Strong and healthy muscles may lead to a longer life. Research has shown that grip strength, one of the markers of individual's muscle strength, is a reliable indicator of longevity; greater grip strength indicates a slower rate of aging, and weaker grip strength indicates a faster rate of aging.
There are many factors indicating why muscles can help extend your lifespan, including their ability to fight inflammation, prevent chronic disease, and keep you moving every day.
Muscles also release nanoparticles known as extracellular vesicles, which, when buoyed by resistance exercise, may play a role in healthy aging. Those extracellular vesicles are like a message in a bottle — they contain information that’s passed from one tissue, such as skeletal muscle, to other tissues. If the contents are positive, the recipient will take in the information and become healthier. But if the contents are negative, the recipient will become less healthy.
“What we’ve seen with aging is that the messages being relayed by these extracellular vesicles become negative and compromise the health of the recipient cells,” Fabrisia Ambrosio, PhD, PT, skeletal muscle researcher and director of the Discovery Center for Musculoskeletal Recovery at Mass General Brigham’s Spaulding Rehabilitation explains. “Whereas with muscle activity, it seems we can restore a healthier type of cargo within those extracellular vesicles and therefore have a more beneficial systemic response.”
