How To Maintain Strong Bones In Your Senior Years

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Sound advice from West 4 Health & Fitness' Paul Lovelace

As we reach old age osteoporosis becomes a major factor in quality of our later life as there is a decrease in bone density.

Exercise will help.

It is especially vital for women since they lose more than men after menopause because of a decrease in estrogen.

Resistant training at a gym will make your bones stronger, add muscle strength and give you better balance. Broken bones are the leading reason elderly people end up in nursing homes.

Strong bones enable you to have an active and healthy lifestyle that leads to a longer and better quality of life. “Ontario’s McMaster University” found that a year long strength training programme increased the spinal mass of postmenopausal women by 9 percent.

You are never too old to start even just a little exercise will help your long term fitness and a better more independent old age.

An increase in dietary silicon can increase bone mineralisation, according to research from "St Thomas hospital and King's Collage London."

Half a pint of beer provides about 6mg of silicon or 20 per cent of the average daily dietary intake. However, because excessive alcohol consumption can lead to an increase in bone fractures you should get the rest from non-carbonated mineral water, oats, rice and veg

Coffee, tea and carbonated soft drinks can block the body's absorption of calcium, which is crucial to good bone strength. Substitute these drinks with green tea, herbal tea and low fat milk.

Paul Lovelace West 4 Health & Fitness

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May 9, 2011