Tips to Deal with Osteoporosis
By: Tsou JinyeuTotal Views: 284, Word Count: 532,
Osteoporosis is a disease that makes the bones weak and fragile and more likely to break. It is a silent disease that progresses with age. Women are more prone to osteoporosis than men. Here are few tips to deal with osteoporosis.
Certain Tips to Deal with Osteoporosis
- Diet
Proper diet is essential to deal with osteoporosis. Ensure a diet that is rich in calcium and certain trace minerals. In order to build strong bones, you can have low-fat and skim milk, reduced-fat cheese, and nonfat yogurt.
Green and leafy vegetables contain lots of nutrients and minerals like calcium, vitamin K, potassium etc. These minerals help in blocking the calcium loss from the bones. Eat green vegetables like bok choy, broccoli, swiss chard, kale, and turnip greens.
Fishes are also good sources of calcium and vitamin D. Canned salmon and sardines along with their bones are good for health.
Ensure that your diet includes limited intake of caffeine and protein. An increase in any of these two can make the body excrete calcium more readily.
- Supplements
Calcium supplements are recommended as most of the people don’t get enough of it in their diet. Almost 1,000 mg of calcium is required by a person on a daily basis during midlife. This requirement rises to 1,500 mg to 2,000 mg per day in women after menopause and in men after the age of 65. Only a limited amount of calcium is absorbed by the body at a time, so take supplements in small doses. Also include vitamin D in your supplements for proper absorption of calcium.
- Exercise Plan
Regular exercise is one of the ways to deal with osteoporosis. It stops further weight loss and keeps the body active. Exercise increases bone density, stimulates bone formation, maintains bone mass and increases bone retention of calcium. It is the best way to build bones as you age. The risk of falls and injury gets reduced as regular exercise increases coordination, balance, and muscle strength.
- Lifestyle
Adapt a lifestyle that is healthy. Try to quit smoking as fast as possible if you are a smoker. Survey speaks that any fracture of hip or spine occurring in smokers, take longer time to get healed.
Alcohol prevents the body from calcium absorption. So avoid drinking too much of alcohol. Stress is another factor that contributes a lot in osteoporosis. Depression leads to production of cortisol which is a stress related hormone that drains off the minerals from the bones.
- Medication
Get your bones tested at regular intervals as you move towards aging. The only test to predict facture risk is through bone-density tests. Men and women over 60 years of age must take special care of themselves as the risk of osteoporosis increases at this age. Visit a good doctor regularly and don’t forget to take the prescribed medicines to avoid osteoporosis.
These tips to deal with osteoporosis are very helpful in keeping away the disease. If followed strictly, one can lead a happy and healthy life.
About the Author
Dr. Cuthbert is a well known endocrinologist who has done his graduation from Vassar College – Poughkeepsie in New York and MD from Vanderbilt University Medical School, Nashville. His area of interests are bone densitometry, diabetes and nutrition. Nowdays he is working as a medical endocrinologist at NewYork Presbyterian hospital.
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