3 Best Practices for Strengthening Your Bones After 40

By the numbers, about 10 million Americans have osteoporosis, and another 44 million have low bone density. Unfortunately for the fairer sex, this collective bone loss tends to occur far more in women — one in two older women breaks a bone due to bone loss compared to one in four men.

Though these numbers paint a gloomy picture for women, we want to emphasize a more positive take — you can do things to beef up your bones and avoid osteoporosis, and the sooner you act, the better.

So, if you’re in your 40s, now’s a great time to preemptively address bone loss, and the team at Bay Area Physicians for Women’s Health has you covered with these three great strategies. Moreover, these best practices apply to all women as they get older and approach menopause.

Support bone health with calcium and vitamin D

During your 20s, 30s, and 40s, your bones hit a sort of status quo — the rate at which they break down is the same at which they rebuild. 

When you hit your 50s, however, bone resorption starts to outpace bone remodeling. For women, this imbalance is more acute as menopause hits and reproductive hormones plummet. As a result, up to 20% of bone loss in women can occur during the first years of menopause.

So, it’s a great idea to make sure that your bones are strong ahead of time with enough calcium and vitamin D — calcium builds strong bones, and vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium.

You should be getting about 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day, which you can get through supplements and/or foods, such as dairy products and calcium-fortified foods.

For vitamin D, we want you to get about 400-800 international units per day, which you can get through supplements or by getting out in the sun (food isn’t a great source of vitamin D). When your body is exposed to the sun, it creates and stores this critical vitamin, and you only need about 10 minutes of exposure per day. 

Keep bones strong through exercise

Another excellent way to keep your bones strong is through exercise, especially weight-bearing and strengthening exercises. Your bones are living tissue, and they respond to demand, so when you exercise and do strength training, you’re placing stress and tension on these hard tissues that your body registers. 

So, if you’re in your 40s, we can’t stress enough how adding weight-bearing and strengthening exercises to your daily regimen can make a big difference for your bone health as you head into your 50s.

Craft a program that combines weight-bearing exercise — hiking and climbing stairs, for example — with strength training, such as lifting weights.

Curb those vices

As you look ahead to your 50s and beyond, it’s a good idea to look at some of your vices now, and by vices, we mean smoking and drinking alcohol. To start, you should quit smoking (or vaping) for a wide array of reasons. including the fact that it greatly speeds up bone loss.

Drinking alcohol can also slow down bone growth, so we suggest that you cut down on booze to boost bone health.

If you have more questions about how to prevent osteoporosis and bone loss as you age, we’re here to help. We can sit down with you and develop a more personalized plan. To get that ball rolling, please contact our office in Mobile, Alabama, to schedule an appointment today.