Bone health: tips to maintain their healthy bones

Protecting bone health is important throughout your life. Understand how diet, exercise and other lifestyle options can affect bones.

By Mayic staff clinic

The bones do a lot for your body. They provide structure, protect organs, anchor muscles and store calcium. While it is important to build strong and healthy bones during your childhood and years of adolescence, you can take measures to protect bone health when you are also an adult.

Why is bone health important?

The bones change all the time. The body constantly makes new bone and breaks down old bone. This process is called remodeling. When you are young, the new bone becomes faster than the old bone breaks down. So, the amount of bone mass you have increases. Most people reach maximum bone mass around 30 years. After that, bone remodeling continues. But you lose a little more bone mass than you earn.

Osteoporosis is a condition that causes bones to weaken and break easily. What a probability of developing osteoporosis depends on how much bone mass it has for when I am 30 years old and how fast it loses it after that. The greater its maximum bone mass, the more bone it has accumulated. The more bone has accumulated, the less likely it will be to develop osteoporosis as it ages.

What affects bone health?

Many things can affect bone health. For example:

  • The amount of calcium in your diet. A low calcium diet can cause low bone density, early bone loss and easily broken bones.
  • Physical activity The exercise makes the bones stronger. People who are not physically active have a higher risk of osteoporosis than people who exercise regularly.
  • Use of tobacco and alcohol. The use of tobacco, especially smoking and vapeo, can weaken bones and increase the risk of osteoporosis. Regularly taking more than one alcoholic beverage a day for women or two alcoholic beverages per day for men can also increase the risk of osteoporosis.
  • Sex. Women have a greater risk of osteoporosis than men. This is because females have less bone tissue than males.
  • Size and age. People who have a body mass index of 19 or less or who have a small body frame have a higher risk of osteoporosis. This is because they generally have less bone mass to extract as they age. The bones also become thinner and weak as people age.
  • Race and family history. People of white or Asian ancestry have a higher risk of osteoporosis than other people. People who have a father with osteoporosis also have greater risk. A family history of broken bones also increases risk.
  • Hormonal levels Hormones affect bones. Too much thyroid hormone can cause bone loss. And due to the drop in estrogen levels, there is usually a lot of bone loss at the time of menopause. Before menopause, people who do not have their periods for a long time, a condition called amenorrhea, have a higher risk of osteoporosis. Low testosterone levels can cause a loss of bone mass.

Taking some medications for a long time can damage the bones. Examples include:

  • Hormonal medications used to treat breast cancer and prostate cancer.
  • Medications used to prevent seizures.
  • Medications used to treat thyroid diseases.
  • Glucocorticoid steroids.
  • Adrenocortopic hormone.
  • Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
  • TIAZOLIDINEDIONAS.
  • Protons pump inhibitors.

Some medical conditions can also affect bone health. For example, having an eating disorder, such as anorexia, increases the risk of osteoporosis because not eating enough and having low weight weakens bones. Medical conditions such as thyroid diseases, intestinal inflammatory disease, rheumatoid arthritis and Cushing syndrome can increase bone loss.

What can I do to maintain my healthy bones?

The following steps can help prevent or slow bone loss:

  • Include a lot of calcium in your diet. For adults from 19 to 50 years and men from 51 years to 70, the recommended dietary allocation (RDA) is 1,000 milligrams (mg) of calcium per day. The recommendation goes to 1,200 mg a day for women 51 years or older and for men 71 years or more.

    Good calcium sources include dairy products, turnip, salmon and salmon vegetables canned with bones, sardines, tuna and soy products, such as tofu. If it is difficult to obtain enough calcium from your diet, ask your health professional about taking a calcium supplement.

  • Get enough vitamin D. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. For adults from 19 to 70 years, the GDR of vitamin D is 600 international units (IUS) per day. The recommendation is 800 ius a day for adults 71 years or more.

    Good sources of vitamin D include oily fish, such as salmon, trout, tuna and mackerel. Some foods also have vitamin D to them, such as milk, cereals and orange juice. Sunlight helps the body to vitamin D too. If you are worried about obtaining enough vitamin D, ask your health professional on how to take a supplement.

  • Stay active. Weight support exercises can help you develop strong bones and reduce bone loss. The examples include fast walks, jogging, dance, climbing and playing football, tennis and picklet.
  • Do not use tobacco or drink too much. If you want help to stop using tobacco, talk to your health professional. If you choose to drink alcohol, do it in moderation. For healthy adults, that means even a drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men.
  • Ask for medications. If you have to take a medicine for a long time, ask your health professional if that could affect your bones. If so, talk about the steps you can take to maintain your healthy bones.

If you are concerned about bone health or you have osteoporosis risk factors, talk to your health professional. He also speaks with his health professional on bone health if he breaks a bone when he is over 50 years old. You may need bone density test. The results of that test show their level of bone density. The test results can also help your care team verify their bone loss rate and other bone health measures. Using that information together with your risk factors, your health professional can decide if the medicine to help slow down bone loss can be a good option for you.

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