Healthy bone is essential to staying active and living your life to the fullest. It’s vital to ensure a balanced diet that provides you with enough calcium, vitamin D, phosphorus, and magnesium.
Did you know that humans are born with over 300 bones? These bones help us to function and keep our bodies strong. But as we age, these bones can thin out, making them more prone to injury.
Bone health is an essential thing for people of all ages. That’s why it’s a good idea to stay active and maintain healthy habits, like getting enough calcium and vitamin D. If you’re not careful, your bone health could worsen, leading to osteoporosis or fractures. Taking care of your bone health is essential so you don’t have any regrets later on.
What are the Bones?
Bones are the framework of our body. Bones consist of connective tissue reinforced with calcium and specialized bone cells like those responsible for blood production in the marrow cavity within many long bones.
The skeleton supports and shapes your body and protects delicate organs such as the brain, heart, or lungs. The skeleton and joints work with muscles to keep our body together. This is called the musculoskeletal system.
In a healthy body, the bones are filled with calcium and constantly build up or break down tissue as needed. A bone needs a balanced diet, regular weight-bearing exercise, and levels of hormones within optimal ranges to stay healthy.
Why is Bone Health Important?
Our bones support our body, protect the brain and heart from injury, and store calcium and phosphorus that help keep them strong. When they’re low on these minerals, they release them into the body for use by other organs.
There are many things we can do to keep our bones strong. Eating calcium and vitamin D-rich foods, getting plenty of exercises, and making good habits such as quitting smoking help us maintain healthy bones.
Eating the right thing and getting enough exercise can help keep your bones strong, but if not, it may lead to them being weak or even breaking. If a bone breaks, it is difficult to heal and sometimes needs surgery. Left untreated, broken bones can lead to long-lasting health problems.
Why does Bone Health Worsen as we Age?
Bone health is a crucial part of our lives. As we age, many factors cause bone health to worsen. One aspect of aging is that the density and mass of bones decrease. This can lead to osteoporosis or fractures as the bones are more prone to breakage. Bone health also worsens because we might not get enough calcium and vitamin D. Our diets lack the nutrients crucial to maintaining healthy bones. This is especially true of vitamin D, which is found in a few foods and is not made in the body by the skin like vitamin D3, which is located in fish or eggs. The lack of calcium, vitamin D, and other nutrients such as protein can lead to a deficiency in bone health.
Another aspect of aging that affects bone health is that we age faster than we used to because we have less muscle mass and fat mass than previous generations. This means our bones are more at risk for injury and fracture because they are stressed more often than they used to be. Your bones are more prone to fracture because they are weaker on their own. If you do not have enough muscle mass, then your bones cannot be supported by it, and instead, they rely on their density and gathering alone. This means when you fall or sustain an injury.
Why Do We Need to Maintain the Right Balance of Minerals in Our Diet for Healthy Bones?
A balanced diet that provides sufficient amounts of essential minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium is necessary for strong and healthy bones. Osteoporosis is a significant health concern for many people in developed countries. This condition results in reduced bone strength and increased risk of fractures in the elderly. Many minerals are essential for bone health, but maintaining the right balance may help reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
How to Maintain Healthy Habits for Your Bones?
Healthy bones are the foundation of a healthy body. It is essential to take care of your bones by following these simple steps daily. Here are some ways to maintain healthy habits for your bones:
- Consume calcium-rich foods
- Get enough Vitamin D
- Consume foods that rich in nutrients for the bone
- Keep physically active
- Avoid caffeinated beverages
- Limit intake of sodium-rich foods
- Avoid alcoholic drinks as needed
Osteoporosis is most commonly associated with post-menopausal women.
Osteoporosis is more common in women than men because of hormone changes during menopause.
Women are at even greater risk of developing osteoporosis if they have any one of the following:
- early menopause before age 45
- hysterectomy before age 45 where ovaries were also removed
- absent periods for more than six months resulting from overexercising or too much dieting.
Bone health is one of the most important aspects of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It’s never too late to start taking care of your bones. The steps you take now can have a long-lasting effect on how you age and feel. One of the best ways to attack the problem is to eat a balanced diet, engage in regular physical activity, and take supplements.
Rick Kaselj – [email protected]
Registered Kinesiologist Specializing in Injury Rehabilitation
Surrey, BC, Canada
