China Children's Exercise Bike

How do you spend your later years, once you've retired? I'm sure most people would say, enjoying more time with family, travel, walks in the park and other activities with their spouse.

Unfortunately though, for many people, years later, are tainted with debilitating health problems that prevent them from enjoying their retirement years and all they have worked so hard. The main reason that older people end up not being able to enjoy their retirement years because of the fragility and fractures resulting from a decrease age-related muscle mass and bone.

Osteoporosis is a bone disease that affects men and women, but especially postmenopausal women. Osteoporosis word means "porous bones" - which means porous full of holes. That describes precisely what happens to the bones in the elderly who suffer from osteoporosis.

The reason why menopausal women are especially prone to osteoporosis because the hormone estrogen helps protect bones. Since the ovaries of menopausal and postmenopausal women produce less estrogen, a loss of bone density results. However, this does not mean that men should not be concerned about bone loss and osteoporosis as they age, the disease affects both men.

Here epidemic proportions in China, has reached osteoporosis. Edith Lau, founder and former president of the Osteoporosis Foundation of Hong Kong, said: "Asians are at high risk of osteoporosis. We have low bone density, we do not get a diet rich in calcium as children and we increasingly lead a sedentary lifestyle. China recorded a threefold increase in cases of osteoporosis in the last thirty years. With an aging population, it will be a tremendous burden on family members and the public health system.

The good news is that we are all capable of increasing strength and bone density. The best way to do this is through exercise. However, not every year do the right kind of exercise is essential.

"Weight-bearing" or "carriers" of exercise allows the muscles and tendons pull on bones. The result is that bone cells produce more bone. In the same way as a muscle gets bigger and stronger, the more you use it, a bone becomes stronger and denser when applications are regularly placed on it.

"Weightlifting, including curls and bench presses, is a beneficial activity ... Dancing, stair climbing and walking are all weight bearing exercises, which promote the (good) mechanical stress in the skeletal system, contributing to the development of calcium in bones. Aerobic exercises such as cycling, rowing and swimming do not strengthen bones, "writes Gary Null in aging nuclear.

Interestingly, simply increase your intake of calcium in your diet or supplements is not a guarantee that will get calcium in your bones. To absorb calcium the body needs other nutrients such as magnesium and other vitamins. Exercise, especially weight training, helps the bones retain its calcium. Nutritional biochemist Dr. Neil S. Orenstein Lenox, Massachusetts said, "without considering these effects, no amount of calcium supplementation to prevent osteoporosis." (Longevity by Kathy Keeton, page 120)

In my next article I will discuss this a bit further than regarding the benefits of regular exercise in.