Why Growing Muscles is Vital for Maintaining a Good Health

When it comes to our health, most of us are only interested in losing weight and not getting sick. While those are both important goals, they’re not the only ones to focus on. There’s one goal that’s even more important than either of those, and that’s maintaining muscle mass.

You see, muscles are vital for our overall health. They help us move, they protect our bones and joints, and they even play a role in regulating our metabolism¹. Without strong muscles, we wouldn’t be able to live healthy, active lives. Let’s learn how to grow muscles and why they’re essential.

How Do You Build Muscles?

There are things you need to do to build muscle mass:

Eat a High-Protein Diet. 

Protein is essential for muscle growth. Eating a diet high in protein will help your body build and maintain muscle mass. You can also take whey protein to help you reach your daily protein intake goals. For increased muscular development goals to come true, it’s good to consider taking supplements. These products work by boosting muscle growth. However, you need to target the best brands out there for optimal results to come your way.

Lift Weights. 

To build muscle, you must put your muscles through “progressive overload.” This means lifting progressively heavier weights over time. Doing this will cause your muscles to adapt and grow stronger to meet the new demands you’re placing on them.

Get Enough Rest. 

You’re causing tiny tears in your muscle tissue when you lift weights. This may not sound nice, but it’s a good thing. These tears are what trigger your body to start repairing and rebuilding your muscles, making them stronger than before. However, this process can’t occur appropriately if you don’t give your body enough time to rest. That’s why it’s essential to get plenty of sleep and to allow yourself at least one day of rest between weight-lifting sessions.

Why Are Muscles Important?

Now that we know how to build muscle, let’s look at why they’re so crucial to our health. Here is why:

Maintaining Regular Body Function

Our muscles don’t just allow us to move; they also help us perform essential body processes. For example, the muscles in our diaphragm ²help us breathe. The ones in our hearts help pump blood throughout our bodies.

Even the food wouldn’t be appropriately digested without the help of our muscles. Chewing breaks down food, so it can be swallowed and travel through the digestive system. But the muscles in the intestines do most of the work, contracting and relaxing to push food along.

Protecting Our Bones and Joints 

Muscles don’t just help us move; they also protect our musculoskeletal system. For example, the muscles in our legs help support the weight of our bodies. This is especially important for the knees, some of the most vulnerable joints in the body.

Strong muscles can also help prevent injuries. That’s because they act like a cushion around our bones and joints, absorbing the impact of any falls or blows.

Better Metabolism

Muscles play an important role in regulating our metabolism. That’s because they help burn calories, even when we’re at rest. Muscle tissue burns more calories than any other tissue type in the body.

This is one of the reasons why it’s so important to maintain muscle mass as we age. As we get older, we tend to lose muscle mass. But if we can keep our muscles strong and healthy, we can help prevent age-related metabolic issues like obesity and type II diabetes³.

Blood Pressure Regulation

It’s because it has an impact on how well our heart functions. The healthier our heart is, the better our chances are of living longer, disease-free lives. One way to keep our hearts healthy is by maintaining healthy blood pressure levels. And one of the best ways to do this is by having strong muscles.

That’s because muscles help regulate blood flow by contracting and relaxing. When they contract, they squeeze the blood vessels and increase blood pressure. When they relax, they allow blood to flow more freely and decrease blood pressure.

Reducing Inflammation

Inflammation is a natural response of the body to injury or disease. But when it becomes chronic, it can lead to problems like heart disease, arthritis, and type II diabetes. Fortunately, muscles can help reduce inflammation. They release a protein called myokines⁴, which have anti-inflammatory properties.

Muscles are essential for our overall health. So if you want to stay healthy and avoid potential problems down the road, get plenty of exercise and eat a nutritious diet. This will help ensure that your muscles are strong and healthy.

1. Leone, Robert D., and Jonathan D. Powell. “Metabolism of immune cells in cancer.” Nature reviews cancer 20.9 (2020): 516-531. ↩︎
2. Goligher, Ewan C., et al. “Lung-and diaphragm-protective ventilation.” American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 202.7 (2020): 950-961. ↩︎
3. Nguyen, Phuong H., et al. “Amyloid oligomers: A joint experimental/computational perspective on Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, type II diabetes, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.” Chemical reviews 121.4 (2021): 2545-2647. ↩︎
4. Severinsen, Mai Charlotte Krogh, and Bente Klarlund Pedersen. “Muscle–organ crosstalk: the emerging roles of myokines.” Endocrine reviews 41.4 (2020): 594-609. ↩︎

Last Updated on July 24, 2024 by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology