Bones are living tissue, constantly rebuilding themselves over time. Unfortunately, this rebuilding process tends to slow as we get older, leaving us susceptible to issues such as osteoporosis. Osteoporosis can come with some rough side effects including excessive pain and bone fractures.
If you want to avoid osteoporosis when you age, you should definitely start to take care of your bones now. There are various ways you can take care of your bones, and they should all work in conjunction. While some you may have heard of, there’s a good chance you don’t know all of them.
Without further ado, here are 10 ways to build up healthy bones.
1. Drink Milk
The age-old lesson on how to keep your bones strong may be criticized more and more, but it’s impossible to doubt that the calcium in milk helps to shore up your bones. While milk does have calcium, you can also look to other dairies such as yogurt.
Be sure to look into foods that have a high concentration of calcium as these foods will build up your bones and your teeth as well.
2. Avoid Caffeine
While caffeine does have some health benefits, too much of it can actually hurt your bone health. Caffeine gets in the way of our body’s ability to take in calcium, meaning that each extra cup of coffee may lead to weaker bones and frailer teeth for you in the future.
If you do need that morning coffee, as many of us do, look to limit your caffeine to that, or combine your caffeine with some milk in order to make up for the lack of absorption.
3. Know Your Family’s Past
Osteoporosis can have some genetic background to it, as can the inability to absorb calcium and having weak bones in general. If you have noticed that your parents are struggling with bone density issues, you may need to act sooner to prevent these issues for yourself rather than later.
If bone issues run in the family, reach out to your doctor to find out what you can do to avoid more problems in the future.
4. Take Vitamin D Supplements
Upping your intake of calcium is almost pointless if your body can’t use it. This is exactly where vitamin D comes in. Vitamin D is crucial for our bodies’ ability to use this calcium in building up our bones.
In fact, vitamin D has a crucial role in absorbing many important nutrients on top of just calcium, making it a top vitamin for women to take.
5. Collagen Supplements
Vitamin D isn’t the only supplement you should look into to promote good bone health. Collagen is another protein that comes in supplement form that you can use to promote good bone health.
Collagen also has great benefits such as strengthening the joints and muscles around your bones to give your bones additional support. Be sure to shop now for your next collagen supplement.
6. Exercise Regularly
As any expert will tell you, staying healthy is about both what you take in and what you do with it. If you truly want your bones to stay healthy, exercising will be key.
The best exercises for improving bone density are those that make the bones go under some duress to build up their strength. This includes weight-bearing exercises, running, and stair climbing. Exercising also has the added impact of keeping your weight low, which we will discuss later as an added benefit.
7. Avoid the Alcohol
Heavy alcohol consumption is known for interfering with the ability of vitamin D to properly absorb nutrients. This means that alcohol directly impacts your ability to absorb calcium, thus making your bones stronger.
That doesn’t mean you need to stop all forms of alcohol consumption. Moderate consumption, meaning one drink for women or two for men, can actually have many health benefits. Some research has even shown that some alcohols can actually contribute to long-term bone health.
8. Quit Smoking
One vice that research has shown to have basically no benefits is smoking. The negatives of smoking are countless, and negatively impacting your bone density is just a part of it. As we have shown, the absorption of calcium is key to healthy bones, and smoking prevents that.
Smoking even in moderation can harm your body and your bone density. For that reason, it is important to avoid smoking as much as possible for your overall health.
9. Eat Meat (But Not Too Much)
Our average bone is made up of about 50% protein. This means that our bodies need protein in order to regenerate our bones and keep them healthy. Protein has many other health benefits including keeping our red blood cell counts high.
Some experts have warned, though, that too much protein leads to the acidity in our bodies growing far too much. This, in turn, makes it so that our body has to use calcium to counteract this acidity instead of using it to strengthen our bones. So, when you eat meat, make sure to balance it out with milk or limit your intake for healthy bones.
10. Keep Your Weight In Check
One of the most damning factors for our long-term bone health is our weight. Being around a healthy weight for your body is key for your bone health.
Too much weight and your bones could suffer from the stress of your weight and lead to more fractures.
But, too little weight is not great. Too little weight implies a lack of nutrition and possible lack of calcium and other necessary vitamins. Be sure to constantly exercise and eat healthy to keep your weight in check.
How to Ensure Healthy Bones In the Future
Having healthy bones is a challenge to many of us, but it is something we can prepare for now. If you want to keep your bones healthy and avoid osteoporosis in the long run, be sure to follow the tips above.
For more health and fitness tips like these check out our other articles!