If your muscles feel tighter and stiffer as the years go by, it’s not because you’re not stretching enough. As you get older, especially after the age of 40 years, natural changes in the body cause changes in fascia, connective tissue, and hydration that can make you feel less flexible.
Fortunately, there are small things you can do each day to help soften such changes and in turn improve your quality of life. Read below to learn more about the natural skeletal muscle and hydration changes as you age and how you can turn back the hands of time in small ways today.
Fascia changes with aging
Fascia is a thin layer of connective tissue that surrounds and holds in place every organ, blood vessel, bone, nerve fiber and muscle. The fascia in the muscles is made up of many structural proteins like collagen and elastin, as well as water. As you get older, the elasticity of fascia decreases. As a result, muscles become more stiff and less flexible over time.
Connective tissue changes with aging
Connective tissue is the structure that binds other tissues like lymph, bone, blood, and other tissues together. Without it, our skin and internal organs would not have the support they need to function properly.
As you get older, fatty substances build up in such tissues and in turn makes connective tissue more stiff. Along with lower levels of elastin fibers and compounds like hyaluronan, the muscles that are being held together by such tissue become more stiff.
Hydration changes with aging
Studies show that individuals with higher serum sodium levels, which is a sign of dehydration, had faster biological aging signs like higher risk of having chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes then those who were more well-hydrated.
Not only that, but as you get older and lose lean muscle mass, which itself holds fluid, you naturally lose body water. This factor, along with a greater prevalence of disease, medication use, and lower fluid intake in older adults, leads to less-than-optimal hydration in those adults over the age of 40.
Simple ways to increase flexibility as you age
You can reduce such stiffness in your muscles and connective tissue by staying hydrated and moving more. Follow the simple tips below to help feel more flexible no matter what age you are.
👟 Move more: Research shows that regular resistance training exercises along with static stretching can support not only muscle strength but flexibility over time.
🍀 Keep stretching daily: Long-term static stretching, which involves holding a stretch for a period of time after exercising, can help improve joint range of motion.
💧 Drink plenty of fluid: Muscle hydration not only depends on varied and frequent movement, but also on how much fluid you consume daily. Most adults should consume between 11.5 and 15.5 cups of fluid daily from water, beverages like tea, milk, plant-based milk, and natural fruit juices, as well as foods like cabbage, cucumber, strawberries, and other water-based produce. Meanwhile, healthy hydration also depends on reducing intake of alcohol and sugary beverages, which can worsen hydration status.
Just because the hands of time have decided to make it harder to be flexible, it doesn’t mean you’re destined to have stiff muscles.
With just a few lifestyle changes you can incorporate into your routine each day, you can help support more flexible fascia and connective tissues, while helping overall body hydration for a greater quality of life from head to toe.
