Physical activity and calcium intake – ways to reduce the risk for developing osteoporosis

It is found, that when we make movements, the muscle contraction signals are passed to the skeleton, and the increase of the volume and the strength of the movements signals, in its turn, of the need of osteogenesis enhancement.

Worldwide so far there is a lack of developed and strictly fixed programmes with exercises for bone health prevention. Some basic principles enable everyone of us to create a programme that – in terms of frequency, intensity and exercise type - would suit their age, status and training.

• Due to the fact that the constant and continuous exercising and activities are proved to be stimuli for the bone and the muscle systems, and for other aspects of health, the physical activity and exercises are of crucial significance over the human lifetime.
• The activity of a certain part of the skeleton would have a local osteogeneous effect. In other words, a certain type of exercise does not have total influence on all bones. Nevertheless, every activity affects the bone system better than the lack of activity.
• Only the dynamic activities produce an anabolic effect on the bone tissue. Less powerful activities, but with more repetition, that is to say, applied for a longer time, have the same effect, as more powerful activities with less repetition.
• The bone cells react most strongly to the received deviations from the normal activity, which they undergo. Thus the rarely repeated tasks, at the time of unusual activities, are more likely to stimulate the osteogenesis, than the usual tasks at the time of normal activity. The more unusual the distribution of the tasks in a certain bone section is, the greater its potential is to increase the bone density on this site. The static tasks like standing, no matter how long they are, do not contribute to the bone mass increase.
• The total lack of activity causes bone loss. In the cases, when the immobility is impossible to be avoided (due to illness), even the short antigravitational movements help for the reduction or delay of bone loss.
• The antigravitational exercises of higher intensity (jumps or rope skipping) lead to accumulation of a greater quantity of bone mass than those of moderate or low intensity or stamina exercises (e.g. jogging, weight lifting). However, they also play a role in the enhancement of bone health, as they increase the muscle mass and strength, the balance and coordination of movements.  In the adults they are the perfect prevention of falls. On the other hand, the stamina exercises are of great significance for prevention of obesity, diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases.
• The antigravitational exercises of higher intensity (jumps or rope skipping) do not require long duration – 5-10 minutes a day are enough. In order to achieve the same positive effect on the skeleton longer duration is required, if we perform weight lifting exercises or walking/jogging – 30-40 minutes a day. A major guideline is that this duration needs to be reached progressively, that is to say, in the beginning lighter exercises in shorter time need to be performed (lighter weights, walking) and after that duration and intensity of the tasks are to be increased with no more than 10% a week.
• The physical activity programme that includes exercises of various types (aerobics) has a more distinctive osteogeneous effect than that of some unvaried or regular activities (jogging).
• Children and adolescents should participate in at least 60-minute vigorous physical activity a day.
• The minimum for the adults is 30 minutes daily physical activity of moderate intensity (e.g. jogging).
• Normal daily activity and antigravitational and stamina exercises at least 2 times are enough for prevention of bone health in aged people. Apart from the above mentioned exercises, all other activities are also recommended helping the enhancement of the body balance and the coordination of movements (prevention of falls).
• The cessation of a certain physical activity regime results in reduction of the bone mass and density to the initial level. Due to a lack of motivation or interest, people often stop to participate in programmes of repeated or unvaried exercises. Variety and alteration of different types of exercises are needed for a programme to last longer.  

Calcium as a natural enemy of osteoporosis

Do you know why every one of us needs to take their daily dose of calcium? There are many reasons for that:

• Until the age of 30 our bodies accumulate calcium, and after that we begin to lose it. For this reason it’s important that our organism gets calcium every day.
• The increase of the calcium intake (in dairy products and calcium enriched foods) leads to an increase of the bone accumulation in the years of growth; it maintains bone mass at a mature age and reduces bone loss at an old age.
• The optimal bone health and prevention of osteoporosis and osteoporosis fractures may be guaranteed only with a balanced diet over a lifetime and intake of an adequate amount of calcium.
• In fact, osteoporosis is a disease in which the bones lose their calcium, the skeletal strength and resistance are reduced and the risk of painful, disabling fractures, mostly of the spine, wrist, and the hip increases.
• Of course, calcium plays its most important role in our skeletal system. When its quantity is reduced, the skeletal strength is affected and thus the risk for a fracture increases, even in every day activities – while we are working, traveling or dancing.
• Maybe you know that calcium does wonders against a powerful enemy like osteoporosis. As a logical corollary of the fact that calcium is the key mineral, building the bones, the calcium intake in food is a leading factor determining their strength.
• Calcium is of crucial significance for the health and beauty of hair, teeth and nails.
• But these are not the only benefits from calcium. – Today the medical science has proved that the timely prevention of osteoporosis still in childhood, when the “bank of calcium” for our life is being accumulated in our skeleton, is the most reliable way of prevention of this disease.