Strengthening your bones probably isn’t your biggest health priority. And, if we’re really being honest, worrying about bone health can almost feel like a luxury – like the cherry on top of our sugar-free ice cream sundaes, wrapped in gluten-free waffle cones and taken with a side of fish oil supplements.
Yeah, the list of health concerns out there is long, and while strengthening your bones might not necessarily deserve the No.1 spot (heart disease should probably take that one), bone health should be pretty high on your list – no matter how young or old you are.
That’s because, in early life, we build up our “bone bank,” which can help put us ahead of the game for when we pass our period of peak bone mass (usually around age 25) and begin losing bone faster than we build it, says Dr. David Gazzaniga, an orthopedic surgeon with Hoag Orthopedic Institute in California. Yes, net bone loss can occur by 30 or even earlier. And while it is possible to make up lost bone in old age, many adults don’t realize it – or do what they need to tip the bone-mineral-density scales back in their favor.
Gazzaniga notes that 1 in 2 women and 1 in 4 men will have a fracture over their lifetime due to osteoporosis, and that in the first five years after menopause, a woman can lose up to 20 percent of her bone mass.
Those stats are about more than mere inconveniences, casts, and crutches. According to a JAMA Internal Medicine study, women ages 65 to 69 who break a hip are five times more likely to die within the next year compared to their strong-hipped peers. What’s more, the greatest risk of death occurred in the three months following the break, with study authors believing that hip fractures actually contributed to deaths, rather than them just being markers of poor health.
Learning how to strengthen your bones is important. You need to understand not just how to increase bone strength by food, but also how movement, medications, and your overall lifestyle plays into strengthening bones at any age.
How to Strengthen Your Bones
Want to keep your skeleton in working order? Find out how to strengthen your bones for better health, strength, and vitality:
1. Reach for Calcium
“Calcium” is more or less synonymous with “bone health,” and for good reason. It’s one of the main building blocks of bone, and we can only get the bone-building mineral from the foods we eat, explains Dr. Jennifer Beck, associate director of the Center for Sports Medicine at the Orthopaedic Institute for Children in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, according to research published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, only 30 percent of Americans ages 2 and older get the recommended amount of dairy per day.
According to study authors, to meet calcium needs and strengthen bones, everyone over age 9 would need to shoot for three to four servings of dairy per day. And keep in mind that calcium needs increase during pregnancy, lactation and after age 70.
2. Soak Up Some Sun
Calcium is a prerequisite for bone health, but it alone can’t fight osteoporosis. In fact, a Cochrane review of 15 previous trials concluded that increased calcium intake alone has a modest effect on reducing rates of bone loss in postmenopausal women. That may be because vitamin D is necessary for your body to properly use calcium to strengthen your bones. According to Beck, they should be taken together for the greatest benefit. Hence why your gallon of milk (yes, we are back on that) is fortified with vitamin D.
Still, it’s important to realize that the biggest reason that up to 41.6 percent of Americans are deficient in vitamin D is because they don’t get enough light in their lives. If it’s too cold to get outside this fall, or you live at a northern latitude, consider a light box that emits UVB rays. In one Boston University School of Medicine study, people who used light boxes just three times per week significantly raised their levels of the calcium-helper.
RELATED: How to Increase Vitamin D Levels
3. Lift Weights
People who strength train enjoy stronger bones – no matter their age, according to one Aging Clinical and Experimental Research review. And in a BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders study of 150 women with osteoporosis or osteopenia, those who performed regular resistance training increased their serum concentrations of CTX, a marker of bone resorption and formation.
Interestingly, those who walked didn’t enjoy the same boost in bone health. That’s because, while any activity is going to be good for your bones, the best exercises load your bones with forces greater than those that you probably encounter in daily life. Termed “minimal essential strain,” the threshold for stimulating new bone formation is generally believed to be about one-tenth of the force required to fracture the bone. “The bone responds to that stress by becoming thicker and stronger,” Gazzaniga says.
That’s not a license to try to test out your bone strength, but you get the idea. Turn to full-body weight-bearing exercises that load your spine and hips, such as squats, lunges, deadlifts, and shoulder presses, for the greatest benefit.
RELATED: Fitness Hacks Over 50
4. Cozy Up to Your Genes
“Genetics has a large role in bone density,” says Beck, noting, for instance, that people of Asian decent tend to have lower bone density levels than Caucasians, and African-Americans tend to have even-higher levels. Plus, in one American Journal of Preventive Medicine study of more than 8,000 women, family history played a large independent role in 19.8 percent of osteoporosis cases.
While you can’t change your family history, knowing it can help you work better with what you’ve got. If you identify a family history of bone breaks, osteopenia or osteoporosis, tell your physician, Beck says. That way, you can work together to figure out how to strengthen your bones in the best way for your genetic predispositions.
RELATED: Heart Disease in Your Family? Here’s What to Do About It
5. Kick Your Vices
When you’re focusing on how to strengthen your bones, it’s good to not work against your efforts.Sodium, alcohol, caffeine, soft drinks and cigarettes interfere with the body’s ability to absorb and use nutrients to make bone, according to Gazzaniga. For example, research from Creighton University in Nebraska found that elderly women who consume more than 18 ounces of coffee a day (a little more than two cups) speed up their rates of bone less, with caffeine negatively affecting vitamin D activities in the body.
That whole “more than 18 ounces” caveat brings up a good point. We are talking about too much sodium, alcohol, caffeine, soft drinks and cigarettes being bad for your bone health (although any amount of soft drinks or cigarettes is too much for your body’s health interests).
After all, you need some sodium in your diet to stay healthy, and even if researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center found that people who drink more than two alcohol beverages per day have an increased risk of hip fracture, they also found that people who have one-half to one drink per day enjoy a lower risk of hip fracture than do teetotalers.
6. Read Medication Labels
To strengthen your bones, it’s important to stay on top of any health conditions, you can’t forget to consider how any medications you take could weaken your bones, according to Beck. For instance, steroids, which are routinely prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and ulcerative colitis, can impede bone resorption and formation, she says. And other common medications, like those for heartburn and depression, can have similar effects.
If you are presently on medications, or any time you receive a new prescription, ask your physician about any possible side effects. Every medication comes with pros and cons, and it’s important to discuss them with your doctor before making changes to your health regimen, she says. You can also read the back of your prescription label and poll your pharmacist for more info.
Fitness Hacks Over 50
Leading a healthier life doesn’t have to be about dramatic lifestyle changes, super-long workouts, or expensive gym equipment. And, for the most balanced, sustainable results, it shouldn’t be! Experience how true lifelong fitness is about integrating movement into your day-to-day, don’t-even-think-about-it routine. Feel your best with Fitness Hacks for Over 50!