Healthy bones

Healthy habits as a teenager and young adult can help your bone strength in your 60’s and 70’s

We often think of increasing muscle strength as the primary goal of exercise, but what about bone strength? One of the problems facing people as they age is decreased bone mineral density, or bone strength, which makes them more likely to sustain a fracture if they fall.

Studies have shown that a few healthy lifestyle choices during adolescent and early adult years can have a major effect on lifetime bone density, and can push back the diagnosis of osteoporosis, which is a marker of significant bone loss, by 13 years.

Of course there are some things that affect bone strength which are out of our control, such as genetics, gender, and certain diseases, but focusing on the following three factors can set us up for healthier aging:

·       Physical activity: during adolescence the rate of bone modeling and remodeling is high, and physical activity increases bone mass. Bone responds to the strain placed on it by muscle activity and mechanical load by becoming stronger.

·       Calcium and Vitamin D: 99% of the calcium in our bodies is found in our bones and teeth, and vitamin D helps the body absorb the calcium in our diet. So eat a healthy, well rounded diet.

·       Avoid smoking and alcohol: Nicotine changes the exchange of substances in and out of blood vessels, and thus decreases the absorption of healthy nutrients such as protein and calcium. Alcohol slows the growth of marrow cells, affecting new bony growth.

There is a window of opportunity to gain peak bone mass, and most people will reach this sometime in their teen years or early 20’s. This means that our habits and lifestyle when we are young will affect our health throughout the rest of our years. So establish healthy habits when you’re young, and your older self will thank you!

Zhu, Xiaowei, and Houfeng Zheng. "Factors influencing peak bone mass gain." Frontiers of medicine 15.1 (2021): 53-69.