Dr. Jane Kent-Braun, professor of exercise science at the University of Massachusetts, urged listeners to engage in activities to build strength, speed, endurance, coordination, and flexibility on Monday, in a lecture entitled "Healthy Aging, Use Those Muscles."
The speech was part of a year-long "Translating Research in Exercise Science" (TREx) lecture series aimed at informing community residents about health issues.
Dr. Kent-Braun stressed that the amount of people over the age of 65 in the country has been increasing in the past 25 years and a significant number of these people cannot engage in simple tasks like stooping or even walking.
In addition, "almost 20 percent of the population over 25 cannot walk two to three blocks without having to stop and rest," said Kent-Braun.
Strength and endurance were the two main criteria Dr. Kent-Braun spoke on.
"As we age, some loss of strength is inevitable," she said.
But surprisingly, she added it has been found that "older adults fatigue relatively less than younger adults." This is due to a greater reliance on oxidative phosphorylation for generating the chemical energy that the muscle requires during contractions.
The old belief was that older muscle worsens in nearly all areas of muscle function.
"It's been changing in last ten years and part of it is because of what we've been doing," Dr. Kent-Braun said.
She drew upon information from scientific journals throughout the lecture, as well as incorporating information her team at Totman gym has acquired.
She works with six graduate students and is currently working on four specific studies. On an average day, she meets with her students, reads scientific literature, reviews data and works on manuscripts.
Danielle Wigmore, a doctoral student in the Exercise Science Department and a research assistant in Dr. Kent-Braun's lab, said, "Working with Dr. Kent-Braun has been a great experience for me. She's a successful and productive scientist who's passionate about her work."
Ian Lanza, another doctoral student, said, "Under the guidance of Dr. Kent Braun, I am using phosphorous Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy to study skeletal muscle."
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy is like "a very high super conducting magnet," Dr. Kent-Braun said, "like an MRI, except instead of getting information about anatomy we get information about ... biochemical changes in muscle. That lets us figure out the miles per gallon for the muscle. That's how we've found out that older people generate energy different than younger people. We are some of the only people in the world using this technique."
An interesting feature of Dr. Kent-Braun's speech was her assertion that traditionally, scientists measured the entire circumference of the muscle to ascertain its size.
Now, they've learned to disregard the intramuscular fat and measure only the muscle itself. This has led to different findings in comparisons between older and younger muscles.
"With people living longer, the issue of quality of life becomes very important," said Wigmore. "In our lab, we are trying to understand how muscle function changes as a result of biological aging in hopes of learning how we can intervene and improve physical function ... in older adults."
Dr. Kent-Braun has been with UMass for six years. She has a Doctorate from the University of Southern California in Exercise Physiology and has done post-doctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania.
The next and final lecture in the TREx lecture series will be given by Dr. Frank Rife. He will speak on "Incorporating Activity into your Lifestyle" on March 28 at 7 p.m. In addition, the exercise science department will host TREx day in April with an open house featuring demonstrations, workshops and discussions for members of the community and their families.
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