Naturally, bones themselves break down and rebuild on a daily basis.
Once women enter into their 30s, building of the bone outweighs breakdown and begins to lose bone density.
Most research maintains that not only the estrogen hormone and calcium are responsible for bone loss, but also various other factors that lead to bone loss during menopause.
Within 5-7 years after the last menstrual period, your bone loss slows down.
The most concerning part is a few years before and a few years after the last menstrual period; during this period, there are a lot of things you can do to preserve the bone health.
Tips to preserve bone health after menopause
Nutrition must be the first priority:
You can increase the nutrition quality through various methods. One is taking high quality supplements to preserve bone health. Mainly focus on nutrition that increases vitamin D and vitamin K levels.
Vitamin D: Vitamin D is essential to absorb the calcium in your intestines and to metabolize calcium. Vitamin D plays a great role during menopause. Decreased estrogen levels during menopause cause increased production of parathyroid hormone, which again leads to bone breakdown.
Consumption of adequate vitamin D levels limits the production of parathyroid hormone, which in turn limits bone breakdown.
Vitamin K: Vitamin K plays a great role in the production of bone protein known as osteocalcin. Enough vitamin K limits the amount of calcium excreted in the urine.
Vitamin K helps to maintain bone mineral density, lowers the risk of fracture, and reduces bone breakdown. Insufficient vitamin K levels can lead to ovary removal.
Balancing the hormones:
Decreased estrogen levels are the main cause of bone loss after menopause. Estrogen preserves calcium in your body by increasing the ability to absorb, prevents bone breakdown by limiting parathyroid hormone and stimulates osteoprotegerin, which is a strong inhibitor of bone resorption. Due to these reasons, most women want to seek hormone replacement therapy.
Preserving and building the muscle mass:
Muscle mass gradually decreases as you age. So, it is essential to put an ongoing effort into maintaining the muscle mass. For this, it is important to exercise before and after menopause stage.
Practicing intense strength training routine helps most of the women to regain bone as they build muscle. Studies showed that with strength training routine, women in early post-menopause can gain bone mineral density. Aerobic activity three times a week for 30 minutes can effectively prevent bone loss.
Reducing emotional and physical stress
During any hormonal transition such as puberty, pregnancy, or menopause, our bodies undergo huge physical stress. Emotional stress that adds to these transitions can cause a great burden.
Emotional stress causes a high production of the cortisol hormone, which leads to raised cell death in the bone-building osteoblast cells.
Cortisone hormone weakens your bones and causes various other health issues if they exist for several years. It is therefore essential to include stress reduction techniques in your life.
Decreasing inflammation and improving digestion:
Inflammation is another factor which influences bone loss. Inflammation occurs when your body reacts to a situation that needs activation of your immune system. Immune cells are the main reason behind autoimmune disorders like arthritis or diabetes.
There are various ways that help to lower inflammation. For this, it is better to start with gastrointestinal problems, as treating an irritated GI tract can reverse the inflammation.
