Tips to Strengthen Your Bones

Sure, most of those signs are par for the course. However you might not understand that a few of them really stem from menopause—a life transition marked by the tip of menstruation.

Probably the most talked-about menopause symptoms are usually temper swings, hot flashes, and vaginal dryness—all largely because of shifts in hormones—however do you know your bones will be affected, too? Extra particularly, your bone density can decline throughout menopause, and like different signs, there isn’t any telling how long it will last.

Fortunately, there are methods to keep your bones healthy and robust throughout menopause, a few of which will be began lengthy earlier than you even enter this post-menses interval. Learn on to study extra from an OB/GYN skilled.

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Why your bone density modifications throughout menopause

Your bone density begins to lower when estrogen ranges dip throughout menopause, says Lauren Streicher, MD, an OB/GYN and founding father of the Northwestern Drugs Heart for Sexual Drugs and Menopause.

“Your bones are loaded with hormone receptors and are depending on estrogen to each construct new bone and stop the breakdown of previous bone,” she says. “When estrogen ranges decline, that course of will get disrupted. The result’s bone that is decrease in density, extra fragile, and extra more likely to fracture.”

As much as 20 % of this bone loss occurs throughout the first 5 years of menopause, per the Cleveland Clinic, which regularly begins between the ages of 45 and 55. Although some folks can undergo it earlier (age 40 or youthful) because of genetics, a elimination of the ovaries (which regularly occurs with a hysterectomy), or different types of medically induced menopause, per The North American Menopause Society.

“When estrogen ranges decline, and bone constructing is disrupted, the result’s bone that has a decrease density, is extra fragile, and is extra more likely to fracture.”—Lauren Streicher, MD, OB/GYN

How menopause can negatively have an effect on bone well being

The hormone fluctuations that occur throughout menopause can result in a situation known as osteoporosis—a illness that slowly weakens your bones, placing them in danger for fracture and breaks, per Penn Medicine.

Anybody can get osteoporosis, however “the lack of estrogen makes ladies 5 occasions extra probably than males to have osteoporosis,” says Dr. Streicher. “It’s because males’s bones proceed to be protected by testosterone.”

Over time, osteoporosis could make your bones weaker, extra fragile, and extra liable to breaks. It additionally typically goes undetected till you may have a sudden fracture—often in your again or hips—which is why it is typically known as a “silent illness,” in accordance with Dr. Streicher. And simply because it is common (affecting about 10 million ladies within the U.S. alone, per Dr. Streicher), does not imply it comes with out threat.

“If osteoporosis is superior, you might discover a loss in peak or again ache, however most individuals with low bone mass or osteoporosis don’t know they’re in danger for a probably life-changing or deadly fracture,” says Dr. Streicher.

Deaths from hip fractures alone are uncommon as of late, particularly with all of the technological developments in drugs, however one February 2014 evaluate in Acta Otrhopaedica (which collected information from 30 years’ price of randomized managed trials) discovered that the one-year loss of life charge after a surgically handled hip fracture nonetheless sits at about 21 %.

The easiest way you possibly can decide your threat? Get a bone density evaluation—also referred to as a DEXA scan.

“A DEXA scan measures bone density in your hips, backbone, and typically your forearm,” says Dr. Streicher. “To find out your true threat of fracture, it is also essential to maintain different threat components in thoughts, comparable to age, smoking, steroid use, arthritis, and household historical past.”

The very best time to get your first DEXA screening will largely rely in your threat components, however ought to occur no later than age 65, provides Dr. Streicher.

4 methods to make your bones stronger throughout menopause

There isn’t any assure you possibly can utterly skirt the results of bone density loss throughout menopause. However there are steps you possibly can take (both throughout or effectively earlier than you attain menopause) to assist maintain your bones as wholesome and robust as potential. Listed here are some methods to attempt, in accordance with Dr. Streicher:

1. Do weight-bearing workout routines

Any kind of train that places wholesome quantities of stress on our bones and muscle tissues will help sluggish bone loss, and even spur the expansion of recent bone, per Harvard Health Publishing. That is known as weight-bearing train, and it entails utilizing your physique weight and/or exterior weights (like dumbbells) to immediately work the bones in your legs, hips, and decrease backbone, per the Mayo Clinic.

Some examples of those bone-strengthening exercises embrace strolling, dancing, jogging, strength training, and resistance coaching. These workout routines produce other well being advantages, too, like bettering blood circulation and heart health, in accordance with the Mayo Clinic.

A superb rule of thumb: Purpose to get at the very least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity train per week, together with two days of muscle-strengthening exercise, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

2. Eat meals excessive in calcium and vitamin D

The phrase, “you might be what you eat” exists for a cause. For instance, in order for you sturdy, wholesome bones, your weight-reduction plan ought to embrace meals to mirror that. Among the finest vitamins for bone well being is calcium—a vital micronutrient to maintain your bones, coronary heart, and muscle tissues wholesome, per the Mayo Clinic.

Calcium is particularly essential for folks going by way of menopause when your threat of bone loss will increase. That is why Dr. Streicher recommends increasing your calcium intake throughout this time—to take care of bone well being and assist construct new bone. Whereas adults beneath 50 want about 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day, adults 50 and older want about 1,200 milligrams, per the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

As a result of our our bodies can’t produce calcium on their very own, it is essential to ensure you’re getting sufficient by way of the meals you eat. Some meals excessive in calcium embrace the next:

• Milk or fortified soy milk
• Cheese
• Yogurt
• Dark leafy greens, like kale or spinach
• Soybeans
• Calcium-fortified tofu
• Beans

Sure, calcium is the principle bone-building nutrient, however there are others you possibly can (and will) incorporate, too. Vitamin D, for instance, helps your physique take in calcium and regulates blood ranges of calcium and phosphorus, each of that are wanted to construct bone, in accordance with Harvard Health Publishing.

Bother is, it may be powerful to get sufficient vitamin D from meals alone (there aren’t many good sources on the market). And whereas your physique could make the nutrient from solar publicity, absorbing too many UV rays places you in danger for pores and skin most cancers. With all that in thoughts, think about taking a vitamin D complement, says Dr. Streicher.

And naturally, when you’re uncertain how a lot calcium and vitamin D you want per day, speak to your physician, who can supply some steering and advocate high quality dietary supplements.

3. Stop smoking and restrict alcohol

Tobacco and alcohol negatively have an effect on our our bodies in some ways—bone well being included. Each substances can improve your threat of growing osteoporosis.

A January 2022 meta-analysis within the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health discovered that heavy alcohol use was related to osteoporosis. Researchers additionally discovered that extreme alcohol interfered with individuals’ capability to soak up calcium, triggered hormone deficiencies, and elevated the danger of falling (which may result in fractures and breaks). Heavy consuming, on this case, usually means greater than eight drinks per week, in accordance with the CDC.

Smoking or use of any tobacco merchandise also can negatively have an effect on your bone well being by decreasing your bone density and contributing to bone loss, says Dr. Streicher. Smoking may even contribute to early menopause, rushing up bone loss and resulting in osteoporosis, in accordance with an August 2017 research within the American Journal of Epidemiology.

When you need assistance quitting, attain out to your physician, or search for smoking cessation and alcohol reduction applications on-line and in your native space. Organizations just like the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism additionally supply an inventory of locations to search out and get assist.

4. Attempt medicines or hormone remedy

In case your physician considers you “excessive threat” for osteoporosis, and the approach to life modifications you’ve got made aren’t serving to, remedies like remedy or hormone remedy might be good choices for you.

“Hormone remedy or remedy with a SERM (selective estrogen receptor modulator) will assist maintain low bone density from progressing to osteoporosis,” says Dr. Streicher. “As soon as somebody has osteoporosis, there are additionally quite a lot of medicines that can lower fracture threat.”

Widespread remedy choices for bone loss throughout menopause embrace the next, per Dr. Streicher:

• Raloxifene: A non-hormonal remedy that treats low bone mass
• Bisphosphonates: Medicine prescribed to decelerate bone loss
• Injectable medicines

You could remember that hormone remedy will help ease hot flashes throughout menopause, however you might not have recognized it may well profit your bones, too, provides Dr. Streicher. Actually, “hormone remedy is a confirmed technique to deal with low bone mass and stop osteoporosis, and its use might improve bone density by as a lot as 5 %.”

When to see a physician

It is pure to have slight modifications in your bone density throughout menopause and as you age. But when it is affecting your high quality of life, it should not be ignored.

For this reason Dr. Streicher recommends getting a bone density take a look at (DEXA scan) out of your physician earlier than you attain menopause, or at the very least previous to noticeable modifications in your bone well being—like sudden fractures.

Discuss to your physician about the most effective time to get this take a look at. You could want one sooner than age 65 relying in your threat components, whether or not you are in menopause, and when you have signs like ache and soreness.

—medically reviewed by Andrea Braden, MD, OB/GYN