Your body is constantly absorbing and replacing old bone material with new bone cells. But sometimes, the creation of new bone doesn’t keep up with the loss of old bone.
This disease is called osteoporosis, and it causes bones to become weak, and susceptible to fractures and other problems.
Luckily, the condition can be managed with treatment, and is entirely preventable by taking good care of your bones. We’ve compiled a list of tips and tricks to help keep your bones healthy, and hopefully avoid this difficult condition:
- It’s about more than just milk. To build and maintain strong bones, your body needs calcium. While calcium-rich milk in your diet certainly helps your bones, other foods such as cheese, yogurt, almonds, winter squash, and canned sardines are filled with calcium as well.
- Exercise frequently. Exercise strengthens your bones, which leads to better overall bone health and strength that will keep your body from weakening over time.
- Be mindful of tobacco usage. Smoking causes a variety of other health problems, but one you might not know about is its negative effect on bone regeneration.
- Think before you imbibe. Frequent alcohol use, including more than one drink a day for women and more than two drinks a day for men, has been linked to osteoporosis.
- Women are at higher risk than men. Women have less bone tissue than men to begin with. The hormone estrogen protects women’s bones, but menopause causes estrogen levels to drop—which dramatically increases the chance of bone loss and osteoporosis. For these reasons, it’s especially important for women to strengthen their bones.
It’s essential to your overall health to maintain good bone health throughout your lifetime, not just when you’re older and more susceptible to conditions like osteoporosis. Remember to take good care of your body, and in return, your body will take good care of you.
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