March 4, 2026 • 32 mins
Why don’t we talk about our bones until something breaks? This week Priyanka and Hari take on osteoporosis, the silent disease that weakens bones long before you feel it. They break down how bones are built, why menopause accelerates bone loss, and what you can do now to protect your skeletal health. They also unpack why osteoporosis is often framed as a women’s issue, even though men are at risk and often overlooked. From hormones to screening gaps to simple prevention strategies, if you have bones, this conversation is for you.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast is for information purposes only and should not
be considered professional medical advice.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Our bones are telling us that's not going to work forever.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I can feel it in my bones.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So either you go out into the sun or you
get supplements. And I'm like, I'll take the supplements, thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
You don't want to get the sunlight.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're not getting me out of my apartment, lady.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
But white fragility is real.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
It's not just about your feelings, literally your bones.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I'm hurry, condibolu.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
I'm doctor preuncle Wally, and.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
This is health stuff. Well, hello there, Hello, how are you, Prianca.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I'm fabulous, I'm feeling good. I'm feeling feeling strong in
the spirit of today's episode. Yes, yes, here's a question.
I have a question for you. Have you have you
ever broken a bone in your life?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
No? No, I have not.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I have never broken It is an experience I've gladly
never had.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah. Yeah, same here, same same here. Very very uh
grateful to not have had that experience. Knock on wood.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Though there was a part of me that was jealous
that the kids with casts got it signed by everyone
in the glass, So there was that there was.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
That element, But like overall, I'm like, yeah, that worth
it though.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
That's so true. I totally remember signing people's casts as well,
and so cool. It was so cool, right, That's such
a good point. My only sort of like things related
to bones that comes to mind actually is my grandmother
had terrible osteoporosis. She was always complaining, you know, she
(01:53):
was like, oh, my back hurts, my back hurts. And
it wasn't until this one time she she got hostile
blized and they did like an X ray of her
belly area so you could see her spine. And I
was probably going to medical school or I was like
get pre med or something along those lines, and I
(02:14):
remember looking at her spine on the X ray and
it looked like a it was like shape like a
question mark, you know, it was so crooked, and it
was osteoporosis like some other things like cayphosis, maybe a
little scoliosis, but it was it was like caused by osteoporosis.
(02:37):
And I remember looking at that and being like wow,
like she wasn't kidding when she was like complaining of
all these aches and pain all the time, Like her
spine is totally totally not straight.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
When older people are doubled over, almost facing the ground
bend over.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Is that because of.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Ostporosis can play but that the what you're talking about
that almost like that hunch hunch. Look, that's that's more cayphosis, okay,
which can happen with aging, But yes, osteoporosis can play
like a significant role in that. And you know, the
reason I think it's so important that we're talking about
this today is actually because people always assume it just
(03:22):
affects women, like people like my grandma. But the reality
is we're actually all at risk for bone loss, men
and women, and that risk increases as we age. I
think men are actually a overlooked population when it comes
to talking about osteoporosis, and they're actually under treated. Yeah,
(03:42):
so yeah, let's talk about bones.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Well, you know, this is before we get into this.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
This is a clear example when people ask that what
does sexism have to do with me? If you're like,
if you're like a man, It's like, well, this is
an example of it. We assume only women get it,
and meanwhile men are suffering too from a disease, and
as a result, you know, they're not getting the treatment
they need basically because of sex and moth. This doesn't
affect me, I should get checked for this.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, And I wonder is it like this inherent idea
that just because of the bias, the idea that men
are stronger, therefore they have bigger bones, therefore this shouldn't
affect them or something. I don't think. But the thing
about men when it comes to osteoporosis, though, is that
even though it's less common in men, it's actually more deadly.
It leads to higher mortality compared to women. Believe it
(04:31):
or not, How does it.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Lead to mortality? Is it from like things breaking? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So, first of all, men over the age of fifty,
they're more likely to break a bone due to osteoporosis.
For example, thirty percent of all hip fractures every year
happen in men. One in three men will die within
the first year following a hip fracture, compared to one
in four women.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Why does that happen?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Because I've heard this for years, like, you know, oh,
they broke a hip and then they died. They broke this,
and then what is it about broken bones that late
in your life that leads to death.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Well, hip fractures in particular have really serious consequences because
number one, you break your hip, you can't walk, so
now you're not independent anymore. Right, Depending on where the
break happens, the marrow inside of the bone can actually
throw a clot and block off your blood supply and
(05:33):
kill you. Right, So that's called a fat embolism that
can happen. Then there's like chronic things. You break your bone,
now you're in chronic pain. Right, your hip fracture. A
lot of times people they fracture their hip, they can
they never get back to their full you know function.
So you know, lowering someone's quality of life can increase
(05:55):
their risk of dying from it. There's a laundry list
of things that can happen when you fracture hip. So,
and hip fracture is the most serious complication of osteoporosis,
but you know you can fracture other things because of osteoporosis,
not just your hip. Right.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, I want to get into a little background on
bone loss before we go a little further. Just yea,
so people know, you know what osteoporosis is, the first
thing you should know is about eighty five to ninety
percent of adult bone mass, that's your peak bone mass
you get by age eighteen and girls and twenty age
twenty and boys. So that's that's when you're at your
(06:33):
at your peak, when you're the dumbest, and when you're
when you know the least that so that it's wasted
on you.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Your peak bone.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Density is heavily influenced by what you would assume it
would be, like heredity, nutrition, hormonal effects in your environment.
But after that peak, there's a decline bone loss, though
can be managed now. Osteoporosis is a bone disease that
makes bones weak, thin, and brittle, and it can happen
to anyone. It develops when your body begins losing bone
(07:03):
mass faster than it can rebuild it, often without symptoms,
until the bone breaks, which is why it's known as
a silent disease, and that's why it significantly increases your
risk of fractures from minor falls or bumps. There's also
a condition called is it osteopenia, Yeah, where your bones
have reduced bone density. When you have osteopenia, your bones
(07:26):
are not as strong as they should be, but they're
not as fragile as they are in osteoporosis, and oftentimes
osteo penia is a precursor to osteoporosis. How long it
takes to develop varies, but those are I think the
two big terms that people are going to need to understand,
you know, in this episode.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, I think what's important here is to know that
you won't necessarily feel that you have osteopenia or osteoporosis.
A lot of times people get this diagnosis when they
get a bone scan. Most people they begin doing bone
scans starting age fifty or later age sixty five. If
(08:06):
you have risk factors though, like at any point in
your life you were put on medications that could accelerate
bone loss, then you need to get a scan earlier, right,
so people won't know that they have it until they
get confirmed through a bone scan.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
What does a bone scan do? What does it look like.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
It's kind of like a specialized X ray that's looking
at your bone density in various parts of your body,
like your spine, your hip, your forearm, and it's it's
almost like an X ray, and they can basically look
at these X rays to see how thin your bones are,
and they give you a score to track your bone loss.
(08:49):
It's called a T score and they assess the T
score like closer to zero means there's no bone loss.
But if you get a negative score, then that means
more more severe bone loss. And so once you get
your baseline and you say, okay, this is where we're at,
then you want to keep checking it on a regular
(09:09):
basis every one to two years, depending on how severe
it is, to see, hey, is this getting worse or
is this staying stable?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
More to come on health stuff.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
You know, when we think about who actually gets osteoporosis,
I just want to create space and remind everyone Women
over the age of fifty have the highest rates of osteoporosis, right,
so they win the award. That's why they typically get
the focus of the disease. And women lose up to
(09:47):
twenty percent of their bone mass in the five to
seven years after menopause. In fact, over half of all
women over the age of fifty will have osteoporosis or
at least low bone mass that includes osteopenia, so that
menopausal change losing estrogen over those years. It's often the
primary driver of female bone loss. But menopause, I want
(10:11):
to be clear, is not the only reason for female
bone loss. If a person breaks their bones, it basically
increases their risk of dying. In fact, a woman's risk
of breaking a hip is equal to her combined risk
of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Wow, Yeah, that's shocking, especially consider you know, we don't
really talk about osteoporosis. And maybe part of that is
it's an age thing, Like maybe because cancer affects a
broader range of ages, people know people who have cancer,
but with osteoporosis, we just don't think about it because
it happens later in life.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Absolutely. I mean, here's the thing about men. Men over
the age of fifty, they're more likely to break a
bone due to osteoporosis than they are to develop prostate cancer.
So and then there's all sorts of complications for breaking
a bone, like a hip fracture and stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
No, men typically experienced significant bone loss and fracture about
a decade later than women.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Is there a reason for that, right?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Right? Exactly. So it's like a double edged sword, right,
because women go through menopause and it's a very sudden,
almost dramatic transition. Right. Menopause happens over a five to
seven year period, and that drop in hormones can be
a driver for developing osteoporosis. Men don't have that right,
(11:41):
Like men's testosterone declines slowly over time, it's like a
gradual decline, so it doesn't show up as dramatically in
men because of just the way the hormones change. But
the crazy part is that eighty percent set of men
who have osteoporosis don't actually know that they have it.
(12:04):
There's around two million men in the US that have osteoporosis,
and one in four of those men over the age
of fifty will have a fracture related to the osteoporosis.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Well, is it also because you know, women will have
their bone density checked because they're maybe seen as more
likely to get osteoporosis, and men won't, Like, is there
no even preventative doctors like see a man like you
should get checked for your bone skin as often as
they would with women.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, So here's the thing. It actually comes back to
the economy and finances. But like insurance like Medicare insurance
covers bone scans for women to be screened for osteoporosis
starting at age sixty five or older. You can do
it younger like if you've had a fracture or maybe
(12:58):
you've been put on steroids. No, not the case with men.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, so that's a huge, huge issue, right because people
aren't going to do tests that aren't covered or for
whatever reason. Like, to me, this is a gap, like
men should be equally screened as well, especially if they've
had a fracture in their life.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Wow, that's that's not surprising. But at the same time,
it's like, wow, that's a little shocking to me.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah. So I mean think about it, right, like why
would you pay out of pocket for a bone scan
when you feel fine? You you know, maybe fifteen years
ago you fractured something, but you feel fine, now you've recovered,
and now you're gonna have to pay out of pocket
for that.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
It's not going to happen.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
The incentive just isn't there, right. So Yeah, But the
thing is when it comes to comparing men and women,
there was a study just last year that found a
major gap in men's bone held that men who have
risk factors can lose bone density at literally the same
(14:04):
rate as women, but they won't get screened until it's
probably too late and maybe they've already had the fracture.
So most people who get fractures, they aren't even screened
for osteoporosis, which you know, if anyone out there is listening,
if you've experienced a fracture, you can talk to your
doctor and say there's a medical justification to be screened
(14:27):
for osteoporosis with a bone scan, and I hope your
provider can advocate for you and do that.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
How often is that effective? I know that's a really
broad question that your provider can advocate. How much discretion
does the insurance person on the other end of the
phone have.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I think it depends so much on what type of insurance,
and then you know what kind of plan a person has,
like if it's a high deductible plant. You know, if
you have a high deductible plan and the insurance approves it,
like you still might have to pay out a pocket
for it because they're considering it not like a preventive
screening thing. Yeah, so I think there's so many different variables.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
But let me just reinforce the fact this is insane. Yeah,
I know that's clear, but this is this is not
how you should be doing medicine. This is not how
health should work. Like I know that's kind of in
our show. That's something that we kind of hammer home.
But let me hammer this home. What you're saying is absurd. Yep,
it should not be the way this works, Like as
(15:27):
somebody has to call somebody else to say, what this
person needs, will you pay for it, even though the
doctor says they do need it?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Like that's absurd.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's crazy. I mean it's so frustrating.
Let me tell you. I mean, any doctors listening out
there understand how frustrating it is working with insurance companies too.
You're talking to someone who might or might not have
a medical degree, and you're trying to convince them that
your patient needs a study that you feel as medically justified,
(16:00):
and you're basically asking someone who has no business being
involved in this relationship for authority. So it's it's wild,
it's wild. I think it's important that we talk a
little bit about some of the risk factors that are
in our control that we can prevent so that we
can minimize the risk of developing osteoporosis. And this is
(16:24):
across the board for both men and women. So the
first thing is vitamin D levels, low vitamin D and
low calcium levels can affect bone loss, and so this
is something like you can go get your vitamin D
levels checked. If your levels are low, there are ways
(16:45):
to totally bring this into balance, which is which is
huge because that could be a really easy early fix
that you can do now, even early in your twenties
and thirties, before you're even thinking about your bone health
later in life.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And the fixes ways it like tablets and going out
into the sun.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, so supplementation actually sunlight itself, This is really interesting.
If you're not getting enough sunlight exposure, that can actually
be a risk factor for developing osteoporosis. There was a
study where they looked at Antarctic expeditioners who developed vitamin
D deficiency because they were out in the Antarctic and
(17:26):
they were deprived from sunlight within four to six months,
and not only did they get vitamin D deficient, but
they also experience bone loss one percent bone loss within
four to six months of sunlight deprivation. So getting sunlight.
I love sunlight because it's cheap and it's free and
everyone can theoretically get access to it in some capacity.
(17:50):
So sunlight, vitamin D supplementation you know, smoking and drinking
alcohol are actually associated with bone loss. And I think
the alcohol components because when you drink alcohol, you can
actually lose certain minerals like magnesium, for example, which is
very important in bone mineralization.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
How do you lose it from drinking?
Speaker 1 (18:12):
So alcohol is a diuretic, meaning when you drink alcohol,
it makes you pee, and when you pee, you pee
out electrolytes and nutrients, and you lose magnesium every time
you drink alcohol, which can actually contribute to the sensation
of these hangovers. A lot of times it's you feel
so hungover because you're depleted in many nutrients. But the
(18:33):
thing about losing magnesium is that it's very important for
bone mineralization as well and the coabsorption of vitamin D.
So that's why alcohol use is associated with bone loss. Also,
weight bearing exercise like lifting weights, if you incorporate that
into your lifestyle, that can actually help with bone strength.
(18:57):
If you're not doing weight bearing exercises, that can reduce
bone strength. I don't know if you've heard the terms
of people are like, oh, I'm thin boned or I'm
big boned. But the data shows that people who are
slender or thinner boned, they are at more risk of
developing osteoporosis than someone who's identified as being larger boned. Well,
(19:18):
if you think about it, that makes sense, right, Like
you have more if you have more bone to work with.
If it gets thinner, you're not necessarily going to notice
it as much than if you're very if you have
very little bone to work with. Right.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
I wonder if Gwyneth Paltrow has done something on Goop
about this.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
I wouldn't be surprised because.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
She's she's a very thin boned lady.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
That's true. And actually we know that osteoporosis affects men
and women of all races and ethnic groups. But it's
more common in white women and Asian women and lower
risk in black and Hispanic women. But I don't want
to undercut like that, everyone's still at significant risk. I
don't want to make it sound like black and hisspatic
(20:00):
women like don't have a risk.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
But white fragility is real.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
It's not just about your feelings, literally literally your both.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
That is such a good joke, and that's the clip
for the week. Yeah, that's so funny. Oh my god,
we're going to take a short break, stay with us.
Here's the thing. Have you ever been prescribed like a
(20:36):
steroid like pregnozone pills or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
I don't think so, okay, if.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You have used this is for our listeners. If you've
used steroids like pregnozone for a long term use like months,
two years, I wouldt even say like several weeks. You
definitely want to get screened for us upenia or osteoporosis
(21:01):
because those medications affect bone mineralization.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Who would use those medications regularly? Like what kind of
conditions would you have?
Speaker 1 (21:12):
You know, you might have chronic asthma, you might have
an autoimmune condition, basically anything where your inflammation is high
and it needs to be brought down. So a lot
of chronic conditions. There are some cancer drugs that can
cause oscieoporosis, so you want to be screened for that later.
Here's another way to think about it. Anything that affects
(21:34):
your ability to absorb nutrients. If you have a bowel
issue like chrones or celiac and you're not able to
get your nutrients, that's going to impact your body's ability
to make bones because you need those nutrients to make
those bones. So people who have crones or celiac should
(21:55):
also be screened early for osteoporosis.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Do you believe in supplements, like in order to kind
of compensate for the loss of nutrients and minerals to
get use supplements.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Do you feel like they work.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I think selective supplementation in certain situations can be very helpful. Yeah,
it just depends. Like, look, I think a lot of
people who are living a modern lifestyle where you're not
getting enough outdoor time, you're not getting enough sunlight, many
people are vitamin D deficient. Yeah, so I think, you know,
vitamin D supplementation is beneficial, but I also think it's
(22:32):
really important to check your levels to make sure you're
not going too high or you know, if you're low,
to make sure it gets normalized. So I think it
just depends. I'm not like, oh, supplements for the world
or anything, but I think selective cases is really helpful.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Okay, yeah, okay, because I take vitamin D supplements basically
because my doctor has said, like, you're not getting enough sunlight,
so either you go out into the sun or you
get supplements, And I'm like, I'll take the supplements, thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
You don't want to get the sunlight.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
You're not getting me out of my apartment. Lady, give
me the pills, give me the cure and the pill.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Well, I take vitamin D supplements as well, but I
like going out in the sun. So if I could
design my life in a way that I could spend
all day outside, I would that would be That would
be like my fantasy. Like, you know, if we're all
just coexisting outside, we're doing this podcast outside, that's like
(23:33):
my dream.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Oh that's probably much healthier, But I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I'm definitely an indoor kid, and I've been trying to
break out of that. So I'm hoping that osteoporosis isn't
the thing that breaks me out of Oh.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Interesting thought.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yeah, like, oh, I should have gotten more sunlight the
whole time.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Again. When it comes to men, right, like, here are
the risk factors. If you've experienced a fracture at any point,
if you have any kind of issue leading to low
testosterone levels, For example, if you've had prostate cancer that
can affect your testosterone levels, which can accelerate bone loss,
(24:12):
those would be certain conditions in which you'd want to
get screened. Earlier, there was a study that found that
twenty eight percent of men between the age of thirty
five and fifty had osteopenia, which is a precursor for osteoporosis,
and so catch it early then you can do things
(24:34):
about it to prevent the progression. And so the thing
about diagnosing it is that the bone scan, the DEXA scan,
it's not invasive, it doesn't hurt, it's using low dose
X rays, and it can give you so much information
about your risk of getting a fracture over your lifetime,
(24:55):
and it can track bone loss that it's like such
an easy thing to do, which is.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Another reason why it's absurd that a that men don't
get these DEXA scans until there's a fracture, and that
has to like we discussed often with insurance. Yeah, and
also like they don't give these bone density scans regularly
until you're sixty five, and the onset of this starts
in your fifties. Yeah, so by the time you're sixty five,
(25:22):
this has been developing for quite some.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Time, right, Yeah, Yeah, I think earlier screening, more aggressive screening,
is better for people right over, both men and women.
The research suggests that half of osteoporosis related fractures that
have been repeated, So repeat fractures, they could be prevented
(25:47):
if after the first fracture happened, the person got appropriate treatment.
So now people say, like the recent guidelines recommend treating
men who are over the age of fifty, who if
you've had a hip fracture or any kind of spinal fracture,
or if you've, for some stroke of luck, you got
a bone scan and it showed that you have a
(26:09):
very severe risk of getting a fracture, like your osteoporosis
is quite severe, then they recommend treating with the medications
that we have available right now. But sure, what So
the biggest category of medications is something called the biphosphonate.
So biphosphonates essentially they slow down bone loss by changing
(26:34):
the way your body's ability to absorb the bone.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
What does that mean? To absorb the bone?
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Your bones are constantly being built and being broken down.
That's like a homeostatic process that's happening in the body naturally.
What happens in osteoporosis is that breaking down part is
happening at a faster rate than the building part, and
that's what leads to the thinning of the bones. So
the biphosphonates interrupt that process and they basically the breaking
(27:01):
down part. They slow that down and that's what leads
to stronger bones and then reducing your fracture risk.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
So it slows down the breaking down part, but the
building up is still going well.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
So the building up, that's the stuff you can do
with your vitamin D MAGNESI. Get your nutrients right because
that's what they need to build that up. And then
the weight bearing exercises can also tell your body, oh,
I'm using my bones. I'm lifting weights, so let me
build more bones.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
So weight bearing exercises in terms of preventative step is
a great way to strengthen your bones, especially if you
start at a young age. I'm saying this out loud
for the audience, but also for myself because I don't
exercise enough and I don't want to steal porosis.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Yeah, I mean, here's a really simple exercise that you
can do. Anything that increases your balance will also help
prevent falls. So if you're standing in your feet are
like hip with apart if you need to hold like
the wall to do this, but just lift your foot up,
keep your legs at a ninety degree angle and hold
(28:11):
that for ten to thirty seconds and then you just
switch legs. It's like a single leg stand. That will
just keep your stability in a good state and that
that is like really helpful for preventing falls.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Wow. Well that's it's pretty straightforward.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, that is something you can really easily do. And then,
of course, if you want to get a little more
kind of invested in it, you could purchase weights, little
weights that you could just like carry around and hold.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Purchase but make sure you use them used of Yeah, yeah, because.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
I have weights in my home. Oh you do, Oh
for you? They have lots of dust on them.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Okay, yeah, you have to actually use them.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
You have to use them.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And then of course the not drinking alcohol smoking less,
I mean that can all and then getting your vitamin
D levels checked and you know, trying to get some
light is all very good.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
So as we get older, we should be drinking alcohol
far less.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Than we did before.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I'd imagine, right, I think, so like that should be
the curve should go there on the graph.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yeah, and you know, we had our alcohol expert on
the show who basically convinced me that it's just not
good for you.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
No, there's no benefits.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
There's no benefits, but yeah, I think reducing or eliminating
alcohol intake can make a big difference.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Here's a few tips to avoid falling at any age.
Remove clutter and secure loose rugs. This seems intuitive, but
that would be one thing. You can improve your lighting.
You can install and use grab bars, especially if you're older.
Wear supportive non slip shoes, Be cautious on wet surfaces.
Try balance focused exercises like tai chi. Don't skip your checkups.
(29:59):
Get regular vision in medical checks. An aging remembory can
change your vision, including things like your depth perception and
even blurry vision, and that can contribute to instability. As
well as the medications that you're taking that impact blood
pressure or blood sugar, they increase your fault risk because
they might cause dizzyness or drowsiness or confusion or balance issues. So,
(30:20):
in summary, getting older sucks and here are some things
you could do to make it suck less.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah, I think there's lots of things you can do,
you know, making sure your senses all work correctly, like
your eyes, you're hearing. And then of course, community I
think is really important as we age, you know, we
get older and you're more likely to be taken care
of if there's people in your life that are like
checking in on you as well as you age.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
So these are things, especially when you're younger, you do
not think about.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Not at all, and especially in the this is so
American to be so hyper independent. And yes, you know,
not rely on anybody, but I think our health would
really benefit if we broke that down a little bit.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Well, yeah, our bones are telling us that's not going
to work forever.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Yes, you will break it, Bart, I.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Can feel it in my bones.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
And on that note, thank you for listening to uh
to health Stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah, thank you so much. And just remember if you
have bones, you are susceptible for bone loss, so please
go get screened, talk to your doctor if you have
any concerns. Health Stuff is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is hosted by Me, doctor Preancle Wally, and
(31:43):
Harrie Konnebolu. Producers are Rebecca Eisenberg, Jenna Cagel, Christina Loranger,
Maya Howard, and Katrina Norvel. Our researcher is Maria Tremarki
and our intern is Katya Sobel Leayala to send us
a question. You can email us a voice m at
health Stuff Podcast at gmail dot com. Thanks so much
(32:03):
for listening.
This podcast is for information purposes only and should not
be considered professional medical advice.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Our bones are telling us that's not going to work forever.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I can feel it in my bones.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So either you go out into the sun or you
get supplements. And I'm like, I'll take the supplements, thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
You don't want to get the sunlight.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're not getting me out of my apartment, lady.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
But white fragility is real.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
It's not just about your feelings, literally your bones.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I'm hurry, condibolu.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
I'm doctor preuncle Wally, and.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
This is health stuff. Well, hello there, Hello, how are you, Prianca.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I'm fabulous, I'm feeling good. I'm feeling feeling strong in
the spirit of today's episode. Yes, yes, here's a question.
I have a question for you. Have you have you
ever broken a bone in your life?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
No? No, I have not.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I have never broken It is an experience I've gladly
never had.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah. Yeah, same here, same same here. Very very uh
grateful to not have had that experience. Knock on wood.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Though there was a part of me that was jealous
that the kids with casts got it signed by everyone
in the glass, So there was that there was.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
That element, But like overall, I'm like, yeah, that worth
it though.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
That's so true. I totally remember signing people's casts as well,
and so cool. It was so cool, right, That's such
a good point. My only sort of like things related
to bones that comes to mind actually is my grandmother
had terrible osteoporosis. She was always complaining, you know, she
(01:53):
was like, oh, my back hurts, my back hurts. And
it wasn't until this one time she she got hostile
blized and they did like an X ray of her
belly area so you could see her spine. And I
was probably going to medical school or I was like
get pre med or something along those lines, and I
(02:14):
remember looking at her spine on the X ray and
it looked like a it was like shape like a
question mark, you know, it was so crooked, and it
was osteoporosis like some other things like cayphosis, maybe a
little scoliosis, but it was it was like caused by osteoporosis.
(02:37):
And I remember looking at that and being like wow,
like she wasn't kidding when she was like complaining of
all these aches and pain all the time, Like her
spine is totally totally not straight.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
When older people are doubled over, almost facing the ground
bend over.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Is that because of.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Ostporosis can play but that the what you're talking about
that almost like that hunch hunch. Look, that's that's more cayphosis, okay,
which can happen with aging, But yes, osteoporosis can play
like a significant role in that. And you know, the
reason I think it's so important that we're talking about
this today is actually because people always assume it just
(03:22):
affects women, like people like my grandma. But the reality
is we're actually all at risk for bone loss, men
and women, and that risk increases as we age. I
think men are actually a overlooked population when it comes
to talking about osteoporosis, and they're actually under treated. Yeah,
(03:42):
so yeah, let's talk about bones.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Well, you know, this is before we get into this.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
This is a clear example when people ask that what
does sexism have to do with me? If you're like,
if you're like a man, It's like, well, this is
an example of it. We assume only women get it,
and meanwhile men are suffering too from a disease, and
as a result, you know, they're not getting the treatment
they need basically because of sex and moth. This doesn't
affect me, I should get checked for this.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, And I wonder is it like this inherent idea
that just because of the bias, the idea that men
are stronger, therefore they have bigger bones, therefore this shouldn't
affect them or something. I don't think. But the thing
about men when it comes to osteoporosis, though, is that
even though it's less common in men, it's actually more deadly.
It leads to higher mortality compared to women. Believe it
(04:31):
or not, How does it.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Lead to mortality? Is it from like things breaking? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So, first of all, men over the age of fifty,
they're more likely to break a bone due to osteoporosis.
For example, thirty percent of all hip fractures every year
happen in men. One in three men will die within
the first year following a hip fracture, compared to one
in four women.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Why does that happen?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Because I've heard this for years, like, you know, oh,
they broke a hip and then they died. They broke this,
and then what is it about broken bones that late
in your life that leads to death.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Well, hip fractures in particular have really serious consequences because
number one, you break your hip, you can't walk, so
now you're not independent anymore. Right, Depending on where the
break happens, the marrow inside of the bone can actually
throw a clot and block off your blood supply and
(05:33):
kill you. Right, So that's called a fat embolism that
can happen. Then there's like chronic things. You break your bone,
now you're in chronic pain. Right, your hip fracture. A
lot of times people they fracture their hip, they can
they never get back to their full you know function.
So you know, lowering someone's quality of life can increase
(05:55):
their risk of dying from it. There's a laundry list
of things that can happen when you fracture hip. So,
and hip fracture is the most serious complication of osteoporosis,
but you know you can fracture other things because of osteoporosis,
not just your hip. Right.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, I want to get into a little background on
bone loss before we go a little further. Just yea,
so people know, you know what osteoporosis is, the first
thing you should know is about eighty five to ninety
percent of adult bone mass, that's your peak bone mass
you get by age eighteen and girls and twenty age
twenty and boys. So that's that's when you're at your
(06:33):
at your peak, when you're the dumbest, and when you're
when you know the least that so that it's wasted
on you.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Your peak bone.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Density is heavily influenced by what you would assume it
would be, like heredity, nutrition, hormonal effects in your environment.
But after that peak, there's a decline bone loss, though
can be managed now. Osteoporosis is a bone disease that
makes bones weak, thin, and brittle, and it can happen
to anyone. It develops when your body begins losing bone
(07:03):
mass faster than it can rebuild it, often without symptoms,
until the bone breaks, which is why it's known as
a silent disease, and that's why it significantly increases your
risk of fractures from minor falls or bumps. There's also
a condition called is it osteopenia, Yeah, where your bones
have reduced bone density. When you have osteopenia, your bones
(07:26):
are not as strong as they should be, but they're
not as fragile as they are in osteoporosis, and oftentimes
osteo penia is a precursor to osteoporosis. How long it
takes to develop varies, but those are I think the
two big terms that people are going to need to understand,
you know, in this episode.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, I think what's important here is to know that
you won't necessarily feel that you have osteopenia or osteoporosis.
A lot of times people get this diagnosis when they
get a bone scan. Most people they begin doing bone
scans starting age fifty or later age sixty five. If
(08:06):
you have risk factors though, like at any point in
your life you were put on medications that could accelerate
bone loss, then you need to get a scan earlier, right,
so people won't know that they have it until they
get confirmed through a bone scan.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
What does a bone scan do? What does it look like.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
It's kind of like a specialized X ray that's looking
at your bone density in various parts of your body,
like your spine, your hip, your forearm, and it's it's
almost like an X ray, and they can basically look
at these X rays to see how thin your bones are,
and they give you a score to track your bone loss.
(08:49):
It's called a T score and they assess the T
score like closer to zero means there's no bone loss.
But if you get a negative score, then that means
more more severe bone loss. And so once you get
your baseline and you say, okay, this is where we're at,
then you want to keep checking it on a regular
(09:09):
basis every one to two years, depending on how severe
it is, to see, hey, is this getting worse or
is this staying stable?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
More to come on health stuff.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
You know, when we think about who actually gets osteoporosis,
I just want to create space and remind everyone Women
over the age of fifty have the highest rates of osteoporosis, right,
so they win the award. That's why they typically get
the focus of the disease. And women lose up to
(09:47):
twenty percent of their bone mass in the five to
seven years after menopause. In fact, over half of all
women over the age of fifty will have osteoporosis or
at least low bone mass that includes osteopenia, so that
menopausal change losing estrogen over those years. It's often the
primary driver of female bone loss. But menopause, I want
(10:11):
to be clear, is not the only reason for female
bone loss. If a person breaks their bones, it basically
increases their risk of dying. In fact, a woman's risk
of breaking a hip is equal to her combined risk
of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Wow, Yeah, that's shocking, especially consider you know, we don't
really talk about osteoporosis. And maybe part of that is
it's an age thing, Like maybe because cancer affects a
broader range of ages, people know people who have cancer,
but with osteoporosis, we just don't think about it because
it happens later in life.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Absolutely. I mean, here's the thing about men. Men over
the age of fifty, they're more likely to break a
bone due to osteoporosis than they are to develop prostate cancer.
So and then there's all sorts of complications for breaking
a bone, like a hip fracture and stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
No, men typically experienced significant bone loss and fracture about
a decade later than women.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Is there a reason for that, right?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Right? Exactly. So it's like a double edged sword, right,
because women go through menopause and it's a very sudden,
almost dramatic transition. Right. Menopause happens over a five to
seven year period, and that drop in hormones can be
a driver for developing osteoporosis. Men don't have that right,
(11:41):
Like men's testosterone declines slowly over time, it's like a
gradual decline, so it doesn't show up as dramatically in
men because of just the way the hormones change. But
the crazy part is that eighty percent set of men
who have osteoporosis don't actually know that they have it.
(12:04):
There's around two million men in the US that have osteoporosis,
and one in four of those men over the age
of fifty will have a fracture related to the osteoporosis.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Well, is it also because you know, women will have
their bone density checked because they're maybe seen as more
likely to get osteoporosis, and men won't, Like, is there
no even preventative doctors like see a man like you
should get checked for your bone skin as often as
they would with women.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, So here's the thing. It actually comes back to
the economy and finances. But like insurance like Medicare insurance
covers bone scans for women to be screened for osteoporosis
starting at age sixty five or older. You can do
it younger like if you've had a fracture or maybe
(12:58):
you've been put on steroids. No, not the case with men.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah, so that's a huge, huge issue, right because people
aren't going to do tests that aren't covered or for
whatever reason. Like, to me, this is a gap, like
men should be equally screened as well, especially if they've
had a fracture in their life.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Wow, that's that's not surprising. But at the same time,
it's like, wow, that's a little shocking to me.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah. So I mean think about it, right, like why
would you pay out of pocket for a bone scan
when you feel fine? You you know, maybe fifteen years
ago you fractured something, but you feel fine, now you've recovered,
and now you're gonna have to pay out of pocket
for that.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
It's not going to happen.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
The incentive just isn't there, right. So Yeah, But the
thing is when it comes to comparing men and women,
there was a study just last year that found a
major gap in men's bone held that men who have
risk factors can lose bone density at literally the same
(14:04):
rate as women, but they won't get screened until it's
probably too late and maybe they've already had the fracture.
So most people who get fractures, they aren't even screened
for osteoporosis, which you know, if anyone out there is listening,
if you've experienced a fracture, you can talk to your
doctor and say there's a medical justification to be screened
(14:27):
for osteoporosis with a bone scan, and I hope your
provider can advocate for you and do that.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
How often is that effective? I know that's a really
broad question that your provider can advocate. How much discretion
does the insurance person on the other end of the
phone have.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I think it depends so much on what type of insurance,
and then you know what kind of plan a person has,
like if it's a high deductible plant. You know, if
you have a high deductible plan and the insurance approves it,
like you still might have to pay out a pocket
for it because they're considering it not like a preventive
screening thing. Yeah, so I think there's so many different variables.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
But let me just reinforce the fact this is insane. Yeah,
I know that's clear, but this is this is not
how you should be doing medicine. This is not how
health should work. Like I know that's kind of in
our show. That's something that we kind of hammer home.
But let me hammer this home. What you're saying is absurd. Yep,
it should not be the way this works, Like as
(15:27):
somebody has to call somebody else to say, what this
person needs, will you pay for it, even though the
doctor says they do need it?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Like that's absurd.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's crazy. I mean it's so frustrating.
Let me tell you. I mean, any doctors listening out
there understand how frustrating it is working with insurance companies too.
You're talking to someone who might or might not have
a medical degree, and you're trying to convince them that
your patient needs a study that you feel as medically justified,
(16:00):
and you're basically asking someone who has no business being
involved in this relationship for authority. So it's it's wild,
it's wild. I think it's important that we talk a
little bit about some of the risk factors that are
in our control that we can prevent so that we
can minimize the risk of developing osteoporosis. And this is
(16:24):
across the board for both men and women. So the
first thing is vitamin D levels, low vitamin D and
low calcium levels can affect bone loss, and so this
is something like you can go get your vitamin D
levels checked. If your levels are low, there are ways
(16:45):
to totally bring this into balance, which is which is
huge because that could be a really easy early fix
that you can do now, even early in your twenties
and thirties, before you're even thinking about your bone health
later in life.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And the fixes ways it like tablets and going out
into the sun.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, so supplementation actually sunlight itself, This is really interesting.
If you're not getting enough sunlight exposure, that can actually
be a risk factor for developing osteoporosis. There was a
study where they looked at Antarctic expeditioners who developed vitamin
D deficiency because they were out in the Antarctic and
(17:26):
they were deprived from sunlight within four to six months,
and not only did they get vitamin D deficient, but
they also experience bone loss one percent bone loss within
four to six months of sunlight deprivation. So getting sunlight.
I love sunlight because it's cheap and it's free and
everyone can theoretically get access to it in some capacity.
(17:50):
So sunlight, vitamin D supplementation you know, smoking and drinking
alcohol are actually associated with bone loss. And I think
the alcohol components because when you drink alcohol, you can
actually lose certain minerals like magnesium, for example, which is
very important in bone mineralization.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
How do you lose it from drinking?
Speaker 1 (18:12):
So alcohol is a diuretic, meaning when you drink alcohol,
it makes you pee, and when you pee, you pee
out electrolytes and nutrients, and you lose magnesium every time
you drink alcohol, which can actually contribute to the sensation
of these hangovers. A lot of times it's you feel
so hungover because you're depleted in many nutrients. But the
(18:33):
thing about losing magnesium is that it's very important for
bone mineralization as well and the coabsorption of vitamin D.
So that's why alcohol use is associated with bone loss. Also,
weight bearing exercise like lifting weights, if you incorporate that
into your lifestyle, that can actually help with bone strength.
(18:57):
If you're not doing weight bearing exercises, that can reduce
bone strength. I don't know if you've heard the terms
of people are like, oh, I'm thin boned or I'm
big boned. But the data shows that people who are
slender or thinner boned, they are at more risk of
developing osteoporosis than someone who's identified as being larger boned. Well,
(19:18):
if you think about it, that makes sense, right, Like
you have more if you have more bone to work with.
If it gets thinner, you're not necessarily going to notice
it as much than if you're very if you have
very little bone to work with. Right.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
I wonder if Gwyneth Paltrow has done something on Goop
about this.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
I wouldn't be surprised because.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
She's she's a very thin boned lady.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
That's true. And actually we know that osteoporosis affects men
and women of all races and ethnic groups. But it's
more common in white women and Asian women and lower
risk in black and Hispanic women. But I don't want
to undercut like that, everyone's still at significant risk. I
don't want to make it sound like black and hisspatic
(20:00):
women like don't have a risk.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
But white fragility is real.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
It's not just about your feelings, literally literally your both.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
That is such a good joke, and that's the clip
for the week. Yeah, that's so funny. Oh my god,
we're going to take a short break, stay with us.
Here's the thing. Have you ever been prescribed like a
(20:36):
steroid like pregnozone pills or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
I don't think so, okay, if.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You have used this is for our listeners. If you've
used steroids like pregnozone for a long term use like months,
two years, I wouldt even say like several weeks. You
definitely want to get screened for us upenia or osteoporosis
(21:01):
because those medications affect bone mineralization.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Who would use those medications regularly? Like what kind of
conditions would you have?
Speaker 1 (21:12):
You know, you might have chronic asthma, you might have
an autoimmune condition, basically anything where your inflammation is high
and it needs to be brought down. So a lot
of chronic conditions. There are some cancer drugs that can
cause oscieoporosis, so you want to be screened for that later.
Here's another way to think about it. Anything that affects
(21:34):
your ability to absorb nutrients. If you have a bowel
issue like chrones or celiac and you're not able to
get your nutrients, that's going to impact your body's ability
to make bones because you need those nutrients to make
those bones. So people who have crones or celiac should
(21:55):
also be screened early for osteoporosis.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Do you believe in supplements, like in order to kind
of compensate for the loss of nutrients and minerals to
get use supplements.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Do you feel like they work.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I think selective supplementation in certain situations can be very helpful. Yeah,
it just depends. Like, look, I think a lot of
people who are living a modern lifestyle where you're not
getting enough outdoor time, you're not getting enough sunlight, many
people are vitamin D deficient. Yeah, so I think, you know,
vitamin D supplementation is beneficial, but I also think it's
(22:32):
really important to check your levels to make sure you're
not going too high or you know, if you're low,
to make sure it gets normalized. So I think it
just depends. I'm not like, oh, supplements for the world
or anything, but I think selective cases is really helpful.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Okay, yeah, okay, because I take vitamin D supplements basically
because my doctor has said, like, you're not getting enough sunlight,
so either you go out into the sun or you
get supplements, And I'm like, I'll take the supplements, thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
You don't want to get the sunlight.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
You're not getting me out of my apartment. Lady, give
me the pills, give me the cure and the pill.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Well, I take vitamin D supplements as well, but I
like going out in the sun. So if I could
design my life in a way that I could spend
all day outside, I would that would be That would
be like my fantasy. Like, you know, if we're all
just coexisting outside, we're doing this podcast outside, that's like
(23:33):
my dream.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Oh that's probably much healthier, But I don't know.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I'm definitely an indoor kid, and I've been trying to
break out of that. So I'm hoping that osteoporosis isn't
the thing that breaks me out of Oh.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Interesting thought.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yeah, like, oh, I should have gotten more sunlight the
whole time.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Again. When it comes to men, right, like, here are
the risk factors. If you've experienced a fracture at any point,
if you have any kind of issue leading to low
testosterone levels, For example, if you've had prostate cancer that
can affect your testosterone levels, which can accelerate bone loss,
(24:12):
those would be certain conditions in which you'd want to
get screened. Earlier, there was a study that found that
twenty eight percent of men between the age of thirty
five and fifty had osteopenia, which is a precursor for osteoporosis,
and so catch it early then you can do things
(24:34):
about it to prevent the progression. And so the thing
about diagnosing it is that the bone scan, the DEXA scan,
it's not invasive, it doesn't hurt, it's using low dose
X rays, and it can give you so much information
about your risk of getting a fracture over your lifetime,
(24:55):
and it can track bone loss that it's like such
an easy thing to do, which is.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Another reason why it's absurd that a that men don't
get these DEXA scans until there's a fracture, and that
has to like we discussed often with insurance. Yeah, and
also like they don't give these bone density scans regularly
until you're sixty five, and the onset of this starts
in your fifties. Yeah, so by the time you're sixty five,
(25:22):
this has been developing for quite some.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Time, right, Yeah, Yeah, I think earlier screening, more aggressive screening,
is better for people right over, both men and women.
The research suggests that half of osteoporosis related fractures that
have been repeated, So repeat fractures, they could be prevented
(25:47):
if after the first fracture happened, the person got appropriate treatment.
So now people say, like the recent guidelines recommend treating
men who are over the age of fifty, who if
you've had a hip fracture or any kind of spinal fracture,
or if you've, for some stroke of luck, you got
a bone scan and it showed that you have a
(26:09):
very severe risk of getting a fracture, like your osteoporosis
is quite severe, then they recommend treating with the medications
that we have available right now. But sure, what So
the biggest category of medications is something called the biphosphonate.
So biphosphonates essentially they slow down bone loss by changing
(26:34):
the way your body's ability to absorb the bone.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
What does that mean? To absorb the bone?
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Your bones are constantly being built and being broken down.
That's like a homeostatic process that's happening in the body naturally.
What happens in osteoporosis is that breaking down part is
happening at a faster rate than the building part, and
that's what leads to the thinning of the bones. So
the biphosphonates interrupt that process and they basically the breaking
(27:01):
down part. They slow that down and that's what leads
to stronger bones and then reducing your fracture risk.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
So it slows down the breaking down part, but the
building up is still going well.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
So the building up, that's the stuff you can do
with your vitamin D MAGNESI. Get your nutrients right because
that's what they need to build that up. And then
the weight bearing exercises can also tell your body, oh,
I'm using my bones. I'm lifting weights, so let me
build more bones.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
So weight bearing exercises in terms of preventative step is
a great way to strengthen your bones, especially if you
start at a young age. I'm saying this out loud
for the audience, but also for myself because I don't
exercise enough and I don't want to steal porosis.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Yeah, I mean, here's a really simple exercise that you
can do. Anything that increases your balance will also help
prevent falls. So if you're standing in your feet are
like hip with apart if you need to hold like
the wall to do this, but just lift your foot up,
keep your legs at a ninety degree angle and hold
(28:11):
that for ten to thirty seconds and then you just
switch legs. It's like a single leg stand. That will
just keep your stability in a good state and that
that is like really helpful for preventing falls.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Wow. Well that's it's pretty straightforward.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, that is something you can really easily do. And then,
of course, if you want to get a little more
kind of invested in it, you could purchase weights, little
weights that you could just like carry around and hold.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Purchase but make sure you use them used of Yeah, yeah, because.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
I have weights in my home. Oh you do, Oh
for you? They have lots of dust on them.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Okay, yeah, you have to actually use them.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
You have to use them.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And then of course the not drinking alcohol smoking less,
I mean that can all and then getting your vitamin
D levels checked and you know, trying to get some
light is all very good.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
So as we get older, we should be drinking alcohol
far less.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Than we did before.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I'd imagine, right, I think, so like that should be
the curve should go there on the graph.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yeah, and you know, we had our alcohol expert on
the show who basically convinced me that it's just not
good for you.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
No, there's no benefits.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
There's no benefits, but yeah, I think reducing or eliminating
alcohol intake can make a big difference.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Here's a few tips to avoid falling at any age.
Remove clutter and secure loose rugs. This seems intuitive, but
that would be one thing. You can improve your lighting.
You can install and use grab bars, especially if you're older.
Wear supportive non slip shoes, Be cautious on wet surfaces.
Try balance focused exercises like tai chi. Don't skip your checkups.
(29:59):
Get regular vision in medical checks. An aging remembory can
change your vision, including things like your depth perception and
even blurry vision, and that can contribute to instability. As
well as the medications that you're taking that impact blood
pressure or blood sugar, they increase your fault risk because
they might cause dizzyness or drowsiness or confusion or balance issues. So,
(30:20):
in summary, getting older sucks and here are some things
you could do to make it suck less.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Yeah, I think there's lots of things you can do,
you know, making sure your senses all work correctly, like
your eyes, you're hearing. And then of course, community I
think is really important as we age, you know, we
get older and you're more likely to be taken care
of if there's people in your life that are like
checking in on you as well as you age.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
So these are things, especially when you're younger, you do
not think about.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Not at all, and especially in the this is so
American to be so hyper independent. And yes, you know,
not rely on anybody, but I think our health would
really benefit if we broke that down a little bit.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Well, yeah, our bones are telling us that's not going
to work forever.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Yes, you will break it, Bart, I.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Can feel it in my bones.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
And on that note, thank you for listening to uh
to health Stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah, thank you so much. And just remember if you
have bones, you are susceptible for bone loss, so please
go get screened, talk to your doctor if you have
any concerns. Health Stuff is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is hosted by Me, doctor Preancle Wally, and
(31:43):
Harrie Konnebolu. Producers are Rebecca Eisenberg, Jenna Cagel, Christina Loranger,
Maya Howard, and Katrina Norvel. Our researcher is Maria Tremarki
and our intern is Katya Sobel Leayala to send us
a question. You can email us a voice m at
health Stuff Podcast at gmail dot com. Thanks so much
(32:03):
for listening.
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