How You Can Prevent Osteoporosis In The Long Term!
If you want to prevent osteoporosis, then you should think long-term and don’t start with preventive care when you are old!
In order to be able to prevent osteoporosis in the long term, you have to start early. It is never too late to change your eating habits and lifestyle habits, but with osteoporosis you have to think long-term and not “overnight”.
Long-term prevention of osteoporosis is the only thing that makes sense
If you want to prevent osteoporosis in the long term , then yesterday was the perfect day to start. Not everyone has it in old age because there are things you can do preventively to reduce your risk of osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones that slowly creeps into your body and is often only noticed when it is too late, the first bone is broken and the bone substance has already been irreversibly damaged. In popular parlance, osteoporosis is also called “bone loss”, which is what is in the name of what happens: the bone lacks more and more substance and becomes porous.
In osteoporosis, the composition and structure of the bone tissue change, so that the bone loses more and more of its stability and flexibility. This can result in broken bones with occasionally higher everyday stress or even slight falls. It can happen that lifting a heavy object leads to a fracture of the spine!
So what can you do to prevent osteoporosis?
Eat right
Bones are not only made of lime, as you might think, that would make them very brittle and we would break our bones much more often! Components that we can influence through our diet include: collagen, calcium and magnesium. If these components are contained in the right amount in the bone, it is stable, but at the same time flexible and can support our body as a “scaffold”.
In osteoporosis, for example, gelatine can ensure that the bones remain more elastic, reduce the risk of a bone fracture and help reduce pain. If you want to prevent osteoporosis in the long term, you should pay attention to vitamin C for collagen formation, calcium and magnesium.
Look for calcium in your diet
Our mother already told us that calcium is important for healthy bones, to convince us to drink milk. But you don’t have to eat cow’s milk products to get calcium! Whole grain products, broccoli, kale or almonds are healthy, delicious sources of calcium! If you buy mineral water, look for a high calcium value there too!
Enjoy the sunlight
Milk alone cannot strengthen bones, because calcium can only be built into our bones if vitamin D3 is available as an “installation aid”. It is artificially added to some dairy products, but your body can produce it itself if you provide it with UV light, for example during a lunch walk in the fresh air or a cafe on the balcony .
If you are a “chronic couch potato” and cannot keep your face and arms in the sun for at least 20 minutes every day, you should think about an additional dose of vitamin D in the form of tablets together with your doctor. He will also use a blood test to determine how your supply of the “sun vitamin” is doing.
Sunlight is a simple and free way to prevent osteoporosis in the long term.
Move
Regular exercise protects against degeneration of muscles, bones and joints! Light exposure to pressure promotes stable bone mass. Movement keeps muscles (or builds them up) and keeps joints flexible. So: after a healthy meal, go for a digestive walk!
Quit smoking
You may not be able to hear it if you smoke, but smoking is damaging your health by promoting inflammation, increasing your risk of cancer, aging you faster, damaging your self-healing powers, and doing so much more to make your health more unstable than theirs from non-smokers.
Cigarette smoke (and of course that of other tobacco as well) also damages the bone substance and is therefore a serious risk factor for osteoporosis.
Watch out for medication
With regard to the risk of osteoporosis, you should critically examine all medication that you have to take over a long period of time together with your doctor, because many medications increase the risk of developing osteoporosis! These include, in particular, means that have to be taken long-term, such as some:
- Antidepressants
- Heartburn remedies
- cortisone
Discuss with your doctor whether there are alternative medications or whether you can achieve success with another therapy. Once osteoporosis has moved in with you, it has signed the lease of your life, because it is incurable! So start preventing osteoporosis in the long term today!