Anesthesiologist warns ‘not having muscle mass after 30 can lead to diabetes’ as your body can't process sugar

Dr Myro discusses how muscle mass impacts insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism, warning that lack of exercise can lead to diabetes.

Exercising regularly isn't just about weight loss; it is also a contributing factor in building muscle mass while reducing the fat percentage in your body. Strength training at least 2-3 times a week can help you build muscle mass. But what happens when you don't build your muscles?

In a video shared on Instagram on September 9, Dr Myro Figura, MD, a Los Angeles-based anesthesiologist, medical school educator, and physician, discussed the importance of maintaining muscle mass as you grow older.

Why having muscle mass can reverse diabetes?

Dr Myro stitched a video of a woman in her 30s talking about being pre-diabetic. She busted the myth that thin people cannot be diabetic and said, “I'm pretty thin. I'm pre-diabetic. I need you to listen to me. It doesn't matter what your body shape looks like. When you're 30-plus, if you do not have muscle mass, your body is going to have a hard time processing sugar.”

Explaining what happens to our muscles after age 30, Dr Myro shared a muscle mass and disability threshold graph shared in a report by the Sports Medicine Centre, depicting how it goes downhill for people who don't exercise.

According to the anaesthesiologist, the graph depicts ‘muscle mass for exercisers and the rest of America’. “Notice exercisers never reach disability threshold. It's not just a number of years. It's a number of years you can get off the toilet without assistance,” he added.

Exercisers never reach disability threshold because of their muscle mass. (Sports Medicine Centre)

Why is less muscle mass a problem?

Dr Myro explained, “This is a huge problem because muscle is responsible for insulin sensitivity. And skeletal muscle, as your biggest organ of the body, is responsible for 80 percent of the metabolism of glucose. The whole pathophysiology of diabetes is insulin resistance.”

He added, “Now, when you exercise and you use that muscle, you actually make your body more sensitive to insulin. This is exactly the mechanism by which exercise reverses pre-diabetes and even early stages of diabetes.”

Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.

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