If you think osteoporosis is the realm of the aging female, it’s time to think again. It used to be thought that menopause was the switch that started the decline of skeletal well being, but recent years have revealed a much more complex story.
It is true that declining hormonal support, particularly estrogen, increases the risk of losing bone density, but so many more metabolic shifts impact how strong our bones remain.
How strong our bones are as we hit adulthood depends on how much we demanded of them prior to about age 30. Those were the years that we “put money in the bank” of our bone density. Running, playing sports, climbing trees, and otherwise tugging on our bones told them to be strong. As busy lives take over and activities slow down, we slow down our bone deposits too.
Often not taken into account is that men suffer from osteoporosis too. In this age of taking medications to block digestive acid, which is necessary to create the environment to absorb minerals, we have seen an uptick in male as well as female osteoporosis and at younger ages…folk in their 50s as opposed to 70s and 80s.
Another equal opportunity offender is stress. When we live a high stress lifestyle, the constantly elevated cortisol interrupts bone turnover and we withdraw more than we deposit.
There are many roads to osteoporosis. It is a silent disease. It might be time to have a DEXA study of your bone density done. Make a plan to keep your bones strong as you move forward with your healthy lifestyle.
Already diagnosed with osteoporosis? Let’s make sure you are not currently losing bone- there’s a lab test for that too.
If you need help with appropriate exercises and diet or lifestyle tweaks, we are here to help you!