If you are travelling for an extended period of time, it can sometimes be difficult to maintain your usual exercise and health care routine. But the last thing you want to do is become unwell or suffer an injury whilst you are away. Part of your health care and exercise routine should focus on Maintaining Bone Health, especially if you are a woman over 50. Just because you are travelling does not mean you should neglect these routines. It might just mean you have to adjust them to suit your current lifestyle.
WHO IS AT RISK?
Women aged 50 or more are at increased risk of developing osteoporosis. Increasingly men are at risk as well.
FACTS
- Currently 2 in 3 Australians over 50 have osteoporosis or osteopenia, including a growing number of men. This is expected to jump to 6.2 million Australians by 2022.
- In 2013 there was 1 fracture every 3.6 minutes in Australia. This equates to 2,765 fractures per week.
- By 2022 there will be 1 fracture every 2.9 minutes – an increase of 30%.
- Approximately 1 in 2 women over the age of 60 in Australia will break a bone because of osteoporosis.
- More than one-third (35.5%) of people with osteoporosis reported some form of restriction in the level of their core activities.
- A mere 1 in 1000 Australian women over 50 meet the minimum 4 serves from the dairy food group recommended by the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
- 71% of women do not consider their bone health to be a high priority, with only 18% taking regular steps to build strong, healthy bones.
- Bone health is little discussed by women amongst friends and family. {SOURCE}
MAINTAINING BONE HEALTH – WHAT CAN YOU DO?
1. Increase daily serves of calcium-rich dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yoghurt.
This is really easy to do – provided of course you don’t have any allergies. Make a smoothie for breakfast, have some cheese and crackers with your glass of wine at night time or a tub of yoghurt for afternoon tea. You need to eat four serves of calcium rich food per day.
2. Go for a walk or commit to some new form of regular exercise.
Getting enough exercise on a regular basis can be hard if you are travelling long distances during the day. But after sitting in the car all day it is important that you get at least 30 minutes of exercise when you stop. This will not only help maintain your bone health but it will also help ease the stiffness of your body from sitting all day. The rest of the time when you are travelling it is easy to get some exercise by walking around tourist sites, going for a bush walk, a swim or a pushbike ride.
3. Spend time outdoors to get more vitamin D
As we have become more aware of the need for Sun Safety our vitamin D levels have dropped. But vitamin D is needed to help maintain bone health. Just a few minutes a day of safe sun exposure can help ensure that we maintain our levels of vitamin D. Always wear a hat, sunscreen and avoid the sun in the hottest part of the day.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
If you are a woman aged 50 plus (or there abouts) you can get more hints and tips by visiting Healthy Bones Australia.
Listen in to their podcast episode https://allaroundoz.com.au/podcasts/travelling-and-working-around-australia/
