WELLBEING
Our quality of life and ability to enjoy all the activities we love is dependent on good health and fundamental to this is building strong muscle and bone, as Lisa de Silva explains
STRENGTH& BONES T
o enjoy a good quality of life forming cells, improving bone walking, swimming, water and to be able to enjoy all mineral density. Calcium is aerobics, cycling, dancing and the activities we love, good the main mineral found tennis are all excellent ways to health, particularly bone in bones and as old bone build and maintain strength. health, is a necessity. This is especially cells constantly break Specifically, resistance and true as we age, as maintaining our down and regenerate, weight training can help strength and bone health, gives us the increase muscle mass and freedom to enjoy an active life, while protect against bone loss. Try Bone and muscle are also protecting us from injury. body weight exercises like lunges, Bone and muscle are both living squats and push ups, or using a both living tissue tissue that require good nutrition resistance band or free weights. that require and regular physical activity to stay good nutrition strong and healthy. Both weaken with MAINTAINING A inactivity, which causes a loss in muscle HEALTHY WEIGHT and bone mass. Specifically, this puts One W of the best weapons against L E A R N H O T O us at increased risk of osteoporosis and it’s important to loss of muscle and bone density is to MA S I M E , fragile bones, while more generally, consumeK calciumE maintain aP healthyL and stable weight. weakened muscles reduce our capacity on a daily basis. Those with low body weight risk reduced PL E A S U R A BLE to go about our daily lives with ease. Good sources include green leafy bone density, this is particularly true Thankfully, keeping ourC bones Hvegetables, dairy products andE cheese. S for post-menopausal women. Similarly, A N G T H A T and muscles strong and healthy simply High quality protein also helps to build being overweight impairs bone quality W LL R Eincluding S U T Ifractures N involves some basic nutrition andI lifestyle and maintain body tissue, andL increases the risk of owing A habits. Here are our top four tips. muscle and bone. Aim for around 100 to the body’s stress of carrying excess H E A L T H W E as Iweight G grams a day, balanced with Y plenty weight. However, loss isH linked T NUTRITION of plant foods. reduced bone density, it’s important Y OU Cto A N A high intake of vitamin-packed not to yo-yo diet. Instead, aim to M A I N T A I N Fand O R vegetables will help to increase the PHYSICAL ACTIVITY maintain a healthy stable weight. production of boneFor optimal muscle and bone L I F E strength, it’s important to SUPPLEMENTATION keep as active as possible. While it is always better to get nutrition General activities like from food sources, there are some vitamins and minerals where this is not always possible. Vitamin D helps the body to absorb calcium through exposure to the sun and is important for a m e s s a ge t o f n o gs g strongimuscles andd healthy bones, but u t we may need a supplement during the d a t e s o r s c a n t h e Q R c o winter months. Likewise, magnesium, a n i n t e r e s t rand e q u zinc collagen can all help ine the s t quest to keep bone and muscle mass n g@m i d s u s s e x . g o 0 healthy andv strong..l u k August 2021 | SUSSEX LIVING 99
