Tips to keep your bone healthy – Role of bone and muscles in healthy living
A healthy mind resides in a healthy body. Mobility has a very important role to play in healthy living. It not only prevents us from various lifestyle diseases but also keeps our mind healthy.
Walking is the most simplified, cheap and effective way of cardiovascular exercise. During cardiovascular exercises especially brisk walking or jogging, our body releases ENDORPHINS, the feel-good hormone, which induces a sense of well-being.
During our lifetime span, our bones go through a continuous process of old bones being absorbed and new bones replacing the old ones. Striking a balance between the new and old bones dictates our bone health.
Degeneration Regeneration
Degeneration Regeneration
To keep our bones and muscles healthy, there are numerous ways to accomplish this
- Healthy eating habits: There are many popular diet fads we come across in today’s social media active life. Well, it’s all a myth. Awareness about the right mix of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, vital minerals and appropriate calorie consumption is key to a healthy diet. Eating food rich in calcium is one of the best things to strengthen our bones. One should ensure to consume plenty of milk, yoghurt, cheese, broccoli, egg to pack in calcium to our diets. Additionally, our body needs Vitamin D for good absorption of calcium into bones. This can be achieved by eating food fortified with Vitamin D, consuming ghee and butter in a controlled quantity, adequate sun exposure to Vitamin D supplements. Intake of adequate protein like egg, poultry, kidney beans (Rajma), Gram (Chana) and Soya bean helps in maintaining healthy muscles.
- In the Indian population especially people in rural areas, as we grow old, we reduce diet rich in protein, which is catastrophic as it weakens our muscles thus making us prone to frequent injuries.
- In addition to a good diet, it is vital to have an active lifestyle to promote bone health. Weight-bearing exercises such as walking, jogging and aerobics, yoga help to improve our core strength. Joining a gym is not bad but one has to learn to listen to their body. If doing a particular exercise is giving you constant pain then stop and give your body some rest for two to three days. If the pain is getting frequent then one must consult an expert especially an orthopaedic surgeon, Orthopedic Doctors in Lucknow.
- Avoid smoking, consume alcohol in moderation, and refrain from any kind of substance abuse.
- One must consult a doctor, dietician and physiotherapist. What is good for one person may not be good for another; you can trust your doctor for such customization of your lifestyle. A combined approach helps but most importantly it should be under the supervision of a Doctor.
Weakened muscles are unable to maintain a proper posture resulting in frequent falls. Weaker bones thus result in fracture of major or minor bones popularly known as fragility fractures leading to prolonged morbidity.
Prevention is better than cure. Thus incorporating good diet and moderate exercise in our lives can do wonders to our body.
The benefit of diet, exercise extends to a healthy heart, healthy mind, healthy body and decreased the risk of illness.
Dr Gaurav Sharma MBBS, MS
(Consultant, Dept. of Orthopedics)
Divine Heart & Multispecialty Hospital
