Having trouble getting around these days? Time creeps up on us fast, and with it so does an aging body. According to Markus MacGill over at Medical News Today, over 53 million people are affected by a bone-loss disease.
While there are many things we can’t control when it comes to getting older, maintaining your physical health doesn’t have to be one of them.
Osteoporosis (the leading bone-loss disease) is really just a fancy way of saying that your bones are beginning to break down. What this leads to is a lot of pain and potential for broken and fractured bones.
Now considering that the human body has hundreds of bones in it (206 to be exact), it only makes sense to do everything we can to keep our bones healthy.
When we’re talking about maintaining strong bones, we are really talking about keeping our hormones balanced. Our bones start to break down when our bodies stop producing the right hormones, like estrogen. This can happen as early as your late 20’s.
The good news? Bone-related illnesses are often preventable.
Try some of the seven tips below to increase your bone health and stay active a lot longer.
1. Get Your Calcium
Our whole lives we’ve all been told to make sure and get enough calcium for strong bones. What many people don’t know, is why we need to have so much of it. As the Surgeon General explains in its report on Bone Health & Osteoporosis:
If calcium or phosphorus are in short supply, the regulating hormones take them out of the bone to serve vital functions in other systems of the body. Too many withdrawals can weaken the bone.
So long story short; eat your fruits and vegetables that are high in Calcium, including dark leafy greens, dairy products, almonds, citrus fruits, and certain seafood. You can find a full list of non-dairy foods with plenty of Calcium here.
2. Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a key factor in bone health because it produces Calcitriol. The Surgeon General reports that it’s the hormone responsible for absorbing Calcium an Phosphorous into the blood stream, which is important for new bone growth and development.
According to WebMD you can get a nice dose of Vitamin D in your diet by consuming fatty fish, cheese, or egg yolks.
3. Keep Healthy With Soy
In an article published by Medical News Today, Dr. Catharine Paddock explains that soybeans contain chemical compounds which act like estrogen. As mentioned before, estrogen is an important hormone in promoting bone development.
When women enter menopause, their body stops producing enough it to keep up with mineral-loss, and so taking soy supplements may be a natural way to help maintain your estrogen levels.
4. Exercise Your Bones
Just like your muscles, your bones can become stronger with regular exercise. This doesn’t mean running a marathon every week now, but incorporating low-impact exercise into your daily life can keep your bones strong and healthy long-term.
Our friends over at the National Osteoporosis Foundation compiled a fantastic list of safe and effective exercises to help keep you moving here.
5. Stretch Towards Your Health With Yoga
Harvard Women’s Health Watch published an article emphasizing that, if practiced regularly for 12 minutes a day, holding certain yoga poses can strengthen your bones and muscles, and improve your balance.
Some yoga poses are safer than others for people at risk of bone-disease. Luckily the article published an amazing list of effective poses here.
6. Avoid Tobacco Smoke
Everyone on the planet knows that smoking is no good. We can drop another bead in that bucket with Osteoporosis. This is mainly because tobacco is a hormone disruptor, especially of estrogen. The University of Pittdsburgh Medical Center states:
Smoking lowers estrogen levels in both men and women. Estrogen is important because it helps the bones to hold calcium and other minerals that make them strong.
7. Drink To Your Health-Not Your Demise
Drinking to our health isn’t just a phrase, there’s quite a bit of truth behind it.
In TIME’s online Women’s Health publication, Maia Szalavitz details a study out of Oregon State University that indicates women who drink 1-2 alcoholic beverages a day see a significant increase in bone density.
So tip your glasses, ladies! The fun can continue!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
