How to control aging by starting now

If you think you can wait until later to prevent premature aging, you will miss some of the most important times of your life to do it.

Most people’s muscle mass declines with age, and the rate of loss accelerates after age 45.

The amount of muscle you retain, or build, is determine partly by how much muscles are used. Use them frequently and you maintain their strength. Push them to the limits of their capacity by exercise, and you increase strength no matter how old you are.

Doctors at Tufts University say most middle-aged people’s weight problem is excess body fat coupled with too little muscle.

As you age, you can lose whole sets of muscles and nerves that work together to make your body go. Between ages 30 and 70, it is estimated that people experience a 20 percent decrease in the strength of the thigh. Landmark studies at Tufts, however, show that muscles do get bigger from strength training such as weight lifting. You can regain muscle mass and strength no matter what shape you’re in when you begin.

How much oxygen your body can process in a given time is an important biomarker called your aerobic capacity. By age 65, it is typically 30 percent to 40 percent less than in young adults. People at any age can reverse the trend with aerobic exercise, the kind that makes you huff and puff. And when you build muscle with strength training, you also increase aerobic capacity.

Other methods to slow aging include controlling sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, bone density, and hydration. The older you are, the more fluids you should drink.