How to Get (and Keep) Strong Bones

I have written about why exercise is essential for bone growth before but it is such an important subject, I think it is worth repeating. And this time, to set the stage for us, I asked Dr. Marc Bubbs, a previous guest on the Get-Fit Guy podcast, to fill us in on why this is so important. 

Dr. Marc Bubbs, ND, MSc, CISSN, CSCS just published a new book called Peak 40: The New Science of Mid-Life Health for a Leaner, Stronger Body and a Sharper Mind and in it, he covers many issues like bone density and gives a clear prescription of all of them. 

Mid-life and our bones

Mid-Life is a really important time to start thinking about what you can do to support your bone health. And it's not an obvious time, because the loss of bone density is a silent condition (we don't feel bone density loss). 

One in two women and up to one in four men will actually break a bone in their lifetime due to osteoporosis.

It's also important because half of all adults, aged 50 and older, are at risk of breaking a bone, and therefore really need to be thinking about their bone health. One in two women and up to one in four men will actually break a bone in their lifetime due to osteoporosis. We know that for women, that incidence is higher. And it's actually higher than the combination of heart attack, stroke, and breast cancer risk, which makes it a really important topic. The late 30s, 40s, early 50s is the time to implement habits to keep our bones strong so we can continue to perform our favorite sports or activities. 

What is bone loss?

So let's do a quick review here of definitions. What is osteoporosis? Well, let's use the World Health Organization's definition:

“It's a progressive, systemic skeletal disease characterized by low bone mass and micro deterioration of bone tissue, with a consequent increase in bone fragility, and susceptibility to fracture.”

So effectively, we're losing mass in the bone and it's becoming more brittle. And when bone becomes more brittle, you're at a much greater risk of fracture. And that's where things can really start to go wrong. 

Now, a hip fracture is a major, major issue because it's going to derail the quality of your life for anywhere from six months to a year. If you're over the age of 65, then 50% of hip fracture patients struggle to return to the same level of...

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