6 Ways Muscle Supports Longevity

It’s no surprise that strength training helps you retain mobility, coordination, and balance as you get older. But building and maintaining muscle supports longevity in ways you may not have considered, says functional-medicine physician Frank Lipman, MD.

Research increasingly points to muscle as a biological system that helps determine how well you age. “Muscle is a major metabolic organ,” ­explains ­Lipman. “It’s an endocrine organ. It helps maintain healthy mitochondrial activity. You’ve got to see muscle way beyond just preventing disability.”

What follows are six reasons — ­beyond protecting yourself from frailty and falls — to focus on building strength.

1. Muscle keeps blood sugar in check. Think of muscle as a metabolic sponge, sopping up 75 to 80 percent of your body’s insulin-stimulated glucose and storing it as glycogen until you need it. Without sufficient muscle, blood sugar rises and insulin resistance increases, elevating your risk of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. “Generally, a higher muscle mass lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome,” Lipman says.
2. Muscle sends endocrine signals throughout your body. When it contracts, skeletal muscle releases signaling molecules called myokines to your liver, heart, blood vessels, immune system, and brain. These myokines help reduce chronic inflammation, improve fat metabolism, and regulate immune function.
3. Muscle protects and boosts brain health. Myokines reduce oxidative stress and neuroinflammation and support the growth and survival of neurons. “One of the myokines is brain-derived neurotropic factor, or BDNF, which supports neuroplasticity, memory, and mood — and also probably reduces dementia risk,” says Lipman. “Exercise also improves cerebral blood flow. Stronger muscle is correlated with slower brain aging.”
4. Muscle keeps the heart and blood vessels strong. “Myokines act on cardiovascular tissues, decreasing inflammation and improving blood flow,” he explains. Resistance training boosts cardiovascular resilience by lowering blood pressure, enhancing vascular elasticity, and improving the function of the endothelium, the inner lining of your vessels.
5. Muscle tames chronic inflammation. Low-grade inflammation is a hallmark of biological aging. Losing muscle is associated with elevated inflammation signaling in your body; building and maintaining muscle mass can improve immune-system regulation and reduce chronic inflammation. By protecting against age-related immune decline, muscle helps you be more resilient when faced with infections and chronic disease. (See “How Chronic Inflammation Affects Your Health” for more.)
6. Muscle helps you recover from illness. When you’re sick, injured, or recovering from physical trauma (including surgery), your body draws on muscle tissue to support healing. Muscle supplies amino acids (the building blocks of protein) for immune responses, wound healing, and tissue repair. ­“Especially when you’re sick, you need those amino acids to recover,” Lipman says.

He gives one more reason to lift: to lose visceral fat — deep abdominal fat that surrounds organs — which has the opposite effect on longevity. It drives chronic inflammation and immune dysfunction, worsens insulin resistance, and promotes arterial stiffness. Fortunately, strength training can help you lose it. (For more on visceral fat, see “5 Questions About Visceral Fat and Aging — Answered.”)

This article originally appeared as “Muscle: Your Superpower for Longevity” in the September/October 2026 issue of Experience Life.