Men often view getting older as something that slows them down. But emerging research suggests that while the body does change over time, many aspects of physical and mental performance remain highly modifiable. Exercise, sleep, recovery, nutrition, and metabolic health all play a role in how men age and perform over time. Healthy lifestyle habits have the potential to help men maintain strength, cognitive ability, resilience, and endurance as the years go by.
Performance doesn’t disappear, it changes
As men get older, their bodies undergo several natural physiological changes. Testosterone levels gradually decline, beginning in the mid 30s to early 40s, at a rate of around 1% per year. Recovery can also change with age, as the body may take longer to bounce back from intense exercise due to shifts in muscle repair, inflammation, energy production, and muscle maintenance. Age can also bring changes in metabolism and body composition, with men being prone to the development of deep abdominal visceral fat. And brain health changes as men approach their later years.
Related: Why you should be tracking your body composition
While some age-related shifts are inevitable, many changes that men associate with aging are not solely caused by age itself. Things like physical inactivity, stress, lack of sleep, and a poor diet can contribute to changes that affect energy, endurance, strength, and cognitive performance over time.
Strength training
Muscle mass is one of the strongest predictors of both lifespan and healthspan. Research has linked higher muscle mass and strength with lower risks of chronic disease, physical disability, and premature mortality.
Resistance training helps preserve lean muscle mass, which naturally declines with age. It can also support metabolism and improve blood sugar regulation, helping the body to use glucose more efficiently. Making resistance training part of your regular routine can also support bone density, improve balance, and strengthen muscles and tendons to support joint health—all of which can reduce the risk of falls and help to support physical independence.
What to strive for:
- Lift free weights, use weight machines, resistance bands, or your own body weight
- Focus on compound movements that work several muscle groups at once
- Aim for 2-3 sessions per week lasting around 20 to 30 minutes each
- Focus on gradually increasing resistance rather than spending more time in the gym
Related: How to maintain muscle and strength as you age
Cardiovascular fitness
Cardiovascular fitness plays a major role in long-term health, energy, and physical performance. In fact, research has found VO₂ max, the maximum amount of oxygen the body can use during exercise, as a strong predictor of longevity and overall health. It’s been associated with better physical fitness, a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and a longer lifespan.
Cardiovascular exercise supports heart health, reducing the risk of heart attack and helping the heart function more efficiently. It also supports circulation, blood pressure, endurance, and immunity. Regular aerobic exercise can also improve metabolic health and lower the risk of conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. It can also help support long-term cognitive health and may help reduce the risk of dementia.
When it comes to exercise, both steady-state cardio and higher-intensity interval training can provide benefits. Activities like brisk walking, jogging, cycling, or swimming help support endurance, circulation, and heart health. And shorter bursts of higher-intensity exercise may help improve stamina and help the heart work more efficiently.
What to strive for:
- At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (brisk walking, dancing, gardening), 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (running, singles tennis, swimming laps), or a combination of both per week
- Engage in a mix of low-intensity and higher-intensity workouts each week
Related: Is your heart healthy and strong?
Body composition
When it comes to overall health, where fat is stored in the body matters more than your weight alone. The body is made up of different types of fat. Subcutaneous fat, the type of fat stored just beneath your skin, aka the fat that you can pinch with your fingers. This fat serves some purposes, like helping to pad your muscles and bones to protect you from bumps and falls, controlling your body temperature, attaching your middle layer of skin to your muscles and bones, and helping blood vessels and nerves get from your skin to your muscles.
Then there is visceral fat, which lies deep in the abdominal walls and surrounds organs like your stomach, liver, and intestines. Unlike subcutaneous fat, visceral fat can’t be seen with the naked eye. Having some level of visceral fat is normal but in excess, it can increase your risk of insulin resistance, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, metabolic dysfunction, and chronic conditions such as diabetes.
Men have a higher tendency to accumulate visceral fat compared to pre-menopausal women. One study found that visceral fat more than doubled in men between early and later adulthood.
And men begin losing muscle mass as they age—a process known as sarcopenia. This shift in body composition can affect metabolism, strength, balance, mobility, and overall physical function.
As muscle mass decreases and more visceral fat accumulates, the body can become less efficient at regulating blood sugar and maintaining metabolic health. Prioritizing a healthy balance of muscle and body fat may help support energy levels, mobility, heart health, and longevity.
What to strive for:
- Prioritize strength training to help preserve lean muscle
- Stay physically active throughout the day to support metabolic health
- Prioritize sleep, nutrition, and stress management to support healthy body composition
Related: What you get in your Prenuvo Body Composition Analysis Report
Hormonal health
Testosterone plays an important role in many aspects of men’s health, including muscle mass, fat distribution, sex drive, bone density, energy levels, mood, and recovery. As levels naturally decline with age, this can have an impact on many of these areas. But not every symptom of aging automatically points to low testosterone. Factors like poor sleep, chronic stress, inactivity, excess visceral fat, poor nutrition, and underlying health conditions can also affect energy, mood, recovery, and physical performance. When it comes to supporting healthy testosterone levels, lifestyle factors matter.
What to strive for:
- Prioritize consistent sleep and recovery
- Manage chronic stress
- Maintain a healthy body composition
- Limit alcohol and refrain from smoking
- Stay physically active and strength train regularly
- Support overall metabolic health through nutrition and exercise
- Avoid environmental toxins
Recovery
You can work out, eat the right foods, and down all the right supplements. But if you’re not taking time to properly recuperate, your body isn’t getting the time it needs to rejuvenate. When it comes to both physical and cognitive performance, sleep, stress management, and recovery time all play an important role.
Sleep is often described as a “performance multiplier” because it affects nearly every system involved in physical and cognitive function. Research suggests that getting enough sleep supports alertness, reaction time, recovery, and athletic performance. Inadequate sleep, on the other hand, has been linked to slower recovery and reduced performance over time.
Mitigating stress is also important, as chronic stress has been shown to affect both mental and physical performance over time. Stress has a significant impact on sleep, increases inflammation, hinders recovery, and places additional strain on the nervous system. It can also lead to decreased testosterone levels. This can lead to lower energy levels, reduced focus, lower libido, and slower recovery from exercise and daily stressors.
What to strive for:
- Prioritize sleep to support recovery, cognitive function, and performance
- Manage chronic stress through meditation, deep breathing, journaling, or spending time outdoors
- Build recovery days and rest periods into your workout routine
- Avoid training intensely every day without giving the body time to recover
Brain performance
Brain health changes with age, but cognitive decline is not always inevitable. Research suggests that certain lifestyle habits, such as exercise, sleep, diet, and stress management may play an important role in supporting long-term brain function.
Exercise, for instance, has been shown to increase blood flow to the brain, and support neuroplasticity which is the brain’s ability to adapt and form new neural connections. Staying physically active has also been linked to improved mood, focus, memory, and overall cognitive function over time.
What to strive for:
- Include both cardiovascular exercise and strength training in your routine
- Prioritize consistent, high-quality sleep
- Manage chronic stress levels
- Support long-term brain health through regular movement and healthy lifestyle habits
Related: 9 science-backed strategies to help maintain a healthy brain
The power of consistency
When it comes to habits that improve performance, consistency is key. So while it can be tempting to jump on a fad diet and then quit or buy a gym membership only to lose momentum, research shows that long-term habits matter more. Even 30 minutes of exercise a week, when performed consistently, have been linked to improvements in cardiovascular fitness, lower disease risk, and better brain health as people age.
Being consistent with health check-ins is also key. Conditions like low testosterone, chronic stress, and cardiovascular disease often build slowly and subtly, affecting performance before obvious symptoms appear.
As performance evolves over time, many men want greater visibility into what’s happening beneath the surface. Prenuvo helps offer deep insights into key areas tied to long-term health and performance, including:
- Body composition: Analysis of muscle mass and visceral fat
- Heart health: Advanced Heart Health Scan for cardiovascular indicators
- Brain health: Advanced Brain Health Scan
- Whole body health: MRI screening across major organ systems
- Metabolic and hormone health: blood labs for metabolic and hormonal markers
Staying proactive about your health can help support performance, recovery, and overall wellbeing as your body changes with age.
To learn more about the benefits of Prenuvo’s Whole Body Scan, Body Composition Analysis, and see which Prenuvo Membership is right for you, book a call with a member of the Patient Services Team.
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