May 07, 2019
It’s easy to overlook bone health since we can’t see the condition of our bones. They’re just quietly there, inside, doing their job. We don’t really notice them unless something goes wrong. But by the time something goes wrong, our bones may already be feeling the effects of years of neglect. And you may not even realize how your bones have been affected by your everyday lifestyle.
Here are six ways to boost your bone health every day, starting now:
The salt you consume breaks down into sodium and chloride, which is an acid. When you consume more chloride than your kidneys can remove, your body draws mineral content from your bones to help neutralize that excess acid. The result can be weaker, brittle bones – osteoporosis.
Putting away the salt shaker at home is a good first step, but keep in mind that processed, pre-packaged, and restaurant foods are the largest sources of sodium in most diets.
Exercise doesn’t only strengthen your muscles; it also strengthens your bones. The results may not be as visible, but they are just as important for your health. The best exercises for bone health are weight-bearing and resistance exercises. Weight bearing exercise is any exercise that forces you to work against gravity, using your own weight - walking, jogging, racquet sports, tai-chi, and dancing are good examples. Strength training – working against resistance – also helps stimulate bone growth. Have you heard that astronauts loose bone density when they spend extended time in space? It’s because they don’t do any weight bearing activity.
Vitamin D is actually a hormone and our bodies need vitamin D in order to absorb calcium and phosphorus, which are essential to our bones. And we just happen to have a built-in vitamin D factory in our skin; when our skin is exposed to sunlight, it makes vitamin D.
10-30 minutes of sunlight three times per week may be enough exposure for lighter-skinned people. Darker skinned people may need more due to their higher levels of melanin, which protects their skin from the sun’s rays.
All people need to be concerned about skin cancer, no matter their skin color. So it is important to balance your vitamin D sun-basking with skin protection. If you’re going to be in the sun longer than the 10-30 minutes needed for vitamin D production, it’s wise to take precautions against sunburn. Supplementing with vitamin D is also effective and might help avoid overexposure to the sun.
Alcohol and tobacco use have both been tied to loss of bone mineral density, which can lead to osteoporosis. Alcohol can keep your body from absorbing calcium, and smokers don’t form new bone tissue as well as non-smokers. Some studies have even tied bone loss to the caffeine and phosphorous in sodas (especially cola).
Limiting your intake of alcohol and of soda to maybe one drink per day can improve your body’s ability to maintain your bone health. But there is no safe level of tobacco intake. If you smoke, quitting tobacco can be one of the most important steps you take for your bone and overall health.
Overweight people tend to have a lower bone density in relation to their weight, putting them at risk for fractures. On the other hand, underweight people tend to have a greater risk of bone loss and fracture. Exercise and a healthy diet can help maintain both a healthy weight and build stronger bones.
A general guideline is the adult body mass index (BMI). A healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 25. Over 25 is overweight, while under 18.5 is underweight.
With a busy lifestyle, it can be difficult to get enough of what your bones need to stay strong and healthy from food alone. It can be especially hard to get enough vitamin D if you work indoors, live in an area with seasons of limited sunlight, or take the recommended precautions against skin cancer.
You can also support better bone health by taking a high quality-marine collagen supplement. DeepMarine collagen can help to build bone mass because collagen peptides help the osteoblast cells produce more bone tissue. The osteoblasts are the cells in your body’s that generate new bone tissue and when you support them with DeepMarine’s collagen peptides, they do a better job at creating more bone tissue. This helps you improve your bone mineral density and have strong and more resilient bones.
DeepMarine is 100% made-in-Canada which means that you are assured the highest quality of raw materials and production that meets the worlds strictest health and safety standards.
Do right by your bones and they will do right by you.