Dear Reader,
Did you realize you could die from breaking your hip?
Surprising but true: 25% of people who suffer hip fractures die within a year from complications. It’s a common occurrence, particularly among the elderly. As bone density decreases with age, the risk of bone fracture skyrockets.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Today, I’ll show you how to avoid it altogether.
Part of the old saying “sticks and stones may break my bones” actually has a ring of truth to it. In pre-historic times, our ancestors most likely used sticks and stones to do just that. They broke open bones and ate the marrow now lacking in our modern diet.
And, there were many predators to avoid in order to survive. In our modern world, we’ve succeeded in eliminating those threats. But your body still needs a physical challenge. In fact, inactivity is your new worst enemy.
A new study from Sweden shows just how true this is: Researchers took a look at the habits of over 2,000 aging men over time and found that inactive men were more than one and a half times more likely to break a bone, and more than two and a half times more likely to break a hip.1 This was true even after taking into consideration other factors, such as overall health and diet.
The results of this study send a clear message: exercise is the best way to avoid bone fracture. It’s also the be
st way to turn back your aging clock.Exercise builds muscle mass, increases bone density, and improves balance. The active men in the study performed about three hours of intense activity a week. In other words, they regularly challenged their bodies with physical exertion – the same way our ancestors did.
You should be doing the same thing. Even if your current lifestyle is relatively inactive, you’ll be able to reverse the effects of aging on bone strength dramatically through simple, regular physical activity.
The key is to challenge your heart and lungs to build reserve capacity. You do this by pushing them to their limits. Choose any exercise that’s rigorous enough to make you stop and pant for breath. It could be as simple as going up and down the stairs, jumping rope, or performing traditional calisthenics, like squat thrusts.
Try to increase the challenge a little bit each time. You don’t want to overdo it right away; rather, you want to get progressively stronger over time. What you’re aiming for is to create short bursts of activity that push you to your limit, then give yourself some time to recover, and do it again.
I design conditioning programs for my patients with this goal in mind. My patented PACE© program will show you how to get the maximum benefit without overdoing it.
It’s also key to remember that it’s not just bone strength you’re increasing; you’re also developing muscle mass, which is just as critical to avoiding fractures. Muscle biopsies taken from the men who participated in the Swedish study confirmed this. You need both to keep from breaking bones.
A final note: so called “endurance” training will not produce these results. In fact, long-distance running or other kinds of activity that stress your heart and lungs for long periods of time will make you weaker. Not only that; you’re more likely to suffer injury from strain and overuse injuries.
Our ancestors required the kind of strength that resulted in sudden, explosive power, either to avoid predators or capture prey. Today, we need the same kind of power to conquer a different enemy: weakened bones from inactivity.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
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1 Karl Michaelsson et al, “Leisure Physical Activity and the Risk of Fracture in Men,” Plos Medicine, 4(6):e199.