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Benchmark Proactive Health - July 31, 2024
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Benchmark Community,
We hope you're feeling as refreshed as we did jumping into the lake! 💦
Thank you for all your support over the past few months, we’re thrilled to welcome so many new members, and we’re gearing up for our first repeat Benchmarkers!
Kaitlin & Nancy's takeaways from recent content we've discovered
From: “Why Muscle Matters & How to Build it” on “Perform with Dr. Andy Galpin” podcast.
In his new podcast, Galpin, one of our go-to experts on muscle and strength, describes the critical role of skeletal muscle, i.e. muscle that controls our movement. I love his emphasis that skeletal muscle is very adaptive -> we have a lot of control over it!
Interestingly, it was only recently discovered that skeletal muscle is an organ, meaning it not only receives signals, but also sends signals to communicate with the rest of the body. For example, in response to exercise, muscles secrete "exokines" that communicate with the brain to support cognitive function and improved mood.
Skeletal muscle plays a huge role in metabolism. It is the primary site of glucose disposal and regulation, important for both performance and long-term health. Galpin cites research showing that “athletes are up to 25% more effective at disposing glucose into muscle than non athletes.” You don't have to be an athlete to benefit, by simply moving frequently, you activate your muscles, which helps to regulate blood glucose and reduce your reliance on insulin (a very good thing!)
Muscle fiber type has important implications for aging. Skeletal muscle fibers consist of Type 1 (“slow twitch,” for endurance), and Type 2 (“fast twitch,” for speed and power). Your proportion of fast vs. slow twitch muscle is very responsive to training. You tend to retain more slow twitch muscle as you age, because you’re constantly engaging it in daily activity (e.g., standing, walking) However, you only activate fast twitch muscles with a lot of force. You need strength training and power movements to maintain fast twitch muscle, or you will lose it!
Does it matter if you lose fast twitch muscle? YES!! You need fast twitch muscle to generate power - e.g., to catch yourself from a fall, to catch a train, to run from danger. When you lose it, you not only diminish your ability to generate force, but you also lose motor control. And once you lose this muscle, it’s very hard to get back.
Galpin reminds us that muscle mass is not necessarily indicative of muscle strength and vice versa. Muscle strength tends to be more predictive of healthspan and longevity than muscle mass. He notes that in addition to weightlifting, good ways to measure and track muscle strength include grip strength, vertical jump, and broad jump tests.
Highlights from Benchmark's community forum
Fizz, without the buzz 🍻 Athletic Brewing non-alcoholic beers (🇨🇦 site / 🇺🇲 site) continue to be a top member recommendation, and we concur! I love their Free Wave Hazy IPA. Did you know Athletic is the top-selling brand among all beer at Whole Foods?! They offer a discounted subscription via their site. Corona also gets high praise for its NA brew (and well-deserved). Lastly, we just learned about Barbet "elevated sparkling water," and thought Wild Card made a delicious mocktail. You can order directly, but so far they only ship within Canada. Cheers to keeping that HRV high! 😎
Smoothie optimizers 🍌 We love blueberries and bananas, but did you know not to mix them if you want the most bang for your buck? Blueberries are rich in polyphenols, a category of antioxidant compounds. Those in blueberries ("Flavan-3-ols") have been linked to benefits such as improved cognitive function and cardiovascular health. However, bananas are particularly high in polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme that breaks down polyphenols! When mixed, bananas can significantly reduce the berries’ benefits (more here). File this under things you kinda wish you didn’t know.😬
And under form factors we never knew we needed but are glad we found, we just discovered powdered peanut butter. Turns out the only way to improve upon peanut butter is to make it a little bit less messy. This powdered version is a great addition to a blueberry OR a banana smoothie. Plenty of brands out there, just make sure it is only peanuts.
Featured members and their health journeys
Brenda Pennington Brenda is a retired police officer and a lifelong athlete. But with the onset of menopause, she was no longer feeling her energetic self. She refused to accept that this was simply her fate at this stage. Brenda wanted to dig deeper to understand her health and reclaim her energy.
She says of Benchmark: "it really gave me the confidence that I can do something about it, that I have choices.”..."I'd recommend it to anyone experiencing any symptoms and feeling off, but their doctor is saying ‘you’re in the range, you’re ok'…But really everyone, all adults."...more
Some of our recent content to check out
We co-hosted our first webinar with Velocity Sports Medicine on “The Role of Exercise in Health & Longevity.” Check out the clip below on the benefits of cardiorespiratory fitness. Find the full recording here.
Follow us on Instagram for info to join the next discussion in this series Aug. 13, on the topic of SLEEP! 💤 Or email us to send you the link.
