Everyone Gets Osteoporosis, Here's What To Do

It is important to maintain healthy bones because bones are what holds the body together and enable people to do daily essential activities.  A study by Harvard Medical School reported that 10.2 million Americans have osteoporosis, which is having weak bones.  An addition 43 million Americans are at risk of getting it.  However, there are a few things you can do to ensure good bone health and in turn, avoid a lot of pain, injury, and disease.

Weightlifting

Studies have shown that weightlifting exercises not only slow down the body’s inevitable bone loss, but weightlifting can also build bone and make bones denser.  The stress from lifting weights stimulates the production and deposit of extra calcium, creating more bone density.  With weight lifting, you have strong stronger bones.  With stronger bones, you are less susceptible to falling and getting injured.    

Speed walking and jogging

Aerobic exercise not only helps your heart but helps your bones as well.  Aerobic exercise ranges from dancing to swimming to walking.  However, higher impact aerobic activity is what helps your bones.  Meaning that running does more for your bones than walking.  Nonetheless, if you currently are of older age, nobody expects you to run a marathon.  It’s just important to be moving.  Start off with walking every day and work your way to brisk, speed walking.     

Increase calcium intake

Your bones are not made of calcium.  Your bones are made of mostly collagen, which is tissue, but the reason why calcium is so important is that calcium protects the collagen.  Calcium is the hard outer layer of “bone” that provides the framework for strong bones.  Thus, it is important to get enough calcium from foods, drinks, and/or supplements so that you can have strong bones. 

Proper Shoes

It is vital to have proper, supportive, comfortable shoes for your feet.  Without proper foot care, you will not want to move around.   Not moving around definitely leads to bone loss.  Proper footwear prevents pain and injury and elevates your mood and motivates you to get up and be active.  It is important to note the structure of feet, if you are flat footed or have high arches, and to note the type of daily activities you will be doing.  For example, there are big differences between walking shoes and running shoes.  They are structurally constructed very differently.

Conclusion

If you want to live a long, quality life, you need to take care of your physical health.  You do not have to go lift a crazy amount of weight or workout for long hours every day.  Simple body weight exercises like jogging and resistance bands can do the job. 

Be aware of how your body feels and address it as soon as possible.  Make sure to regularly go to your doctor because bone loss is not the easiest to detect.  People usually only consider testing when they have fractured or broken a bone.  Regular check-ups will allow for testing and catching and medical conditions early enough for a higher rate of successful treatment.