General practitioner Ann Robinson gives the Guardian seven tips to combat bone weakness.
Walk briskly for 10 minutes three times a day
Exercise that involves weight bearing on the bones keeps the bones strong. Ideally, exercise should include a mix of activities such as walking and running as well as weight-bearing exercises such as push-ups, swimming and weight lifting. Adults and people aged between 19 and 64 should exercise at least 150 minutes once a week in the previously mentioned way.
Don't smoke, especially when you're young
Smoking affects the cells involved in building bones, especially in people under the age of 30 since they are still building bone mass at that time. Smokers are at greater risk of developing osteoporosis, and smokers are likely to be thinner than non-smokers, so they don't have enough muscle mass and fat to cushion the fall that can lead to a fracture. After menopause, the eggs stop producing estrogen, so it's good to have some fat deposits since they produce some estrogen.
Don't be too thin
Of course, no one says that you should be overweight, but light people and people with a small build initially have less bone mass and break bones more easily. Each additional weight loss reduces the force that needs to be applied to the bone to break it.
Hormone therapy helps
Women are four times more likely to suffer from osteoporosis. This is because, as already mentioned, their estrogen levels drop after menopause. Hormone therapy can help maintain stronger bones and can prevent fractures that occur due to weak bones.
You don't need to take extra calcium, but consider vitamin D
A balanced diet must contain 700 milligrams of calcium per day to replace old bone with new. If you are not in the group of people who are at risk of osteoporosis, you do not need to add calcium to your diet. Also, it is better to take calcium through food and not through tablets, but this does not apply to people who suffer from, for example, Crohn's disease, since it prevents adequate absorption of calcium from food.
On the other hand, a person must take 10 micrograms of vitamin D into his body every day. Since we get 90 percent of that amount from the sun, people who for one reason or another do not expose their bodies to the sun's rays should reach for vitamin D in tablet form. . It is recommended that breastfed children and all children under the age of four take vitamin D. Children over the age of five and adults should take vitamin D during the winter months.
Move carefully
When your bones are weak, you will break bones more easily, even with seemingly benign blows to the floor. Elderly people who fall and break a hip can very easily lose their independence. In addition, any fall can damage the spine of a person with weak bones. It is therefore recommended that you inspect the homes of all family members and friends who are of weaker constitution and install auxiliary fences wherever possible.
Familiarize yourself with the risks
There is a high chance that you will get osteoporosis if you are older, female, of weaker constitution, immobile, if you have broken bones before, if you smoke, if you drink a lot of alcohol or take steroids for rheumatoid arthritis. To find out if you are at risk of osteoporosis, you can ask your general practitioner to send you for a bone density test, Steele reports.
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