Regain Your Muscle Strength with Help from a NASA Study

Looking to enhance the health of astronauts in space, NASA commissioned a bed rest study in 2001 that—16 years later—could pay dividends by improving your muscle strength and function.

The risk of extreme muscle loss presents severe limitations for space exploration. When the body is exposed to zero-gravity environments for an extended period, muscles become weak and deteriorate.

But muscle loss doesn’t only affect astronauts. As we age, the rate of muscle atrophy increases—especially among older adults with limited mobility or those who are routinely on bed rest.

In the study, elderly individuals confined to bed rest for as little as 10 days experienced greater muscle loss than younger participants who were immobile for 30 days. However, there is hope!

In this short video, Dr. Robert Wolfe explains the results of the NASA bed rest study and what you can do to prevent further loss of strength and help build new lean muscle at any age.

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