Breaking a bone is an issue. Not only it hurts but takes long time to heal. Weakening of bone or osteoporosis is major public issue and affecting millions of individuals. Osteoporosis seems to be becoming more common due to poor dietary choices and lack of physical activity.
Lack of physical activity can lower the bone density. Just like muscles, bones also need to go through stress to become stronger. Resistance training with compound movements such as squats, deadlift, push ups, and rows can help make the bone stronger. Hiking with sack can also give your muscles and bones some work. Yard work also can be resistance based physical activity. In other words, you need to be moving rather than sitting in front of TV or PC.
Recovery and replenishing with proper nutrients are equally important. Bone requires constant supply of nutrients, such as calcium, protein, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin D, potassium, and fluoride. So common understanding of calcium builds bone is still important, however, you will need more than calcium to keep your bone healthy. For example, if you are low on salt intake or becoming mineral deficient, the body will look for available mineral in the body, which will be bone and can cause the bone to become weaker. Another example is, bone is made of 31% water. Therefore, dehydration can also become issue for keeping the bone healthy.
Some of the food sources that are rich in minerals and vitamins that would support bone health are nuts, leafy vegetables, beans, seeds, mushrooms, whole grain, avocado, seafood, and so on.
It is difficult to know whether you have bone density issue or not without medical examination. However, you can start adding resistance based activities and incorporate food above into your food choices to make sure you will not have any weak bones. Even if you currently do have low bone density, you can work on reversing it and make the bone stronger.
Kota Shimada
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