Trick or treat? It’s the season of the witch! In a few days, you’ll have a horde of miniature villains on your doorstep. Goblins, ghosts, mummies, and ghouls all come out to play. Of course, these characters cannot hold a candle to the unmistakable, eerie, and unsettling skeletons prancing around.
An Ongoing Fascination with Bones
Halloween traces back to Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival held on November 1. The Celtics believed the souls of the dead returned home on this day. So, they lit bonfires and dressed in wild costumes to ward off evil spirits. It wasn’t too long before skeletons became a powerful symbol. Later on, medieval scholars understood the critical role bones played in supporting and protecting internal organs.
Today, the fascination with human bones remains. Over time, we learned that bones are living tissue that need nourishing and can be susceptible to diseases. Besides the costumes, candy, and games, Halloween is the perfect time to educate your children about bone health and raise awareness about osteoporosis.
Growing Strong, Healthy Bones Starts During Childhood
Typically, the sight of a skeleton can be scary, but bones and skulls are fun and exciting during Halloween. You can bring up the subject without scaring the little ones stiff. Understanding bone health is crucial because bones form your body’s foundation. Everything in your body, including muscles, ligaments, nerves, and veins, wraps around this skeletal framework.
Strong bones power your ability to move while protecting the internal organs. Everyone needs strong bones to walk, play, and go about their daily activities. Weak bones can ruin your quality of life and subject you to untold suffering. Poor bone health makes you susceptible to fractures and bone diseases such as osteoporosis.
Building Peak Bone Mass
Human bone development starts at birth and continues until you achieve maximum height during puberty. After which, your bones stop lengthening and begin to thicken. That goes on until you reach peak bone mass, usually in your late teens or early 20s.
Peak bone mass is the greatest amount of bone you can attain. Naturally, the higher the bone mass, the better. Building dense bones during childhood and adolescence improves health and quality of life. It protects you from osteoporosis later in life.
How to Build Strong Bones
While genetics play a role, building strong bones also comes down to a healthy diet and lifestyle. Typically, you’re unlikely to realize you have weak bones until it’s too late. Luckily, you can focus on building strong bones from the onset and work to keep them healthy and strong throughout your life.
Eat calcium-rich foods such as leafy greens, yogurt, milk, cheese, and beans. You may also eat foods fortified with calcium or take calcium supplements.
Get enough vitamin D from sunshine, diet, or supplements to help your body absorb calcium.
Embrace an active lifestyle.
Include weight-bearing and strengthening exercises in your workout routine.
Take adequate precautions when playing contact sports.
Avoid cigarettes and alcohol.
Exercise and Bone Health
Bones get nourishment from your diet and grow stronger with physical activity. Weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercises help build and maintain bone density. They’re an effective way to fight osteoporosis and safeguard your quality of life.
Weight-bearing exercises fall into two categories – high and low-impact activities – and involve moving against gravity.
High-impact activities build and strengthen your bones. They include dancing, hiking, running, aerobics, climbing stairs, and more. They’re not ideal for people with bone fractures or who are prone to osteoporosis-related fractures.
Low-impact weight-bearing exercises keep your bone strong and are more forgiving on your body. They include low-impact aerobics, elliptical machine training, walking, and stair-step machines.
Strengthening exercises involve moving your body, bands, or weight against gravity. They include weightlifting, elastic bands, weight machines, bodyweight exercises, and other functional movements.
Halloween is a “Spooktakular” Time to Talk About Bones
While Halloween is centered around creative costumes, gathering in the community, and collecting sweet treats, make sure to sneak in a fun conversation about bone health with the little ones. It’s a great opportunity to shed light on an important, yet potentially scary topic during a time that skeletons are the star of the show.