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Muscle builds well with regular training. This means, you have to be active in sports to have good muscles. If you are lazy, not even doing physical activity for a few days, it is possible that muscle mass will shrink.

In fact, muscles can shrink if not used for a long time

Not that you want to scare you, but if you are more often lazing at home, not doing physical activity according to your body's needs, your muscles can shrink.

In medical terms, this condition is usually known as muscle atrophy. Muscle atrophy is a condition when muscle mass decreases and eventually shrinks.

Basically, there are three types of muscle atrophy that can occur, namely:

• Pathological atrophy is usually caused by aging, hunger, and Cushing's disease.
• Neurogenic atrophy is caused by an injury or nerve problem affecting the muscles
• Physiological atrophy, muscle wasting that occurs due to lack of movement.

Less physical activity can affect body composition in a number of ways. If the body is not actively moving and using muscles, there will be changes in protein metabolism that affect muscle mass.

Muscle is made up of two types of protein, namely actin and myosin. A study by AACN Advanced Critical Care shows that if you are not active enough to move your body, it can affect muscle protein formation and cause muscle shrinkage.

When the body moves less and less, certain biochemical processes will occur in the muscles. This increases the activity of breaking down proteins into smaller amino acids and reduces protein production in muscles. There will be changes in muscle structure and metabolism, so that muscle mass can decrease.

Some of the factors that cause muscle shrinkage are:

• sitting for a long time, like an office worker
• health problems that limit body movement, such as strokes
• rest at home orbed restin a long time
• be in a place with minimal gravitational force, such as in a spaceship

Is this condition dangerous?

The condition of the muscle shrinkage usually will not cause significant health problems. However, you need to be aware if the shrinkage of the muscles starts to interfere with your body's daily movements, or for example, you can see a difference in size between one arm and the other.

So, what should I do to prevent muscle shrinkage?

After knowing what causes muscle shrinkage, you may wonder whether this condition can be treated. Relax, muscle wasting can still be handled by exercising and eating nutritious foods.

For those of you who rarely move your body and will return to active sports, there is no need to immediately rush to exercise too heavy muscles. You can start with light movements first, then start increasing the intensity and duration slowly.

Here are tips to overcome and prevent muscle shrinkage due to infrequent movement:

Get back to exercising

Moving your body back by exercising is the right decision. It may be difficult to get back on track like it used to be, but getting back muscle mass is a process. Don't push yourself to exercise too hard, and stop for a moment immediately if your body starts to ache.

Consult withpersonal trainer(PT)

If you exercise in a public place such asfitness center, You can take advantage of the PT facility to ask about what exercises are right for your body condition.

Enough rest

By resting after exercise, sore and tense muscles will return to normal and you will be ready to return to exercising effectively.

Get plenty of protein

Increasing the amount of protein consumption by eating lots of eggs, meat, tofu, and fish can prevent muscle shrinkage.

Drink lots of water

By drinking water diligently, your body will avoid dehydration. In addition, water helps get rid of toxic substances in the body, so that muscle mass growth can be maximized.