Why Everyone Should Do Strength Training
Weightlifting or other resistance training offers many benefits that have nothing to do with bulging muscles
Welcome back to your weekly dose of wisdom and wellness, helping you make tomorrow a little better than today. Below you’ll find links to several in-depth, actionable stories by Wise & Well’s team of journalists, topical experts and practicing professionals. First, this week’s newsletter-only news brief and tidbits…
BIG WORDS: Sarcopenia
Age-related loss of muscle mass and strength that is partly natural but greatly exacerbated by poor diet and, especially, lack of muscle-building physical activity.
VITAL STAT: 40%
The amount of muscle loss a person will experience by age 70, compared to their peak at age 30, unless they work those muscles seriously, via natural heavy-lifting activities or by lifting weights or doing other resistance exercises, such as push-ups or using stretchy bands.
BRIEFLY: Time to Hit the Gym!
Were there ever any debate over whether humans should lift weights or do aerobic workouts, it’s been settled by science. Do both, experts say.
Aerobic workouts are vital to cardiovascular health and overall physical and mental well-being. Even light physical activity—such as walking, doing the dishes or otherwise living life beyond chairs and couches—is extremely beneficial.
But resistance training is crucial for good health, too. Lifting weights boosts overall health and also makes people more capable, better able to accomplish ordinary life tasks, and lowers the risk of falls and serious injury later in life. One or two weekly sessions of weightlifting has been linked to a 14% lower risk of early death compared to sedentarism. Separate research found three weekly sessions of just 13 minutes, lifting hard, generated “marked increases in strength and endurance” that comes without the sort of outsized hypertrophy seen in bodybuilders.
A study earlier this year found weight training can even alleviate anxiety and depression in older people. “Resistance training has been shown to be one of the most effective non-pharmacological strategies for healthy aging,” said study leader Paolo Cunha of the Albert Einstein Jewish-Brazilian Institute of Education and Research.
(If you have a disability, seek help from a doctor or fitness expert, such as a Certified Inclusive Fitness Trainer, to determine appropriate alternatives. You’ll find more info here and here).
Here’s the problem: A lot of guys have no problem hitting the gym and pumping iron. But as Wise & Well’s newest writer Emily Brown explains, women experience a lot of barriers to an activity that’s just as important for them, and maybe even more so….
Why Women Should Take Up More Space in the Weight Room
Some men take up a lot of space at the gym, staking out territory, squatting on machines. I find it annoying. But it never occurred to me how those behaviors, combined with other gendered norms, outright sexism and other barriers faced by women can have a dramatic effect on whether women go to the gym at all, and what they do (and don’t do) while there. The writer calls for some serious, strong change.
Unrealistic body standards around thinness, intimidation, and sexism are tall barriers to women wanting to strength train, and they take a long time to change. But women have a lot to gain from it — maybe even more than men. Strength training not only gives you muscles to be proud of but protects your bone health, reduces mortality risk, and boosts your confidence too.
—Emily Brown, MPH
THIS WEEK’S OTHER FEATURES
A selection of this week’s informative, entertaining and actionable stories by Wise & Well’s team of journalists, topical experts and practicing professionals.
The 7 Most Common Emotions of Chronic Pain
I know from years of experience that chronic pain can make you grouchy. Now that I no longer have that pain, I’m grateful. And mine was modest compared to many people, so I have tremendous empathy for the emotions they go through. Randall H. Duckett, who has his own struggle with chronic pain, has spoken to dozens of other chronic pain sufferers, as well as many scientific experts, to paint a vivid picture of the wide range of specific and varied emotions caused by pain. Here’s but one example:
“I still grieve my former life,” explains Mark Harrington in Dallas. “Back home in Maine with my sister, we talked about the changes that life had brought my way, especially leaving my job in a school district. And suddenly it all overcame me and I began to cry. What I experienced was akin to the death of a loved one.”
—Randall H. Duckett
Pharmacies are Failing and Our World is Fraying
If you’ve been to a pharmacy in the past decade or so, you might’ve noticed the service has become less personalized, more corporate. While there are many great pharmacists out there, the systems they work within have made their jobs more complex. Less appreciated is how the broader attention economy is eroding their ability to think on their feet, and actually be helpful.
More than ever, pharmacists create or escalate problems, rather than helping solve them. I’ve seen it. My patients see it. This behavior of pharmacists is a neglected factor contributing to failing pharmacies.
— John Kruse MD, PhD
Why Cell Phone ‘Radiation Blockers’ are Totally Bogus
The idea that cell phone radiation is harmful has been around since we first went cordless. The fear mongering, rooted in a grain of truth but which rings scientifically untrue, comes and goes in waves, prompting scammers to create charming products that zap nothing more than your wallet. This scientist explains the technology in plain terms and debunks a particular hot new product.
Cell phones, car stereos, and microwaves all use non-ionizing radiation. They can travel over long distances but carry very little energy, like a tiny ripple crossing the surface of an otherwise still lake. They interact with specific targets…
—Sam Westreich, PhD
How Excess Snoring Messes With Memory
It’s well understood that memories solidify during sleep. Exactly how that happens remains somewhat mysterious. A new study finds that slow, rhythmic breathing — the stuff of quality sleep — acts as a metronome to trigger memory formation.
“When you’re sleeping, your brain is actively replaying experiences you had during the day,” said study team member Andrew Sheriff, a postdoctoral student at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “Memory consolidation relies on orchestration of brain waves during sleep, and we show that this process is closely timed by breathing.”
—Robert Roy Britt
5 Ways to Navigate Social Awkwardness with Grace
You know that thing where you have an awkward interaction with someone—maybe a disagreement of opinion with a stranger or an unexpected comment by a friend or loved one—and afterward you think of exactly what you shoulda said? Happens to me all the time! So I love this philosopher’s guide to surviving moments when you’re caught off guard without a script.
As a philosopher who studies moral psychology, I’m interested in awkwardness because I wanted to understand the ways social discomfort stops people from engaging with difficult topics and challenging conversations. Awkwardness seems to inhibit people, even when their moral values suggest they should speak up. But it has a positive role to play, too — it can alert people to areas where their social norms are lacking or outdated.
—Alexandra Plakias
Why You Should Talk to People You Disagree With on Politics
It’s easy to shy away from conversations about politics. Been there. We assume there will be friction, or worse, and we kinda know intuitively that we’re not likely to change the other person’s mind. But research finds that having these challenging conversations increases understanding and can even lead us to see how and why someone believes something we don’t, or votes in a way we wouldn’t.
As a scholar of political dialogue, for the past decade I have been studying conversations between people who disagree about politics. What I have found is that people rarely change their minds about political issues as a direct result of these discussions. But they frequently feel much better about the people with whom they disagree.
—Rachel Wahl
I hope we’ve helped make your tomorrow a little better than today. We’ll be taking next week off, then back with another newsletter on Friday, Jan. 3.
Cheers,
Rob