Even if you successfully avoided gaining weight in recent months, there is an emerging side-effect of pandemic life that scientists say needs addressing by those who are middle-aged and older when gyms reopen next month. It’s something more subtle than creeping pounds, yet the imperceptible loss of muscle mass that occurs when normal levels of activity are curtailed is no less serious in terms of the long-term impact on health.
“There’s a degree of natural muscle loss with ageing, but over the last few months there will have been more muscle wasting through relative disuse,” says Jamie McPhee, professor of musculoskeletal physiology at Manchester Metropolitan University. “Without realising it, many people in their forties onwards will have become weaker as a result.”
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