We’ve all done these activities, such as walking, gardening, and around the house chores, but this type of mild activity, while it can help keep the heart healthy, does little to strengthen bones.
A recent study by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, studied 38 men and 46 women who were generally healthy, although participants blood pressure was at the high end of the normal range or mildly high. None of the participants exercised regularly. In the study, neither overall aerobic fitness nor participation in mild physical activity had a significant effect on increasing bone mineral density.
Although some activity may be better than none at all for certain aspects of health, like heart health, milder forms of activity may not be sufficient to hold off or attenuate the age-related decline in bone with aging. More vigorous exercise may be needed.
While neither mild activity nor aerobic fitness affected bone density in the study, having greater muscle strength and carrying extra pounds around the middle were related to stronger bones. McAlpine and Tindall found that overloading strength exercises built stronger bone and muscle density in their research to increase these densities during long-term space travel while designing a NASA long-term space travel exercise protocol system.
But, don’t get your hopes up, despite the apparent link between abdominal obesity and stronger bones, research does not give the green light to pig out.
Although being fat may be good for bone density due to overloading of bones and muscles, gaining weight is not the answer due to the harmful effects of obesity on many other aspects of health.