As bones are in a constant state of rebuilding, when it become porous they would lose its strength in supporting our body structures. And hence the danger here is facing bones fracture incident.

A young person with strong resilient bones, who experiences a simple broken or fractured bone will heal fairly quickly. However, an older person who experiences a Hip fracture ( which is a common occurrence among seniors with osteoporosis ), could find that he has crossed the threshold into disability and worse.

More often than not, many people have the wrong idea thinking that osteoporosis is a woman’s disease. While it could be true that women can be at higher risk of bone loss during ( and after ) menopause, men also are commonly afflicted.

While genetics could plays a role in the development of osteoporosis, there’s a lot that you can actually do now to improve your chances of having a strong, flexible bones when moving into old age. More commonly, these are :-

1. Boost your calcium and vitamin D intake.

Calcium is a mineral used in a wide variety in our body functions. If you’re not getting sufficient calcium from your diet, your body will begin to break down the calcium in your bones to use it elsewhere.

Vitamin D helps your body both absorb calcium and deposit it into the bones. Many medical studies have demonstrated that adequate amounts of both calcium mineral and vitamin D will improve bone mineral density. Adequate vitamin D in daily dietary intake is important to preserve bone strength.

Our skin actually makes vitamin D when exposed to ultraviolet rays of the sun. Unfortunately, many of us do not get sufficient vitamin D from either sunlight or dietary sources, so it may be important to consider adding a supplement to your diet.

Some of the best sources of calcium are low-fat and non fat dairy products like yogurt, sardines, broccoli, fortified soymilk and soy foods, cereals and much more.

2. Resistance exercise to preserve bone strength.

Resistance training and weight-bearing exercise like walking would certainly helps to stimulate new bone formation. It also helps preserves lean body mass , which also helps to keep your weight scale in-check. Exercise in general and soft type, example “Tai Chi” , could helps to enhances flexibility.

3. Don’t forget your Vitamin K

Vitamin K, is being recognized as an important player in the promotion of bone strength. There has been research showing that when a person who took vitamin K supplements, along with vitamin D, zinc, calcium, and magnesium, had significantly less bone loss after three years compared with others who took either a placebo or the same supplements minus the vitamin K.

Currently, common recommended dose for vitamin K is 9o mcg (micrograms) a day for women, and 120 mcg a day for men. Vitamin K is particularly abundant in spinach, other sources include cabbage too.

4. Potassium – Bone Booster.

Research has shown that people who get a good supply of potassium experience less bone loss than others who do not. As potassium is readily available in many fruits and vegetables, we should have no problem to reach daily healthy intake of potassium of 8,000 mg . For knowledge, a single potato has 940 mg of potassium, and a banana contains 490 mg !

5. Watch Your Caffeine Consumption.

It is well known that excessive amounts of caffeine can affect bone strength, as it increases the amount of calcium excreted in the urine. Limit your daily coffee consumption ! Don’t forget that soda contain caffeine as well as phosphates, which tend to pull calcium from the bones.

While many people love coffee, and some consider it a must for daily intake, you should consider adding some non fat milk, or low-fat milk, or calcium-fortified soymilk to your coffee. This could helps to counteract adverse effects of the caffeine.

SunBlock

Perhaps one of the most talked about topic during summer time is Sun Screen Protection ! Nevertheless, even we had done our works in such protection, our lovely tender skin has eventually being damaged by the hot sun, one way or another. Way so ?!

Under the hot summer, our skin is actually under great test ! Let’s carefully look thru some of the below general knowledge and details :-

What do us really need to get protection from ?

In actual, we need to beware of the UVA area ! The long wave ultraviolet ray. This is the main culprit that really could damage the lipin and the collagen . UVA may penetrate the corium layer, causes the skin to tan, and accelerates skin aging activities.

UVB area ( the midwave ultraviolet ray ) – it may penetrate the skin’s corium layer, causes our skin gets burnt, red spot. But UVB could be shielded by clothes and glass.

Choosing the Right Protection for Various Skin Types

Do note that different skin nature requires different product in sun’s protection. That is, everyone might require different application for sun protection.

• Oily Skin Type – Advisable to choose water based sun protection lotion as it could helps to penetrate and better absorb by oily skin.
• Dry Skin Type – Choose Cream based for sun protection, which provide strong application.
• Natural/Mixed Skin Type  – Choose lotion based sun screen protection.

Getting the Right SPF Value

In general, when the SPF value is higher, it gives higher level in protection. In general, under normal weather condition, SPF8 to 12 would be suitable for normal skin type. For those who needs higher level f sun protection, choose SPF30 sun block lotion ;  For those with skin allergy, SPF value of 12 to 20 is more suitable.

Selecting the Right Protection with PA value

By now we should know, it is not only getting the right SPF value in sun block protection.  Because SPF can only defend our skin against the U-VB ultraviolet ray, which is only 1% ultraviolet rays.

The real major damages come from U-VA which could harms our elastic fiber rapidly, and causes the aging problem. To protect our skin against UVA, we should be looking for products with UVA “PA+”  indication.

For those going for swimming, it is wise to get sun block with not only SPF30+ value, but also with PA+++ indication. This would give you the best protection so far.

It is already known that those most common reasons we deteriorate into wrinkles, age spots, eye bags, getting flabby, illness and so on, are still coming down to genetics, environmental factors, disease, and the aging process itself. So, what are the odds that any human being on earth being able to defy the aging process ? Well, nobody does ( for now for sure ! ). But we can do something about it ! But all is not lost, those smart scientists also discover that there are some possibilities to influence or maybe slowing down the aging process, by having the correct vitamins and minerals mix.

The affecting cause that aging process seems possibly been ignited by lifelong damaging of our body cells on many stages. The damages are caused by those harmful molecules, which called as ‘free radical’ by scientists. Apart from external environmental factors ( such as smoking ), these nasty free radical are also being produced by our own body, during the metabolism process that convert carbohydrates and fat into energy that are required to power our body cells. Thus, there is totally no way to avoid it.

Natural and Synthetic Antioxidants

Although our body does produce antioxidants to neutralize those free radical that causes damages to our cell, our body does not produce just enough to handle them. So, how much do you actually need ? That’s depending on what it takes to strike a balance between it. Unfortunately, so far scientists has yet to come to know of the ideal balance for it. Thus, the best bet we can do right now is to consume a variety of antioxidants foods.

Meanwhile, we do have another option in boosting our natural antioxidants with those of synthetic antioxidants -> Supplements !

Does that means that we could actually slow down or even prevent aging ? Well, nobody knows for sure right now. But laboratory studies do shows that antioxidants supplements seem to be able to reduce damages caused by free radical. Consuming more nutritious diet as we age is important in helping us reduce the risk of disease that accelerate aging process.

The exact amount of vitamins and minerals that required to slow down aging process is really still unknown. However, taking good source of Vitamin C ,  Vitamin E , Multivitamin , and Minerals are our best bet to fight aging process while awaiting our smart scientists to discover the right formula.

Though the majority of age spots are just harmless blemishes, there are still potential of getting into early stage of skin cancer . That said, if you do notice any of the spot enlarge, getting thickens, change in color, bleeds, feeling itchy and so on, it is strongly advisable to consult doctor.

Protection with Vitamin C

Although there is no magical ingredient that could just fade those annoying age spots, there are few that can help in boosting up your skin healthy level. For one, Vitamin C is one of the most well-known sunblock vitamin. In general, Vitamin C is important in keeping the skin younger and vibrant. A daily intake of Vitamin C of about 300~500 mg ( milligrams ) would certainly help in maintaining skin youthfulness.

Under sun exposure, free radical are natural occurring unstable molecules that could harm your skin. For some serious situation, it cold even cause significant damages. Vitamin C, being one of Antioxidants, could help in neutralizing those harmful free radicals. Further, since Vitamin C could prevent those skin damages from sun exposures, it is also believe that it could help to reduce wrinkle and age spots.

Sources of Vitamin C
Fresh vegetables and fruits, such as broccoli, cabbage, pineapples, cauliflower, lemon, citrus fruits, collard greens, strawberries, green and red peppers, brussel sprouts.

Prevention with Vitamin E

Another common antioxidant – Vitamin E , also helps in preventing sun damages that bring age spots. Vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin that protects your cell membranes against those harmful free radicals. Researches shows that the natural Vitamin E oil , if applied before sun exposure, does helps in preventing inflammations and skin damages.

Such Vitamin E oil can be easily bought over the counter in your local drug store, example, Vitamin E fortified creams. It is also shown that if oil or creams that contains at least 5% of Vitamin E, it could be effective in reducing post sun damages.

Healthy dietary sources of Vitamin E

Spinach, corn, avocados, wheat germ, eggs, soybeans, nuts, polyunsaturated vegetable oil, and of course the sunflower seeds. A daily intake of 400IU of Vitamin E is recommended by most.

Recommendations

Oral Intakes :-

• Vitamin C  ( 300~500 milligrams daily )  ;
• Vitamin E  ( 400 IU daily – d-alpha-tocopherol )

External Application :-

• Vitamin C  ( 10% ~ 17% in lotion , depending on skin type)  ;
• Vitamin E  ( at least 5% in cream or oil, to apply after exposure under sun )