Spring is the perfect time to start a new healthy habit. Everything is coming alive in nature and our energy levels are ready to soar! In earlier blogs, I asked you to carve out 5 mins daily to introduce a new exercise to help you get stronger quicker. Time being the biggest blocker to self-motivation.
Now we're in spring with renewed purpose, see how effective a 30min twice weekly targeted exercise program can be to your health and wellbeing. It can be done first thing in the morning or last thing at night (depending on whether you are a lark or owl) as pilates is a mind-body form of exercise.
If bones have weakened slowly over many years, making them fragile, a fall or sudden impact will cause a bone to break (fracture). This is usually the first sign of this silent condition called osteoporosis.
What is Osteoporosis?
Brittle and fragile bones that can break easily. Imagine a step ladder with horizontal struts and vertical struts that support you as you climb up. Now visualise a ladder with only vertical struts making the ladder unstable, susceptible to a compressive force. This weakening affects the honeycomb bone structure of bone in the neck of the femur (hip), wrist and vertebral bodies of the spine. Fractures can often happen in the upper back (thoracic) but these can't be scanned like the low back. A diagnosis comes from a Dexa scan.
Who can have osteopenia or osteoporosis?
Many people can be affected, men and women, the young, the old, as you can see in the list below:
Ballet dancers
Children with eating disorders
Athletes
Women with early menopause (breast cancer)
Women over 45: by age 51 if bone mass is low, the massive decline in oestrogen in women can lead to clinical levels of osteopenia and osteoporosis.
After the age of 60, 1 in 3 people in the UK will have a fracture.
Men: By age 71, men experience a big drop in the hormone testosterone which can lead to a higher risk of osteoporosis and fractures.
Osteoporotic mothers have osteoporotic daughters
How can we prevent osteoporosis?
The good news is that there are many natural ways to help prevent osteoporosis from nutrition, to more sunshine and a specific exercise regime to strengthen your bones.
Children need to build up a bone bank with high intensity exercise in sunshine age 9-13
Healthy eating habits e.g. dark green leafy vegetables, bananas, citric fruit, nuts/pulses and fish to avoid obesity
Vitamin D from the sun for 20mins a day without sunscreen
Adults: Weight bearing exercise like running/hill walking x 3-5 /week.
Adults: Resistance exercise like pilates 30-60mins x 2/week. If you need convincing, listen to Michael Mosley Practise Pilates.
Older adults: moderate intensity exercise like walking 30-60mins/day and resistance exercise like pilates x 2/week, balance and flexibility daily
New healthy habit
Why not try out my healthy bones course, one of the most relevant and functional courses I teach. It serves all populations - the young (prevent weakening of bones), the sporty (better movement & performance), the mid-lifers (support hormonal changes for women & help prevent injury for the "mamils") and the seniors (fall prevention). Bones start to lose density from the age of 35 so it is wise to pre-empt this by starting your new pilates program by your early 30s.
The program runs for 8 weeks with two classes online a week, accessible by signing up to my online video subscription with 7 days free.
Flexible access |£10.50/month or £100/year.
Remember - just 30mins twice a week for healthy bones! Good luck!