There is a ton of information flying around the internet about menopause. It can be chock-full of advice and products that promise to mitigate, slow, and even reverse the march of time and inevitable ‘change’ that all women face as we move into our 40s and 50s. It’s confusing. It’s overwhelming. Plus, it’s hard for the average person to separate the science from the sales pitch.
Still, there’s an essential change in a woman’s health that occurs because of menopause that is rarely talked about.
The number one risk to women’s health as we age, especially as we approach menopause, is declining bone density.
The Science: Estrogen and Bone Cells Work Together
There are approximately 42 billion bone cells in the average adult human body. 42 billion! And each of these bone cells has a complex partner attached to it called an estrogen receptor.
Estrogen receptors are proteins found either inside or on the surface of a cell that bind to the sex hormone estrogen. Once bound together, that estrogen provides information that influences that cell’s growth and overall functionality. Your sex hormones play a huge role in the development of cells and cell functions in all systems in your body.
In the case of bone cell development, the key cells that make up bone tissue and help bones regrow and heal are osteoblasts. As women age, especially in menopause, their bodies produce less estrogen. This drop in estrogen production doesn’t just throw your mood swings into overdrive; it also has an effect on your body’s ability to produce and regulate osteoblasts.
Your bones produce fewer of these essential cells, making them more porous. Porous bones mean higher fragility and a higher risk of developing osteoporosis. A high risk of osteoporosis means a higher risk of fractures, broken bones, and loss of joint mobility.
Why Osteoporosis Prevention is Important
For women, osteoporosis prevention or, at least, slowed development, is essential to preserving their overall health. Weaker bones don’t just mean a heightened risk of fractures. They can also make it harder to support muscle, resulting in loss of muscle mass and a significantly reduced metabolism. Osteoporosis, muscle loss, and foundational instability in the body become a self-fulfilling cycle of decline.
This means that, in tandem with osteoporosis, the depletion of muscle mass can make it easier for you to develop metabolic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease.
But, the inverse is also true: a healthy lifestyle of muscle building, functional exercise, whole foods, and regular medical check-ins for hormone health can completely alter the cycle and instead send you on a path to longevity, not decline.
3 Key Prevention Habits To Start Now
Suffice it to say, taking preventative measures to protect your bone health now is crucial to reducing the risk of serious injuries later on in life. As women, we need to start implementing healthy habits into our daily routines to help us lessen the impact of bone density loss and keep our foundational health strong.
But what are the major contributing factors to maintaining healthy bones? Exercise, diet, and nutritional supplements.
Exercise: Weight Training and Resistance Bands
It’s common knowledge that consistent exercise can help you maintain a healthy weight and a healthy heart, but how does bone health come into play with exercise?
When you flex your muscles, the action puts tension on your bones. The repeated motion of relaxing and contracting muscles naturally pulls on your bones. This action sends a signal to your bone and muscle cells to regenerate in order to sustain the increased load you’re putting on them.
So, to engage your muscles and create the necessary tension to produce osteoblasts, there are a few exercises you can incorporate into your workout regimen.
Lifting Weights
Strength training is key to maintaining your overall health, from musculature to heart health, and yes, to bone health. Adding weights to your daily exercise routine can help you strengthen muscles and bones, leading to healthier bone density and better mobility.
What kinds of weight-lifting exercises should you introduce and incorporate into your routine?
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Weighted Squats
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Deadlifts
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Weighted Lunges
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Bicep Curls
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Overhead Presses
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Tricep Extensions
Like with all strength training exercises, it’s best to start off with light weights before you progress to heavier weights. Start with 3 sets of 10 reps, build from there by adding 5 more reps every week. Focus on engaging your muscles and relaxing them, feeling the full pull and release through your major muscle groups and tendons.
If you want a good starting point for a new weight training routine, check out the Revolution Motherhood Strengthen Program for an in-depth look at how we’ll activate and build your strength through carefully crafted cross-training together!
Body Weight Exercises
Another great way to get in some quick strength training without having to grab the weights is full-body weight exercises. You can use your natural body weight to help activate and engage muscles while creating consistent tension on your bones. Through body weight exercises, you can engage in a quick 30 minutes of exercise while maintaining a strong activation of your key muscle groups.
What are some go-to body weight exercises that you can do in a quick workout?
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Squats - with focus on glute and thigh contractions
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Planks - held for increasing amounts of time
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Push Ups - triceps and full
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Mountain Climbers
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Single Leg Lunges
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Back extensions and sit-ups
Each of these exercises will help you engage key muscle groups and place good tension on your bones, joints, and ligaments. Check out my 10-minute core sculpt workout for some of my personal favorite exercises to target bone and muscle health!
Resistance Bands Exercises
If you don’t have dumbbells but you don’t want to just do 50 bodyweight squats and call it a day, resistance band exercises are a great way to support bone health, too! Resistance bands can help you effectively engage muscles and quickly move from one move to the next. Keeping your workouts diverse helps your mind-muscle connections stay alert, which is essential for long-term functionality, while also keeping your workouts interesting and fun!
Some of my favorite resistance band exercises include:
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Hamstring Extensions
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Side Leg and Glute Lifts
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Lunges
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Shoulder Rotations for back and chest mobility
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Lat and Rohmboid Contractions for postural strength
Each of these moves can help you really tap into that feeling of tension and release, activate your muscles, and help stimulate bone cell growth.
Nutrition: Get Enough Calcium & Vitamin D
While exercise is the number one way to support bone health, it’s incomplete without enough nutritional value from your diet. The two most important nutrients to help contribute to the health of bone tissue are calcium and vitamin D.
Each of these nutrients plays a specific role in bone cell development. Calcium is the nutrient that actually strengthens bones and gives them their hardness. Vitamin D is the nutrient that helps the body absorb calcium and distribute it to the bones. With these combined nutrients, your body can absorb the raw materials it needs to add to its density and maintain the structural integrity of your bones. When it comes to supplements, I suggest starting with whole foods and then adding supplements.
So, what foods can you eat on a consistent basis to help supply your body with calcium and vitamin D?
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Milk (even dairy alternatives)
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Tofu
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Yogurt
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Cheeses
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Fish (sardines, salmon, tuna)
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Nuts and seeds (hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts)
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Leafy greens (kale and swiss chard)
Remember that nutrition is about balance. Listen to your body and how you feel as much as to the numbers. By incorporating these foods into your diet on a regular basis, you can help better support bone health as you age.
Supplements: Vitamin K Is Your Super Ally
Of course, diets rich in calcium and vitamin D aren’t enough to help properly distribute these nutrients to your bones. Just because you are ingesting the right nutrients doesn’t mean your body is absorbing and using everything effectively. To help your body absorb these nutrients effectively, you need Vitamin K.
Vitamin K is a vitamin primarily known for being an aid in blood coagulation, but it has significant cardiovascular and bone health benefits. When taken with vitamin D and calcium, Vitamin K actually helps prevent your arteries from having calcium deposits build up inside them. It helps keep calcium on the right track and passes it through the bloodstream into the bones.
Without this necessary partnership among these three major nutrients, your bones cannot adequately absorb the raw materials they need to maintain their structure and strength.
Put Your Health First with Preparation and Knowledge
Educated, consistent, and persistent action that evolves with you over a lifetime is key to your long-term, functional health. It’s incumbent upon us to advocate for our health concerns and take the proper steps to ensure we preserve our health as we age. A strong community with reliable sources of information, listening to your body, and asking questions keeps us all growing and working together to improve the quality of health and life for women everywhere
With the power of knowledge, consistent habits, and the willpower to put ourselves and our health first, we can keep thriving well into our later years.