Bone density is a key measure of how strong and healthy your bones are, and a bone density test can tell you if you are at risk for conditions like osteoporosis or osteopenia. While bone density naturally decreases as you age, there are things you can do to look after your bones and keep them as strong as possible over time.
Taking care of your bone health throughout your life, especially as you age, is key to maintaining mobility and preventing falls and injuries.
Here are 8 ways to keep your bones strong:
1. Exercise to strengthen your muscles and bones
Regular physical activity and exercise play a role in maintaining and improving bone density.
Maintaining strong muscles helps support bones and reduces the amount of stress placed on them throughout your life, and some exercises can even improve bone density.
In particular, weight-bearing exercise promotes bone health. This simply means moving your body using your own weight. Brisk walking, dancing or jumping rope are all great examples of ways you can move your body every day.
Weight training or resistance training are also great ways to get active to improve bone health. This is because the ability to build and maintain bone density depends on how stress is applied to the bone. It is important that your weight training gradually increases in difficulty over time.
2. Eat healthy as a teenager
There are many changes that happen to the body during puberty. Adolescents’ brains become more advanced and their decision-making and self-control improve. However, they become clumsier and this is because they are growing so quickly that the brain takes some time to adjust.
Not only will their organs get bigger and stronger, but their bones will also get thicker. In fact, about half of a person’s bone mass is accumulated during adolescence.
It is important to eat plenty of calcium-rich foods to support bone growth at this time.
3. Think calcium first when pregnant or breastfeeding
When a person is pregnant, their body will undergo changes during pregnancy to help protect their bones. Pregnant women can absorb calcium from food better than non-pregnant women and produce more estrogen to help protect bones. Growing babies need a lot of calcium. In fact, if a pregnant woman does not get enough calcium, the baby will take what it needs from her bones.
To support bone health during pregnancy and breastfeeding, it is important to include at least two to three servings of dairy products or calcium-rich foods each day.
Calcium is also important for the bone development of infants, Growing babies need a lot of calcium. So if you are breastfeeding, it is important to eat a healthy, varied diet with calcium-rich foods, which will help your breast milk to be nutrient-dense. You may lose bone mass while breastfeeding, possibly due to your baby’s increased need for calcium, which is taken from your bones.
Any bone mass lost during pregnancy or breastfeeding is usually regained within a few months after the baby is born (or a few months after breastfeeding has stopped).
There is a rare condition called pregnancy-related osteoporosis, in which a pregnant woman’s bones become more fragile during pregnancy or in the weeks after giving birth. It is important to talk to your doctor if you have any of these signs or symptoms.
4. Looking after your bones during perimenopause and menopause
Menopause is more than just the end of your menstrual cycle. There are many other changes that occur in the body during perimenopause and menopause.
During perimenopause, the production of oestrogen and progesterone begins to slow down, which can affect bone health.
Oestrogen plays a role in bone health, and during perimenopause, your oestrogen levels drop rapidly. As oestrogen levels drop, bones lose calcium and other minerals at a much faster rate. On average, postmenopausal women lose up to 10% of their bone mass in the first five years, after which the rate of bone loss slows down.
If you are perimenopause or menopause, you can talk to your GP about lifestyle changes and medications that can help reduce your risk of osteoporosis.
5. Know how smoking and alcohol use can affect your bones
Long-term smoking can significantly reduce bone density, leading to an increased risk of fractures. Women who smoke can also experience menopause 1.5-2 years earlier than average, which increases their risk of conditions like osteoporosis earlier than most people.
Regular and persistent heavy drinking can have serious long-term health consequences, such as muscle and bone damage.
To look after your bone health, it’s best to avoid smoking and limit your alcohol intake to no more than 10 standard drinks per week and no more than 4 standard drinks per day.
6. Make maintaining bone density a priority as you age
It’s no surprise that age is a factor when it comes to your bone health. Most of your bone growth will occur when you are a child or teenager, but you are never too young or too old to improve your bone health. Your bones stop growing and gaining strength when you are in your twenties. From the age of 30, you can only maintain your bone mass.
From this point on, you are at higher risk of conditions such as osteoporosis and fractures, but these conditions are not necessarily a normal part of ageing. To maintain bone density as you age, you should vary the types of exercise you do, including some weight-bearing and some resistance exercise, maintain a healthy diet, do weight-bearing exercises and talk to your GP about your bone health.
7. Eat for healthy bones
Eating a healthier diet and maintaining a healthy weight are important to reduce your risk of bone disease. It is important to include calcium in our diets because the human body cannot produce calcium on its own and calcium is constantly lost through hair, skin and nails.
You may know that dairy products are rich in calcium, but calcium is also found in green leafy vegetables, canned fish, baked beans and nuts.
The amino acids found in protein are also important for maintaining your bone structure. Milk, meat, fish, lentils, beans and nuts are all good sources of protein. You should also include green leafy vegetables such as kale and spinach which contain vitamin K and magnesium. Vitamin K is the second most abundant protein in bones after collagen while magnesium plays an important role in bone formation.
Zinc plays a role in the regeneration and mineralization of bone tissue. Good sources of zinc include lean red meat, whole grains, beans and legumes.
8. Vitamin D Supplements
Lack of sun exposure can mean you are not getting enough vitamin D, which your body needs to absorb calcium. Daily sun exposure is important for maintaining vitamin D levels.
Try to get a few minutes of sun exposure most days of the week by walking to your bus stop or mailbox. However, you should avoid the sun by avoiding peak UV times and using sunscreen. Using sun protection, including sunscreen, does not prevent your body from making vitamin D.
You should always discuss your calcium and vitamin D needs with your family doctor before adding supplements to your diet.
