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How to Strengthen Bones |
Article Submitted by: peterson bran
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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Bones need calcium and other nutrients to get strong and remain so. Lacking proper nutrition, they can grow soft or weak. Eventually they begin to decay, which can lead to serious problems like fractures, falls, and immobility as we age. As the medical community becomes more knowledgeable about how to protect human bones and keep them working better for longer periods of time, they inform patients about simple but basic lifestyle changes that can have a positive influence on our skeletal framework. Women who exercise regularly and eat calcium-rich foods enter their menopausal years with better bone mass than women who sit a lot and consume calcium-leaching foods (including soy "milk," tofu, coffee, soda pop, alcohol, white flour products, processed meats, nutritional yeast, and bran). But no matter how good your lifestyle choices, bone mass usually decreases during the menopausal years. Weight-bearing exercise in early life helps strengthen bones for later life, and exercising to strengthen muscles also strengthens the bones on which these same muscles attach. Another study showed that professional tennis players' bones in the arm that holds the racquet are much larger and stronger than the bones in the other arm. The arm bones are bigger, denser and stronger in athletes who whose activities involve upper body strength, such as rugby, rock climbing, kayaking, and weight lifting, while leg bone mineral density was highest in athletes whose activities included both running and strength training. Just exercising will not strengthen bones. Female marathon runners who stop menstruating because they do not eat enough food to meet their calorie requirements, develop osteoporosis even when they run more than 100 miles per week. A muscle can only be as strong as the bones on which it attaches. These studies show that people who store fat primarily in their bellies also tend to grow large muscles and have strong bones. High blood levels of insulin make a person store fat primarily in the belly, and call out insulin-like growth factor which causes muscles to grow. Walking for 20 minutes, three times a week, has a protective effect on bones. It also improves muscle control and co-ordination. Try exercise such as jogging, tennis, squash and weight-training three times a week, for an hour or so. As a living tissue, bone responds to changes in force and different loads by growing stronger. Exercise is good for the cardiovascular and respirator system - it improves the circulation of blood throughout the body. Exercise increases your good cholesterol level. Exercise maintains strong and healthy bone and muscle. Bone density and bone mass are increased. Stress and depression reduced. Exercise even helps in getting a good night's sleep. Maintaining lean muscle mass is essential to keeping our bones healthy because this lean muscle puts good stress on our bones that in turn causes them to strengthen or in other words signals the body that our bones are important and need to be maintained. The best way to do this is to incorporate resistance training into your life two or three times a week. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com |
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