Building Healthy Bones
What can I do to build healthy bones and to prevent fractures? We think our skeleton will provide a solid framework for life but it needs tender loving care just like our skin, hair or heart. There are many steps you can take to help build healthy bones, which are all linked to leading a healthy lifestyle.
Get physical activity!
Your skeleton grows stronger if you do regular weight-bearing exercise. This is any kind of physical activity where you are supporting the weight of your own body, for example jogging, aerobics, tennis, dancing and brisk walking.
Weight lifting is another good type of bone-building exercise, where the action of the tendons pulling on the bones seems to boost strength.
If you have osteoporosis you may need to be careful of vigorous, high impact exercise but it’s important to stay active and find something you enjoy. Leading an active lifestyle will ensure you have good balance and co-ordination and will also help to develop muscle strength. The following exercises can help reduce your risk of falling and breaking a bone: swimming, gardening, walking, golf and Tai Chi.
Eat your way to healthy bones
The body contains 1kg of calcium, 99 percent of which is stored in our bones. While it is important to eat plenty of calcium to help build or maintain healthy bones, other vitamins and minerals are also important. If you enjoy a wide variety of food you will get a mix of all the vitamins and minerals you need.
The Food Standards Authority advises that in order to get a good balanced diet, you should choose a variety of food from the following main food categories:
- bread, cereals and potatoes
- fruit and vegetables
- milk and dairy
- meat fish and alternatives
- foods containing fat; foods and drinks containing sugar.
It’s also a good idea to avoid:
- Too much protein – particularly animal protein such as meat and cheese. Excessive amounts of protein may upset the acid balance within the body which then takes calcium from the bones to neutralise it. Lots of salt – high levels of sodium can increase the amount of calcium the body eliminates through urine.
- Drinking lots of fizzy drinks – phosphate, in the form of phosphoric acid, is used to improve the flavour in a lot of fizzy drinks and too much can cause the body to use calcium to balance levels.
- Drinking too much caffeine – again, a high consumption of caffeine could affect the balance of calcium in the body.
- Letting your weight drop too low – being overweight is not good for general health but being underweight increases the risk of broken bones when you fall.
What about dietary supplements?
If we eat a healthy, varied diet then we should be able to get all the vitamins and minerals we need from food. This is certainly a lot tastier than pills!
However, as we get older, we absorb nutrients less efficiently. Many older people also have smaller appetites so may benefit from supplements if they are getting insufficient nourishment from food.
The importance of vitamin D
Vitamin D is vital to help the body absorb calcium. The main source is the sun through our skin which the body converts into vitamin D and stores in our fat. Most of us will get enough sun to help our bones if we get out and about in the summer without even thinking about it.
However, older people, those who do not go out much and people who cover up for religious or cultural reasons may become deficient and 400 iu (international units), or 10mg, a day is recommended.
Studies have also shown that vitamin D and calcium supplements can help to cut the risk of broken hips in frail, older people so supplements may be prescribed.
Read more Tiens Nutrient High Calcium Powder.
Quit smoking
Smoking has a toxic effect on bone by stopping the construction cells from doing their work. It’s another good reason to try to give up.
Reduce your alcohol intake
Enjoying the odd glass of wine could actually help your bones. But drinking too much alcohol is damaging to our skeleton and increases your risk of fracture. Bear in mind that drinking alcohol can also make you unsteady and increase your risk of falling, and therefore breaking a bone.
The current daily recommended limit, as recommended by the Food Standards Agency, is 2 to 3 units for women and 3 to 4 units for men.
Fall prevention
As you get older – get help if you are at risk of falling or falling frequently. A referral to a physiotherapist may be helpful to advise about exercises to help with balance and co-ordination. In some areas there will be a ‘fall prevention service’ provided at your local hospital.
Many older people fall in the home, so it is important to try and reduce the hazards that could cause you to trip and fall. For instance:
- Take your time using stairs and hold onto the rail
- Loose rugs or carpets, trailing wires, slippery floor surfaces and poor heating and lighting can increase your risk of falling
- Other health problems such as Parkinson’s disease, arthritis or stroke are common causes of falls and some medications can increase your risk of falling by affecting your balance It is a good idea to have your eyesight and hearing checked because poor eyesight can increase the risk of falling and some forms of deafness can also affect your balance.
Ask your doctor to review all the medications your take. Taking lots of different medications can sometimes heighten side effects such as dizziness or drowsiness. If your tablets are causing these problems let your GP know.
If you are concerned about falling and particularly if you tend to fall, you could talk to your local GP and ask for a referral to your local falls clinic. Help the Aged also offers useful information on preventing falls.
Hip protectors
For older people who may be at risk of falling, hip protector pants are available which can help to cushion the force of a fall. These underwear garments have two protective hard shells built into cotton pants covering your hips to absorb the impact of the fall. However, research studies have not conclusively proved that they prevent broken bones.
Source: National Osteoporosis Society
www.nos.org.uk
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does it matter which type of milk you consume (2%, 1%, or non-fat) or do they all carry the same amount of calories?
-jack
This is awesome man. What an article about bone strengthening!!! Thanks for sharing this information.
Having healthy bones is very important. This is why many doctors recommend adding some calcium products to your daily menu (like milk for example)
Gr8. Actually I thought taking calcium supplement is the only option. But later I heard that won’t work. The above tips gives me confidence to exercise. I planned to do weight bearing exercise after consulting my doctor.
I didn’t know that alcohol affects our bones. Also I am a protein taker thinking that protein is good without realizing its effects on my calcium.
Oh thats an alert. I need to reduce my Alcohol intake and to stop smoking.
Thanks for the life saving info.
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Yes, as described above Vitamin D is very essential. My Dr prescribed me a medicine ‘Alfacalidol’ which is a Vitamin D supplement / Calcium relatedn Hormone tablet I think.
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Thanks for the great info..I will sure follow the above tips.
Bones are vitally important to the proper and useful functioning of our bodies.
As said here reduce intaking alcohal and quit smoking is required(mandatory) to have perfect health.
Vitamin D helps the bones strong.Vitamin D maintain bone density, healthy bone growth and helps maintain the normal functioning of the nervous system.
thanks for the information.
yes, great post.
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Thanks for informations my friend.. Very nice commenter blog..
This is some great info you have here. I hope that people are directed to this site and heed the information that you list because maintaining a healthy skeletal system is very important to living a healthy life.
Having lot of milk will improve the quantity of calcium in our body,This will increase the strength of the body…
Thanks for all the good info. I have recently started to supplement with vitamin D. Recent research is finding it has many benefits in other health areas also. Some studies show it may have benefit in preventing certain cancers and in reducing inflammation in the body.
I would like to try the things you ve mentioned. Since am in a gym so I have to have strong bones, thanks for sharing the great way to get strong bones.
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