8th Mar, 2021

Women’s Day » Health and Fitness » How to Keep Your Bones Strong

Bone Health in Women – How to Keep Your Bones Strong at Every Age

One important thing that you need to pay heed to, if you are a woman is your bone health! There is a reason why a woman needs to be little more attentive towards her bone health than a man of the same age. A woman's bones are smaller and thinner than that of a man and particularly after 30s, when you start approaching closure towards menopause, your ovaries start producing lesser estrogen that results in breaking down your bone cells.

It has been found that almost about half of the sponge like tissues that are responsible to fill the gap between the long bones called as trabecular bone, get lost. Women therefore are more prone towards deterioration in bone health. But, fortunately there are some ways by which you can fight this loss and live happily ever. One important thing to notice here is that women who are in active state for 47% of their adult life possess higher bone mass density than those woman who are less active.

Here are some ways by which you can enhance the bone density in your body and feel sound and healthy….

1. You must be aware of your Family history


A woman with a family history of poor none healthy is more prone to develop the condition. A person who has someone in her family who had suffered from osteoporosis is more prone to develop the condition.

2. Need to increase Consumption of Calcium


Calcium is very significant for the proper growth of bones and teeth and so whenever it's about your bone health, working on calcium intake is very important. It's also important in [proper functioning of the muscles, blood pressure control and hormone secretion.

Some Good source of calcium include

  • Yogurt
  • Cheese
  • Milk
  • Spinach
  • Collard green

3. Increase your Vitamin D intake

You must not forget vitamin D if you are talking about calcium as the tow of these nutrients work well together. You must include vitamin D rich items in your diet and at regular intervals keep testing the level of vitamin D in your body. While food is one source, regular exposure to Sun can also add on to the level of vitamin D in your body. Expose your body for 10-15 minutes for 3 days in a week and that will do. You may also opt for supplements.

Source of Vitamin D

  • Shrimp
  • Fortified foods like cereal and orange juice
  • Sardines
  • Eggs (in the yolks)
  • Tuna

4. Increase your Vitamin K intake

While vitamin K is mostly known for helping in blood clotting, it also helps in productions of important protein for enhancing the health of bones. Experiments have also proved that both vitamin D and K work wonders when are present together. While vitamin D stimulates the absorption of calcium in the body, vitamin K helps in reducing the amount of calcium excreted from the body.

Good Sources of Vitamin K

  • Kale
  • Broccoli
  • Swiss chard
  • Spinach

5. Increase the Potassium intake

Potassium directly does not help in helping with the bone health nevertheless it helps muscles and nerves to communicate properly and also in removing waste from the body. But, it's recommended for a great bone health as it helps in neutralizing the acids that actually are responsible for draining about calcium from the body.

Sources of Potassium

  • Sweet potatoes
  • White potatoes (with the skin on)
  • Yogurt
  • Bananas

6. Exercising should be in your Priority List

Not only the issues related to your bone health but you can keep a number of issues at bay if you follow the exercising rule. Keeping yourself inactive for most of the day can cause you to suffer from osteoporosis. It has been found that the bone density in college going girls is quite less than athletes of similar age group.

Effective Exercises for women's Bone health

  • Weight-bearing exercises
  • Running
  • Walking
  • Jumping rope
  • Skiing
  • Stair climbing

7. Keep Check on Caffeine Consumption

While caffeine consumption has some health benefits but consume more than two cups of coffee every day reduce the power of your body to absorb calcium. It negatively interacts with Vitamin D accelerating bone loss inside a woman's body. So, you need to be careful!

8. Need to quit fantasizing about becoming astronauts

The long hours of weightlessness and surviving on low calcium diets, often times, astronauts have to suffer from osteoporosis. While on a mission an astronaut can lose 1 to 2cent of their bones density per month. But, the great news is that pro per consumption of vitamin K can make up for the deterioration in bone health more than Vitamin D and calcium.

9. Avoid excessive consumption of Alcohol

Excessive consumption of Alcohol can be bad for the health of your bones! You don't need to abandon it completely but you can just have one drink per day if you are a woman and two drink per day if you are a male. But, excessive intake of alcohol can cause it to interfere with the Vitamin D.

10. Smoking is bad for Bone Health

Many researches and experiments have established that smoking can cause a loss in the ability of the bones to grow properly and thereby it decreases the mass of bones in the body. So, one must keep check on your smoking habits for a good bone health.