running

Dr Tan Li Feng, the geriatrics lead at the National University Health System Regional Health System Office, said: “Ageing is not just about chronic diseases, but also about our functional capacity and preserving that in the years to come.”

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She said investing in one’s healthspan to ensure an additional 10 years of healthy longevity “is a lot of work and this occurs in early life”.

Agreeing, Dr Grace Chia, an associate consultant in geriatric medicine at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said: “(One should start) ideally from early adulthood. Peak muscle mass and strength are achieved in young adulthood, and this becomes the ‘reserve’ we draw upon in later life.” Dr Chia said the 2022 Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia clinical practice guidelines have shown that a large part of the decline in age-related muscle mass, strength and performance is actually modifiable.