteins.
A study published in Nature Communications supports this by highlighting the numerous factors affecting muscle health. The scientists note that changes in muscle mass can significantly impact metabolism, movement, and even breathing. Their research shows that muscle function adapts to environmental and nutritional cues, emphasizing the importance of balancing protein synthesis and degradation.
The Role of Inflammation in Muscle Atrophy
Inflammation is a key factor in muscle loss, particularly for individuals with chronic illnesses or persistent low-grade inflammation. Chronic diseases and high body fat can cause anabolic resistance, meaning muscles do not respond well to muscle-building signals from protein intake or exercise.
In cases of severe injury, trauma, or systemic diseases, inflammation plays a critical role in helping the body heal. High levels of inflammatory mediators are released in response to these conditions, but this can also lead to increased muscle breakdown. This inflammatory response, while essential for healing and defense, can complicate muscle recovery by exacerbating muscle atrophy. It causes big-time behavior and metabolic changes leading to muscle loss.
For those with chronic inflammation, conventional strategies to combat muscle loss include a combination of drugs and lifestyle changes. These may involve anti-inflammatory medications, anabolic agents, and therapies aimed at maintaining appetite and muscle function. It’s important that people exercise regularly and eat well, but these can be difficult habits to maintain.
Rebuilding Strength at Any Age
Many believe that muscle atrophy is irreversible, particularly as people age, based on the misconception that older adults can’t build muscle.
This simply isn’t true. Muscle plasticity, the ability of muscles to regenerate and grow, persists throughout life. With the right training and nutrition, you can rebuild muscle at any age. However, as we age, our bodies naturally experience a decrease in muscle regenerative capacity and hormonal changes that can slow down the recovery process.
Staying active is the most important thing we all should to prevent anabolic resistance and help with recovery. Rebuilding muscular strength begins with movement, but it is crucial to address the underlying causes of inactivity, whether that be a specific ailment, lack of time, or something else. These are the most effective strategies targeting the inactivity aspect.
Practical Exercises for Rebuilding Muscle After Inactivity
After a prolonged period of inactivity or illness, rebuilding muscle should be approached gradually and safely.
Start with simple isometric exercises involving holding a contraction without movement, such as planks. These exercises are beneficial for those with limited mobility, as they help rebuild strength with minimal injury risk and require no equipment. This approach allows muscles to engage even if walking is not possible.
As recovery progresses, incorporating resistance training becomes essential. Resistance training is also vital for those who are middle-aged. Phillipa Butler, chartered physiotherapist, Pilates teacher and our client at Digital Wellness Directory from the UK, suggests, “With the addition of the humble resistance band, a couple of hand weights and bodyweight exercises we can definitely meet the strength and conditioning requirements of mid-life.” Phillipa offers really great online Pilates and Yoga classes, and also has a great Video library for those who are unable to attend the live classes due to the time zone difference. She is indeed a source of information, inspiration and motivation for me and my family!
As recovery progresses, incorporating resistance training becomes essential. Starting with body weight or light resistance bands helps focus on proper technique before gradually increasing the resistance. Using a full range of motion and engaging the core are crucial for effective muscle rebuilding.
Nutrition’s Role in Muscle Recovery
Nutrition plays a pivotal role in muscle recovery and overall health during and after injury or illness. A study in the Nutrients journal emphasizes that periods of disuse combined with poor dietary intake can accelerate muscle loss and weaken strength, especially in older adults.
Protein is essential for muscle repair and growth. Ensuring an optimal protein intake is critical, with a minimum of 100 grams per day, and ideally 1 gram or more per pound of ideal body weight.
However, merely increasing protein intake does not prevent muscle loss. Muscles need to be put to work in order to decrease the level of loss during inactivity or disease. Additionally, incorporating 15 grams of essential amino acids with one to two meals a day to provide the necessary nutrients for healing and preventing muscle breakdown. Extra collagen, either as a supplement or through bone broth or bone broth protein powder, can be beneficial at an intake of 15 grams to 30 grams daily.
There are certainly many more nutritional strategies that can be adopted to have the best nutrition in your life. I find that simply having a nutritionist or dietician in your life can make a great difference in your health and wellness. All other therapies work better when the nutrition is in tandem.
Mindset for Physical Recovery
Mindset directly impacts nutrition, sleep, and overall activity levels. Therefore, mental resilience is crucial in physical recovery. It greatly affects the speed and completeness of recovery from illness, injury, or prolonged inactivity.
When physical strength is weakened, improving willpower is essential for maintaining focus, discipline, and positivity, enabling adherence to recovery protocols and coping with the often slow and frustrating healing process.
I’ve been working with Dr. Stephen Simpson, a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and mindset coach for champions. Cultivating mental resilience during recovery involves several key strategies.
Positive outlook: It’s not just about thinking happy thoughts but strategically viewing challenges as opportunities for growth and learning.
Visualize: Picture yourself healed, strong, and thriving, which can help steer your subconscious toward those outcomes. Physiologists wired their muscles and attached them to recording machines, and this science is called electromyography. They have discovered that when skiers stand in the laboratory with their eyes closed and visualize their next competition run, the same muscle groups are flexed at the same time as would happen on the real run, mirroring the ski terrain.
Practice resilience-building techniques: Goal setting and mindfulness meditation are beneficial. These practices reduce stress and improve overall mental well-being. The aim is to not only feel better physically but also find fulfillment and success.
Your Community. Being surrounded by people who uplift and encourage boosts emotional balance and practical thinking, motivating adherence to recovery goals.
Additionally, one can consider therapies such as PEMF, Transcranial LLLT and Hydrogen Inhalation which have proven mental and brain health benefits to further boost your willpower. Let us now look at two of these wellness and complementary technologies that improve muscle recovery and have shown to boost natural self-recovery mechanisms, and have anti-aging effects.
PEMF & Hydrogen Inhalation for Muscle Recovery
PEMF can prove to be a boon in many conditions such as muscle weakness and degeneration. It can be a great adjunct therapy in preventing disuse atrophy during the initial days of bed rest in post-surgical patients.
For individuals unable to handle significant resistance due to injury, high-intensity PEMF therapy research shows it as an effective adjunct treatment. During a high-intensity PEMF treatment session, the muscles are squeezed and there are muscle contractions without any negative or pain to the underlying tissues. This “exercises” even those muscles which you can’t by yourself. Read our research page on high-intensity PEMF therapy to learn how incredible this effect is and the clinical studies on its application in several conditions including chronic back pain, muscle toning, urinary incontinence and brain health.
Our high-intensity PEMF machine page can be viewed to see our system in action. It is a result of several years of research and development and gets you the best deal in the PEMF world.
Hydrogen therapies including hydrogen inhalation and hydrogen water bathing also have promising research for bone, cartilage and muscle disorders that arise from genetic defects, aging and inflammation.
Hydrogen inhalation improves exercise performance via reducing systemic oxidative damage. (Source) By inhalation, hydrogen (H2) is distributed in the stomach, intestine, liver, heart, and lungs. Beneficial effects are also observed in the brain, spinal cord, kidney, pancreas, muscles, and cartilage, where hydrogen is carried via arteries. Early on, molecular hydrogen had been studied on the cellular level for disuse muscle atrophy, cartilage trauma, and osteopenia in animal studies. Application of H2 was found to be improving mitochondrial function and collagen protein generation.
Several studies have also reported that H2 was able to restore the health and functional abilities after acute soft tissue injuries and chronic musculoskeletal disorders including spinal cord injury and rheumatoid arthritis. You can find all these studies in our research review article on hydrogen inhalation.
In my previous newsletter post on hydrogen as functional nutrition, we covered the nutritional aspects of hydrogen therapy. Electromagnetic field therapy also improves your nutritional capabilities and has a positive impact on the digestive system.
I find that PEMF and hydrogen cover all aspects that support the recovery of muscles and overall wellness in any individual, young or old. These therapies benefit the body on all the levels - mental and physical. Know someone who doesn’t sleep well? ..who wakes up stiff, in pain and still tired?...someone who suffers mental or physical performance deficits?... neurological disease?... or are just plain getting old? It doesn’t matter if you are elderly or a world class athlete, H2 and PEMF will improve your performance. The pinnacle of any health and longevity quest is to raise cellular oxygenation production; enhancing cells ability to detoxify and repair. Since 2012 we offer energetic solutions that greatly enhance natural repair, hormone synthesis, memory consolidation and immune function.
I hope you find our research and products beneficial in your journey. We welcome your questions and enjoy working with practitioners including neurologists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, physiotherapists, functional medicine practitioners and natural medicine doctors among many others.
And if you have any questions or need help selecting the right system, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Your satisfaction is our top priority, and we want you to feel confident and secure in your decision to implement our tech.
Hi-Tech Equine PEMF Machine
Our Hi-Tech Equine PEMF system is a powerful electromagnetic therapy machine for horses and large animals. With a maximum intensity of 2.4+ Tesla, it’s indeed everything you need when it comes to PEMF for any stable or barn for happier, more productive, faster and healthier equines.
It’s one of the most powerful PEMF machines for recovery and longevity resulting in performance enhancement exceeding that of banned or illegal substances or hypoxic training techniques. Our Equine system will shave 1 second per mile off your horse' personal best or add inches of vertical jump height within a month. You're horses will run like they were younger. You'll see amazing results not only in performance but also in temperament and overall health as well as resiliency to stress and physiological break down.
If you’re a jockey or rider, you can use this system too, it’s almost the same as our desktop high-intensity PEMF machine but with a rugged build and pelican casing for stable use. Incorporating PEMF provides legal athletic performance enhancement without the health and legislative risks associated with steroids, EPO blood doping and other banned substances. The Hi-Tech high-intensity PEMF machines make steroids, hormone therapies and Hypoxic / altitude training OBSOLETE. You can't get ergogenic effects this big using any other legal (or illegal) method. PEMF won't add a single ounce of bulk. Strength to weight ratio and stamina will soar.
PEMF therapy for Animals
Both small and large animal veterinary practices as well as holistic veterinary practices should find PEMF as a great regenerative technology in the evolving animal care landscape. Read our research review article to learn about some of the best clinical studies on electromagnetic therapy for equines, canines and felines.
Clinical Trials on Hydrogen Inhalation for Alzheimer’s Disease Show Improvement in Cognitive Abilities
PEMF therapy for Menopause
Menopause is inevitable but is not a disease although it can seem that way! Learn how pulsed electromagnetic field therapy could provide support for menopausal symptoms and conditions such as osteoporosis, depression, sleep disorders, stress, pain and more!
PEMF therapy for Back Pain & Spine Health
Learn how PEMF therapy relieves back pain based on clinical trials and how to apply PEMF for acute and chronic back pain.
Hydrogen Inhalation Systems
We hope you enjoy our collection of molecular hydrogen products and also some of our newer innovations. All our hydrogen inhalation machines can also be used to make hydrogen-rich water (HRW). These hydrogen inhalers are easy to use and can be used at any bed-side, desk or clinic. You only need distilled water and electricity to generate the gas.
PEMF-devices.com offers the Basic (225 ml/min), Ultra 900, Ultra 1500 and the Ultra 3000 perfect for hydrogen and oxyhydrogen inhalation and making Hydrogen-rich water. The options offered allow one to get a system as per their desired dosage and budget.
We first started with the same specs as the Ultra 900 in our high-volume hydrogen machines few years back, then last year we added the 1500 ml system and this year the 3000 ml/min or 3 liters/min, that would basically replace half (50%) of an average weight person’s inhaled breathe (6 liters/min). The systems produce both hydrogen and oxygen in the 2:1 ratio by splitting the water molecule very effectively and cleanly. So 900 ml/min H2 +O2 means 600 ml/min H2 (10% H2 in every inhaled breathe).
The higher dosages will have deeper and more powerful results. However even our lowest dosage system, The Basic is based on the most common hydrogen inhalation dose (around 2-2.5% or 150-200 ml). It’s a low cost way to explore hydrogen inhalation and be able to make unlimited hydrogen water.
3rd party safety and purity tested.
The output of the systems have been certified by recognized authorized labs. The systems are CE and ISO certified and are safe to use with some precautions during use (no static, no fire in the room, etc.) Our hydrogen electrolysis technology utilizes Platinum, Iridium and other noble metals as catalysts and coating of the polymer membranes. As a result, the flow rate and purity will not decrease over time. You can learn more about the technology in our article on H2 + O2 research. So please don’t fall for either inferior/similar looking or overpriced products sold elsewhere!
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Express delivery in US and insured international shipping to all other regions including Canada, Australia, Europe, Asia, etc. All our products come with international warranty, free worldwide shipping and life-long support by our product experts.
PS - After your first order, you’ll get a 10% discount coupon code for future orders for most products on our website (includes all hydrogen and LLLT devices). Affiliates, practitioner and distribution enquiries are welcome.
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