We tend to think of bones like rocks: hard things that don’t really have a life of their own. But bones are living tissue, just like every other in the body. Your skeleton completely replaces itself every seven years or so, like other cells. And when you cut into it, it bleeds, thanks to the network of blood vessels that runs through it, supplying it with nutrients.
As a culture, though, we don’t think a lot about our bone health. We assume that they will continue working as they always have. But without the proper care, they won’t. And that can lead to all sorts of postural problems in the future.
In this post, we take a look at some of the things that you can do to keep your bones healthy. Check them out below.
Get Plenty Of Vitamin D
When it comes to bone health, vitamin D is critical. The body uses it to absorb calcium, a major constituent of your bones. Without it, your bones can’t form properly, and you can feel extremely tired.
Getting enough vitamin D, however, is challenging for a lot of people. Also known as the “sunshine vitamin,” we make vitamin D in our skin, following exposure to natural sunlight. So few of us spend time outside, though, that the skin doesn’t have time to make what we need, and we wind up going without.
You don’t have to be outside, though, to get vitamin D. The safest approach is to take a supplement.
Don’t Eat Extremely Low-Calorie Diets
Extremely low-calorie diets – those less than 1,000 calories per day – are negative for bone health. That’s because the body starts cannibalizing bone tissue to get the nutrients that it needs.
If you are losing weight, only subject yourself to low-calorie days sparingly.
Visit Your Chiro
Visiting a chiropractor is an opportunity to check if there are any obvious problems with your body. They can ensure that your bones align and that you have proper posture.
Having improper posture won’t make much of a difference in how you stand and walk in the short-term. But it can make a difference in the long-run, especially if you stoop a lot. Solving the problem early is, as ever, the best policy.
Take Collagen
While research is relatively new, evidence suggests that taking collagen can massively improve your bone health. That’s because collagen is one of the main proteins in bones, also called gelatin.
People have been taking collagen for a long time as a supplement. But the best way to get it is to incentivize your body to create more of it by eating fruits and veggies.
Keep Your Weight Stable
Eating a healthy diet is important for bone health, but so too is maintaining a stable weight. Being too light and too heavy can negatively affect your bone structure.
Low body weight, for instance, can lead to reduced bone density which makes you more susceptible to fractures as you age. Losing and regaining weight also seems to be harmful to bone health since many people do not regain any lost bone after shedding pounds, and then gaining back all their old weight.
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