Can Bigger Muscles Make You Live Longer

April 16 2014

Can Bigger Muscles Make You Live Longer?

According to a recent study performed by researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, the answer is yes. Researchers performed a study to determine the link between lifespan and muscle mass, and what they discovered was that greater muscle mass led to a lower risk of death.

Study Reveals Lower Death Rates With Greater Muscle Mass

To conduct the study, researchers closely analyzed data of 3,600 adults 55 years of an age and older who participated in a U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1988 and 1994. Each of the participants submitted their muscle mass based on height as part of the survey.

Researchers analyzed data from a followup survey taken in 2004, identifying the causes of death (for the deceased participants), along with their muscle mass at the time of death. They found a direct link between muscle mass and risk of death; the greater the muscle mass a participant had, the lower his or her risk of death.

“In other words, the greater your muscle mass, the lower your risk of death. Thus, rather than worrying about weight or body mass index, we should be trying to maximize and maintain muscle mass,” said study co-author Dr. Arun Karlamangla.

Why Bigger Muscles Results In a Lower Risk of Death

Of course, it’s important to note that researchers were only able to identify an “association” between muscle mass and life expectancy. The limited study reveals that people with greater muscle mass experienced a lower risk of death; however, researchers were reluctant to speculate as to what’s causing the lower risk of death.

One theory regarding the link between muscle mass and risk of death is that working out reduces the chance of cardiovascular disease, which in turn lower the risk of death. Cardiovascular disease remains the #1 killer among men and women, taking the lives of an estimated 600,000 people in the U.S. each year. Hitting the gym every other day for a session of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts could lower risk of heart disease while building bigger muscles in the process. HIIT isn’t quite as beneficial for the heart as actual cardio workouts, but it still promotes a healthy heart nonetheless.

This study, published in the American Journal Medicine, reveals just one more reason why everyone should exercise on a regular basis. So stop procrastinating and go hit the gym!