Having more muscle isn’t just about looking strong it actually helps you live longer and stay healthier. Research shows that strength training improves metabolism, supports mental well-being, and helps the body get rid of toxins. It also makes a big difference as we age by improving balance, coordination, and bone strength, which lowers the risk of falls and injuries.
Building muscle naturally leads to better lifestyle habits, like eating healthier, sleeping well, and cutting back on harmful foods. It also helps with things like hydration and hormone balance, making it one of the best ways to improve both your quality of life and how long you live.
Highlights of the Podcast
00:04 - The Link Between Muscle Mass and Longevity
02:06 - Exercise, Diet, and Lifestyle Improvements
04:01 - Muscle Mass and Fall Prevention
05:49 - Quality of Life and Longevity
07:36 - Personal Trainers as Healthcare Providers
09:29 - The Best Health Goal: Build Muscle
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:04] All right. So it's kind of funny. There was new research that's been coming out on, uh, and it's obviously all research comes out and it's, Oh, it's under debate. Um, the new research is coming out is that the more musculature you have, the longer you live. I kind of thought this was one of those things where it was an obvious statement. Um, but apparently people are asking questions about it. So I wanted to kind of run through it, uh, in this, is it everybody should find this obvious, you know, we've known for a long, long time that exercise is the number one thing that we can do for pretty much every ill we have, you know, you look at any mental illness, anger, depression, whatever, and the research on You know, returning emotional state back to positive or back to neutral with exercise is, you know, one of those things that happens pretty much every time. Uh, so the very best thing we know of for mental health is exercise. Um, and the metabolic function of the body, you know, whether you're talking about, you know, utilizing fat as a fuel source, um, whether you're producing the production of ATP increase of oxygenation in the issues. Uh, eradication of toxic elements from lymphatic function, you know, all of those things are directly tied to exercise like the, the highest rate of detoxification function we have as a being is when we're exercising because you're sweating more, you're exhaling more, uh, your lymphatics are being pushed throughout all the muscle tissue is being kind of worked. And so it's being able to push out waste and suck in nutrients. blood flow is higher, oxygenation function is higher, every single thing we know of that makes the body function in a positive way happens when we exercise. So if you're gonna look at, hey, let's look at the guys who have the most muscle mass, you have to do something to earn that muscle mass. You've got to go to the gym, you've got to work out, you've got to do all the things. And most of the time, if you look at the people who carry the most muscle mass, it's because they work out. And if you work out, you want to maximize your gains.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:06] And if you want to maximize your gains, you eat a little cleaner. And you take away a little sugar and you add more protein and you take away, you know, depending on where you are on that, you're going to take more supplementation, which means your body has more nutrition to function and do all the things it's supposed to do. So your diet's cleaner. You're supplementing more. You're probably going to sleep a little bit more because you want your gains. You're going to take toxic stuff out of your diet. Cause you get, and you want, you want your gains, you know, and that's obviously a, uh, straight aided, you know, graduated. It's a scale, right? It's a zero to 10 scale. Some people are doing this stuff at a nine or a 10. You know, this is kind of where I'm at. You know, some people are just kind of doing a little bit like a three, right? So instead of drinking every night, you drink twice a week because you want your gains, right? So yeah, you did cut back not a whole lot, but you did cut back. And so it should be of no shock to anybody that the people who have maintained and carry more muscle mass live longer. But the other thing is, is that it is fantastic for everyone to look at the geriatric function. maintaining and building and the work required to maintain the muscle mass is going to work on balance. It's going to work on coordination. It's going to work on, you know, joint functionality. It's going to work on all those things, but it's also going to be supportive and cushioning. So if you fall down, so the chances of you falling down or less, cause your coordination balance is better. The chances that when you do fall over, you break something or much lower because you've been putting physical stress into the bones that that 100% of the time, will strengthen the bones that has, it has a, you know, controlled, you know, non chaotic, you know, proper musculature, proper loading of the bone increases bone density. The research on that is, I don't think, deniable in any way. Now, obviously if you had the testosterone and the nutrients and everything, it's substantially better, but exercise is gonna strengthen those bones. The chances are gonna break when you fall is lower just from there.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:01] And then if you have more muscle mass surrounding, cushioning the fall. when you do fall, the chances that it's going to, the impact can go through your musculature and then break your bone is much, much less. So, uh, there's a giant amount of reasons why people who have more muscle mass live longer. And none of these things, I think, you know, even people who don't even have a great education in biophysiology or biochemistry or things like that, like that can agree with it's like, Oh yeah, my guess is that people who have muscle mass probably probably had to work out to get it. And they're probably had to work out to maintain it. And so That means they're working out. So they're exercising that this goes back to exercise is going to make your body healthier and make your, your quality of life higher and the whole thing. So, you know, it's one of those things that if you want, and this is the other thing, it's a lot of these times. What I haven't, I haven't read the research specifically into this, but I, what I'd like to know is not only are they living longer, I really want to know what they rate their quality of life at because, and I've said this before and I'll say it again. It doesn't matter if you live to 90, if you hate the last 10 years, like, you know, like, that's why I tell people, like one of the worst things in the world that we're following and working on dementia, one of the worst things I can imagine is losing your mind, but having your body stay intact. So, you know, that seems like a hell that nobody would want to go through. So living longer in that stamp standpoint doesn't seem like a good idea, but my suspicion is that if you look at their quality of life, their quality of life amongst their peers is substantially higher. So, you know, you look at it that way. It's not only are you living longer, you're living better. So, you know, but I don't think anybody's really going to argue that fact. Like it's really hard to find people who exercise on a regular basis, who are as unhealthy as people who don't regular exercise on a regular basis.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:49] So again, this, this new research is You know, it's, it's funny to me that people are looking at it being like, oh my gosh, this is revolutionary. Like we should tell everybody and we should be telling everybody because if that's, if this is the night, you know, this is the 99th or the 110th of the thousandth thing you've seen. That's like, Hey, you should probably exercise if you want a higher quality of life and you want, you know, to live longer, if this is the research you needed to be like, all right, that's it. I'm going to go ahead and do some weight bearing exercise and, you know, build on muscle tissue so that I can live a longer, better, better life. fantastic and this research was 100% important and worth it, but this is where every single piece of research we've ever done has ever pointed to exercise is going to increase your quality of life and your longevity every single time. use properly, you guys can do some people can do stupid stuff and tear themselves up, which is again, why I think that everybody should get a good trainer, you know, maybe not forever, but for a while and why I always like to point out, you know, a lot of these pros who are winning Olympias and winning these things, and these guys were NFL legends and stuff like that, they've all got trainers. They're like, Oh, well, they know what they're doing. They do, but they still have trainers. And so I would highly recommend that if you want to live longer and you want to live better, even for a short time, get a trainer, make sure that you are. Am I doing the exercises right? You know, am I, you know, am I doing it in the range of motion? I should be, am I using the right amount of weight? How do I figure out how much weight I'm supposed to use? What machine should I use versus what machine should I not use? You know, these are things that a good trainer can help with. And this is again, you know, now that we've gotten, we've kind of walked over, you know, the obviousness of how massively important exercises to your health.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:07:36] This is another reason why I keep telling people that personal trainers. more of healthcare providers than medical doctors are. And I'm not trying to slam medical doctors in this, but if you look at it, from a who provides care, why do you go to the doctor? Like most people don't ever go to the doctor until they're sick. So they get sick and they go to the doctor to care for their illness. So a lot of ways, if you look at it more relatively function, medical doctors are sick care. Like that's what they're there for. When you get sick, you go in. Now, if you go to see a trainer and they work on your diet, they work on your nutrition, they work on your supplementation, they work on your exercise, they would talk to you about sleep, they talk to you about relaxation and getting your mental piece back. Those are all hyper critical things around health. And so when I say that a trainer is a better healthcare provider than a medical doctor, that's what I'm talking about. So, if you want to gain your health, you need exercise. Well, a good trainer is gonna teach you how to exercise right. and most you're good trainers. while most of them are still caught up on the calorie thing. It's okay. They're mostly gonna still be telling you to eat higher protein, cleaner fats, less seed oils, less processed foods, and that is always good advice. And maybe they'll even help you find foods that have those things in them so that you can easily avoid that stuff. So, those are the reasons that if you really wanna say, okay, I'm gonna build my muscle mass up, start with that idea. Start with the research of... building muscle mass makes your quality of life higher and makes your longevity function much, much longer. Keep that in mind, and then just go try to build some muscle mass. Like this is the greatest way to do it. Just, all right, cool. I'm gonna go build some muscle mass because it's gonna increase my quality of life and my longevity. And then as you're trying to build the muscle mass and you find out, oh, eating this diet will help me build the muscle mass.
Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:29] Great, start eating that low inflammatory diet that, you know, is most of the trainers will go with. It's a lower sugar. higher protein, higher fat type of diet, and you'll be better. You'll have less inflammation because you're gonna have less processed foods. And then sooner or later, you're gonna get around to, how much water should I drink? How should I sleep? What supplementation should I take? Because I wanna gain muscle mass. And as you gain muscle mass, you get healthier. And as you strive to gain muscle mass, you start doing the things that make you healthier. So absolutely, forget all the stuff about you. What should I take and what should I do? And just go try to like, just focus on, as if you're a lay person, just focus on building muscle mass. Because if you're focused on building muscle mass, you're gonna get your hormones where they need to be, you're gonna get your sleep where they need to be, you're gonna get your hydration where it needs to be, you should get your diet and your supplementation a lot better, maybe not 100%, but a lot better. So yeah, if you're looking for the, okay, what's the one goal I should have for my health? Put some more muscle mass on. Everybody. Go out and put some more muscle mass on and in the path to putting on more muscle mass, you will find health along the way. you know, regardless, as long as you're walking down the right path for you to put muscle mass on, you're going to trip over health because it's going to be all over the place. So that would be the, probably the best option that we can take from this research of muscle mass and longevity is that you can't walk down the path of adding muscle mass without finding health all over the place. So keep that in mind. Um, and you guys have any questions to this up questions@chalmerswellness.com or, uh, drop them in the comments. Uh, thanks for your time. Talk to you later.
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