Josh Thomas

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I’ve posted multiple studies that stronger people live longer.

A recent review even argued that low muscle strength (dynapenia) and lack of power (powerpenia) should be considered routine biomarkers of healthy aging.

However, muscle strength per se likely doesn’t matter.

There’s no mechanism by which muscle strength itself improves longevity, other than protecting against deaths from falls and other frailty-induced accidents (which are not trivial: many people die in their bathrooms).

Instead, muscle strength is a measure of 2 things.
1. How much you exercise, with all of its associated benefits.
2. Your level of muscle mass.

A recent review supports that strength is only related to someone’s risk of dying (all-cause mortality) by serving as a measure of muscle mass. The researchers meta-analyzed 49 studies with just short of 900k participants and follow-up durations up to 32 years. They found that the bigger someone’s arms were, the lower their subsequent risk of dying from various health conditions and diseases, regardless of their strength level.

Arm size is just a measure of body composition here. Your biceps doesn’t have magic healing powers.

Low levels of muscle mass (sarcopenia) are the biggest problem. There were diminishing protective effects of greater muscularity.

Unlike strength, muscle mass has a direct physiological effect on your health. Muscle mass is the key uptake site of blood sugar, so lots of muscle helps your body control your blood sugar level like a sponge soaks up excess water (also via myokines and other mechanisms). Blood sugar in turn can cause glycation (AGEs), leading to systemic inflammation. Systemic inflammation in turn is involved in almost every major health problem there is.

So if you want to take care of your body, take care of your muscles. If you let your physique shrivel away, your health will go along with it.