Understanding Your Bone Mineral Density

In this episode of the Nine to Five Wellness Podcast, we're diving into the often overlooked topic of bone health.

You can learn about:

✅ The vital function of bones

✅ The concept of bone remodeling. 

✅ Factors influencing bone density

✅ Modifiable risks like nutrition and physical inactivity 

✅ The significance of DEXA scans 

🎧🎧🎧Tune in to learn practical steps for improving and maintaining your bone health to ensure mobility and independence as you age.

00:00 Introduction to the Nine to Five Wellness Podcast

00:33 The Importance of Bone Health

03:03 Understanding Bone Mineral Density

05:56 Risk Factors for Low Bone Mineral Density

08:21 The Impact of Sedentary Lifestyle on Bone Health

12:22 Exercise and Nutrition for Stronger Bones

14:06 Measuring Bone Mineral Density with DEXA Scan

15:55 Conclusion and Key Takeaways

🌟 🌟 🌟 If you liked this episode and would like to learn more about wellness training and workshops offered by 9 to 5 Wellness, email us at info@aeshathair.com. You can learn more about our programs at: https://toneandstrengthen.com/workshops-trainings/. 🌟 🌟 🌟

My passion is helping organizations create a culture of wellness, and I do this by setting up health programs that prioritize the most important asset they've got – their employees. Cheers to a healthier and happier journey ahead!

🌟 🌟 🌟 You can learn more about ME- the host at https://www.aeshatahir.com

Follow me on IG and LI to learn more

https://www.instagram.com/tone_and_strengthen/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aeshatahir/

Transcript

 Welcome to the Nine to Five Wellness Podcast, a show about corporate wellness solutions with innovators and forward-thinking leaders who are at the forefront of the workplace wellness movement. I'm your host, Aisha here.

 Welcome back to the Nine to five Wellness Podcast. So the topic today is connected to our health. When we often think about our health, we often focus on our heart, our brain, or our waistline. Heart and brain are the major organs we are thinking about, and then waistline for metabolic health, and that's perfectly fine and good, but we really kind of don't pay attention to a very important component of our health, and that is about the structure that's holding our body together.

The invisible foundation, supporting it all. I'm talking about our bones. Bones are like the internal wooden framework of a house. They provide the structural support and shape for the entire body. They protect your internal organs and they enable all the movement in the body. Without this frame, your body would collapse.

So bones themselves are living tissues that contain living cells, have a blood supply, and constantly go through remodeling. The reason I wanna talk about bones today is because the strength of our bones is vital for our mobility and independence as we age. And I have firsthand experience with having poor bone health, not for myself, but for my mom.

My mom had osteoporosis . She is on medication now and she's doing well, but for a very long time. She couldn't move much and she was in a lot of pain because of weak bones. So I can tell you after watching my mom go through a lot of pain and just not being able to move as she would like to. It really takes a toll on your health. So today we are gonna dive into bone health. So let's dig in. I want to start with the basics of bone health, the most important metric of bone health in the field of medicine is bone mineral density.

I'm sure you have heard of this term being thrown around, but what exactly is bone mineral density Simply put? Bone mineral density is a measure of the amount of calcium and other minerals in your bones. If you look at a healthy bone under a microscope, it looks like a dense honeycomb.

A bone with low density has larger holes and is more porous, which makes it weaker and more likely tough fracture. So if you're wondering why is this density so important?

Because our bones are constantly remodeling or turning over, when we lose bone density faster than we can rebuild it, we enter a state called. Osteopenia and if the rate of rebuilding gets very low, then the bones enter a state called osteoporosis, which puts individuals at a very high risk of fracture.

These conditions often progress without any symptoms until a fracture happens. Which can have very serious health consequences, especially in older adults. The goal is to prevent that loss and maintain bone strength throughout our lives.

My patients often ask me. How does rebuilding and losing bones works? So I want to explain that on this podcast. is a very dynamic tissue. We have two main types of cells at work, osteoblasts, which are the builders that create new bone tissue and osteoclast, which break down and reabsorb old bone tissue. Bone cells are like small factories, constantly making new bone tissue. The bone marrow in particular acts like a factory or garden's breeding ground for all types of blood cells.

I.

In a healthy young person, there is a balance cycle between creating new bone tissue and losing old bone. We reach our peak bone mass at around age 30 years. After that, we all start to gradually lose some bone mass. The key is how much bone we banked when we were young, and how fast we lose it later.

We'll talk in depth a little bit later about how we can avoid bone loss. But first I wanna talk about who's at risk for having low bone mineral density. There are a number of factors that can lead to low bone mineral density. Some we can control and some factors we really can't control. So non-modifiable risk factors, which are the risk factors that you can't control are. Gender, women, especially postmenopausal women due to a fall in estrogen levels. They are at a much higher risk than men age. The older you get, the greater the risk. Genetics, family history plays a significant role.

If a parent fractured a hip, your risk is higher.

Race. People who are white or of Asian descent are at a greater risk body frame. People with small, thinner body frames have less bone mass to begin with. Now, there are some modifiable risk factors which we can influence, like nutrition, . A lifelong low intake of calcium and vitamin D can contribute to lower density.

Some lifestyle habits like smoking and excessive alcohol consumption also contribute to weaker bones, certain medical conditions like rheumatoid arthritis or celiac disease and long-term use of certain medications like corticosteroids can also impact bone health.

Lastly, the most important modifiable risk factor, in my opinion, which is physical inactivity is a major risk factor. Yes, a sedentary lifestyle is a major risk factor. Bones need stress from weightbearing exercise to stay strong.

So sedentary behavior is a threat to your bone health. We have all heard that exercise is good for us, but the lack of movement, especially prolonged sitting, is a significant risk factor for conditions like osteoporosis and potentially life altering fractures down the line. I wanna dig deeper into sedentary behavior because as an exercise physiologist, I believe this is one of the key ways that we can promote bone renewal. The lack of movement, especially prolonged sitting, is a significant risk factor for conditions like osteoporosis and potentially life altering fractures down the line. So how exactly does sitting on a couch watching an entire season of friends weakens your bones?

The best I can explain this mechanism is with Wolf's law, a fundamental principle in bone biology. This law essentially states that bone adapts to the loads it endures, when you walk, run, jump or lift weights, your muscles contract and they pull on your bones. So the impact with the ground generates mechanical stress. These factors are like a signal to your bone cells, specifically specialized cells within your bones called osteocytes.

They sense this mechanical stimulation. When they detect these signals, they essentially turn on the osteoblasts, telling them to ramp up bone formation and deposit more calcium and minerals, making your bones denser and stronger. This is why weight, weight-bearing exercise is so vital for maintaining or increasing bone mineral density.

Now let's look at the flip side. What happens when that mechanical stimulation is absent? When you are sedentary for long periods like sitting at a desk all day or prolonged bedrest, those crucial mechanical signals vanish. The Osteocytes, stop sending the build message. The osteoblasts slow down their activity while the osteoclasts keep operating at their normal pace. The result, bone breakdown, outpaces bone growth.

This uncoupling between bone formation. Resorption leads to a net loss of bone mass and density, making the skeleton weaker and more brittle over time. This is often referred to as disuse, osteoporosis. Think of it like a bank account. With regular activity, you're making consistent deposits to keep your balance high.

With a sedentary lifestyle, you stop depositing money. Keep making withdrawals. That means eventually your account is going to go into the negative. That's trouble. Now, what's the evidence for this mechanism? Well, it's pretty strong. Studies on astronauts in space, a truly weightless and sedentary environment show they can lose about 1% of bone density in their weight-bearing bones every single month if they don't follow a rigorous exercise protocol.

Similarly. Though less rapid effects are seen with prolonged bedrest on the planet Earth too high sedentary time is consistently linked to lower bone mineral density and an increased risk of fractures, especially in the hips, legs, and spine. What's more, a sedentary lifestyle often goes hand in hand with muscle loss, which further increases the risk of falls and subsequent fractures.

So.

So make sure that you incorporate more movement into your routine for healthier bones. It's never too late. To start making a change.

Weightlifting or resistance training is definitely the way to go to build.

Especially with multi-joint functional lifts like back squats, deadlifts, and bench press, because these movements place stress on bones, which stimulates the creation of new, stronger bone tissue through a process called bone remodeling. When muscles pull on bones during these exercises, it causes microscopic deformation that signals bone building cells.

Which are the osteoblasts, we talked about them earlier, to deposit new minerals. This response makes bones denser and stronger over time. So the specific amount of stress required to trigger this response is called osteogenic loading, and it's the key to increasing bone density through exercise. Of course exercise is important, but we cannot underestimate nutrition, either ensure that you're taking in adequate calcium and vitamin D.

Good sources of calcium include dairy products, dark leafy greens and fortified foods. Vitamin D helps your bone absorb that calcium, so make sure that you are supplementing. Vitamin D with that calcium. You can get it from fortified milk, fatty fish, and some sunshine. But many people need supplements to get enough because we don't get enough days of sunshine .

So talk to your healthcare provider about the right dosage for you. So how can you know your bone mineral density? If that's one of the questions popping in your head, you're right on, because of course you need to measure it, right?

You have to have a way to quantify it. And for that we use. A scan called DEXA scan. It's the gold standard for measuring your bone mineral density and it's quick and painless.

DEXA stands for dual energy x-ray absorb geometry. It's a special type of x-ray that measures the mineral content in specific areas, usually your hip spine and the wrist. You can listen to my previous episode on that topic for more details on DEXA scan. The results are given as a T score.

A T score between zero and minus one is considered normal. A score between minus one and minus 2.5 indicates osteopenia and a score of minus 2.5 or lower is consider. Osteoporosis. Now, DEXA scan is recommended for all women aged 65 and older, but I feel like that's too late. You should get tested sooner because your chances of improving your bone mineral density are way better when you're younger. I often see young male patients in their twenties with low bone mineral density, which is primarily due to a sedentary lifestyle.

So get tested sooner, like around age 30, so that you can start working on rebuilding your bones if your bone mineral density happens to be low. I want to wrap up today's episode with the key takeaway that bone health is important. Get screened early. Provide your bones with the mechanical stress they need.

So stand up, take a walk right now. If you're sitting in front of your computer, do some body weight exercises or with proper guidance, try some higher impact activities like weight lifting and running, or any type of impactful cardio. Any type of or any kind or any kind of impactful cardio, you can protect your mobility and independence for decades to come.

I hope you learned about bone health today. I believe knowledge is power. So that's all for today. I'll catch up with you guys next time. Bye.

 If you like this show today, please share it with your friends and family members and don't forget to subscribe to our show so that you can get fresh episodes every week.