Do you want to have strong and healthy bones? Maintaining your bone health throughout your life (no matter how young you are) is important for a healthy body as you age.
Bones won’t always stay as strong as they are when you’re young. Building bone density as early (and consistently) as possible is the key. Do you know how to build strong bones that will stay sturdy throughout your lifetime?
We want to give you some advice. There are plenty of things that you can do to help. You might already be doing some of them!
Keep reading for our top tips for building bone density and increasing your bone health.
1. Do Resistance And Weight Training
One of the best ways to build and maintain your bone health is to start up a routine of reasonable weight training.
No one needs you to be a bodybuilder, but keeping your bones functional by making them complete difficult tasks is a great way to build them up and maintain their strength!
Be gentle with yourself as you get started. Even bodyweight exercises are great for early strength training and you don’t want to break a bone while you’re learning how to strengthen bones!
Younger humans (basically until you’re done growing) can benefit from this the most. Weight-bearing exercises help children grow strong and sturdy bones, but they also help adults to maintain this strength. These exercises build bone density, strength, and size regardless of age.
If you’re worried about bone loss with age, strength training can help.
2. Eat Enough
Dieting is in, and while it doesn’t hurt to do brief diets to help maintain a healthy body weight, keeping your calorie consumption too low can be detrimental to your overall health and bone density.
If you drop your calorie consumption to below 1,000 calories per day, you’re putting yourself at risk. You can lose muscle mass, feel extra weakness or fatigue, and even damage the health of your bones.
Even if you are overweight or obese, it’s important to lose weight in a healthy way using a proper calorie deficit (and maybe some of that strength training we just mentioned!).
Starvation diets are never the answer. They’ll hurt your heart, your metabolism, and your bone density.
3. Maintain a Healthy Weight
This might seem confusing when you pair it with point number 2, but stay with us.
Maintaining a healthy and stable weight is a great way to keep your bones strong and stable.
Crash dieting (like the starvation diet) confuses your body. While weight gain and loss are normal in a fluctuating body, if these gains and losses are too extreme it can be hard for your body to keep up.
A healthy weight doesn’t mean a thin one, either. While an athletic body is better-suited to maintaining good bone health, a thin body doesn’t have this advantage as you grow older. A healthy weight (not too far over or under the “average”) is key.
People who are too far underweight or too far overweight have more problems with their bone health.
It’s best to be in the “healthy” range for your height and body type, or even a few pounds over as you age. Being underweight isn’t a big deal when you’re young, but as you age and lose bone density naturally, you want to keep a healthy layer of fat.
4. Get Your Daily Calcium
Everyone has heard it from the time they were young: milk is good for your health.
While this isn’t entirely true (the health benefits vs problems of cow’s milk are up in the air), it’s true that a calcium-rich diet is one of the keys to strong bones. You can learn more here about dairy-based calcium supplements if you’re on board with the dairy but don’t like milk.
There are also vegan-friendly calcium sources for those who avoid animal products altogether. Leafy vegetables, pulses, tofu, and fortified plant milks are great calcium sources.
Calcium keeps your bones strong, so don’t neglect it.
5. Get Your Vitamin D
Vitamin D is crucial for everything. It helps you maintain your mental health, it’s good for cognition, and it helps your body absorb calcium.
People who don’t get enough vitamin D are more likely to suffer from weaker bones or poorer bone density.
There’s an argument to be made that this could be caused by the fact that these people aren’t spending as much time outside helping their bones get stronger, but it may also be the lack of the vitamin alone.
Vitamin D can be absorbed through sunlight. Doing your daily exercise outside is a great way to do 2 jobs at once. If that isn’t enough, consider a supplement to help.
6. Don’t Neglect Protein
Protein makes up the building blocks of your body. It’s an important building block of your bones, making up nearly half of your bone mass.
The concept of “enough” protein is debated. It depends on your body type, lifestyle, and other factors. Eating too much protein may lead to your bones being harmed. Try to eat your daily recommended amount of protein and go up from there.
High protein diets are great for weight loss, muscle growth, and preventing any important bone loss. When you’re dieting, the goal is to remove fat. Eating protein will make sure that you aren’t losing other essential parts or functions.
7. Omega 3 Fatty Acids are Key
A lot of people don’t get enough omega 3s in their diet. Those who eat plenty of seafood don’t have this problem, but other sources are less abundant.
Omega 3 fatty acids are great for your skin and brain, but they’re also good for your bone health. You can buy fish oil supplements if you’re worried that you’re not getting enough.
For the vegetarians and vegans out there, algae oil supplements may be just as good. Plant-based omega 3s have shown results on bone health as well!
Building Bone Density Is a Gift for Future You
If you want to maintain good bone health, building bone density as you age is crucial. Avoid breaks and bone loss by maintaining good health and getting in enough exercise.
Many of these suggestions are for good health in general! Your increased bone strength is just a happy side effect of getting healthier.
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