4 Ways to Decrease the Risk Bone Loss with Age & What to Do to Assist the Aging Process
As we get older, it's only natural that our bodies deplete in various ways, whether that be having less fullness in our skin, decreased muscle mass or aging bones.
With age especially for women in the first few years of menopause, bone density slowly depletes as we become less active. That is why it's important to take the necessary first steps to decrease the aging process as much as possible. Healthy eating, healthy lifestyle changes and gaining the right amounts of nutrients in our diet along with regular exercise is one of the best ways to do it.
Age is just a number and we can easily improve how we age by making the right choices...
Exercise for Muscles & Bone Health
Here are 3 essential types of exercise that must be added to our daily and weekly routine to strengthen muscles and improve bone mass:
1—Stretching & Flexibility Exercises: This often forgotten exercise routine is critical in building better flexibility and benefits muscle mass. By adding flexibility into your exercise routine, this will help to enhance range of motion.
Common flexibility and stretching exercises include Tai Chi, Pilates or Yoga. These are excellent if done on a daily basis to decrease the chances of developing osteoporosis. By holding your stretched position for about 30 seconds, this stretched pose helps to lengthen muscles. This helps to improve flexibility and range of motion in the joints.
2— Cardiovascular Exercise: All and any type of exercise like walking, jogging or aerobics helps to create better bones mass by improving bone health. These cardiovascular exercises are weight bearing and place weight on bones and limbs — not to mention how good they are for overall heart health. These types of exercises are highly beneficial to overall fitness especially when aging. However, although many think biking may be a weight bearing exercise, it's not. Biking puts very little weight energy on the overall body and limbs and that's why it's more of a aid in building up the heart, but not necessarily in aiding in bone mass.
Other weight-bearing exercises are running under water or even underwater aerobics. Although having less impact on joints, it is still highly beneficial. For those more sensitive to the impact of exercises like these, but who still want to engage in exercise that builds stronger bones without the risk of injury, it’s a good choice.
3— Strength training: As we get older, it becomes crucial that strength training become a key part of our weekly routine. By engaging in using weights like free weights, stair climbing machines like the stairmaster, incline or elliptical trainer machines. Resistant bands are also excellent in building strength in order to improve bone density.
Exercise should not be the only focus.
Getting enough vitamin D is necessary to maintaining good health. You can get vitamin D from the sun as your body produces this vitamin when exposed to natural sunlight.
Eating a diet rich in vitamin D is also essential for building up your vitamin D levels throughout your body. You can do so by eating foods rich in D vitamins and if need be, add vitamin D supplements (if your diet is lacking in this vitamin).
Foods rich in vitamin D are fatty fish like mackerel, tuna and salmon. 100% natural orange juice, egg yolks and beef liver are also very good choices rich in vitamin D.
Benefits of Vitamin D
Vitamin D aids in the absorption and regulation of phosphorus and calcium within the body. It also helps to resist disease and to maintain a healthy immune system. But most importantly, this vitamin helps to develop healthy bones.
If you value your health and want to decrease you chances of developing osteoporosis, while also wanting to reverse or slow down the risk of decreased bone density while trying to improve your bone density, engaging in these exercises and keeping your Vitamin D levels up is a great way to improve your overall health and fitness. By doing so, you’re building up the necessary defenses your body needs to protect itself, while making better choices for your overall health and well-being.