Carrying out weight-bearing exercises, including running, can significantly increase your bone density. However, if you run too much, it may reduce your bone mineral content and increase your health risk.
When you carry out weight-bearing exercise, your muscles can help your body bear the stress of activity by pulling the bones. On the contrary, this traction promotes the increase of bone mineral density. If you increase the bone density at an early age, you can greatly reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
Besides running, common weight-bearing activities include climbing stairs, walking, boating, low-impact aerobic dance and dancing, which are all good choices.
According to the latest data, the number and intensity of weight-bearing exercise and the impact of using body parts will have a direct impact on the increase of bone mineral density.
The effects of low-impact exercise include the least physical impact caused by walking, the least loss of bone mineral density, or even no change. On the other hand, rowing can obviously increase bone density, but only in the lower spine. Compared with boating, running seems to produce higher bone density, and other options, such as cycling or swimming, are especially helpful to the health of leg bones.
How much should I run every week? Studies have pointed out that moderate running will have the most favorable impact on bone health.
Runners who run 20-30 kilometers a week usually belong to this healthy type. However, runners who often exceed the above activities will permanently increase the level of cortisol in the blood, which is an adrenal hormone and harmful to bone health. In fact, athletes who run 90 kilometers a week have lower bone density than those who don't exercise at all.
Running 20-30 kilometers a week can effectively prevent osteoporosis.
4 Adjust your daily routine As time goes by, your body will gradually adapt to the pressure of running or other weight-bearing activities, and the increase of bone density will gradually decrease.
In order to avoid this influence, it is suggested that the weekly activity can be gradually increased until the maximum beneficial level is reached.
In order to increase the bone density of other parts of the body, you can combine running with other weight-bearing exercises. Once you establish an exercise program and change it every two to four weeks, it can help your body bring new beneficial stress and help to improve bone density.
If you already have osteoporosis, it is recommended to choose low-intensity exercise and consult a doctor of related majors before starting exercise.