Have you ever thought that living near a park or having a garden could be good for your bones? Well, recent research shows that it might just be true!
People who live in areas with more trees, parks, and greenery might have stronger bones and a lower chance of getting osteoporosis, a condition that makes bones weak and more likely to break.
One of the big reasons green spaces are good for bone health is because the air there is cleaner. Less pollution means better health for our bones.
Osteoporosis is a health problem where bones get thin and can easily break. It causes a lot of pain, makes moving around harder, and can make life less enjoyable. As people get older and lifestyles change, more and more people are getting osteoporosis.
Many things cause osteoporosis, including our genes, hormones, and the environment we live in. While it’s known that green spaces can make us healthier in general, scientists weren’t sure if this included protecting against osteoporosis too.
To find out more, researchers looked at a huge amount of data from 391,298 people in the UK. These people were around 56 years old on average, and just over half were women.
The researchers checked their bone health, looked at their genes to see if they were more likely to get osteoporosis, and also looked at how much green space was near their homes. They even checked the air quality where these people lived, focusing on two common pollutants.
The study followed these people for about 12 years. During this time, some of them did get osteoporosis. The researchers noticed that the people who lived near more greenery were less likely to be among them.
In fact, for every little increase in greenery around their homes, their bones were a bit stronger, and their risk of getting osteoporosis went down by 5%.
It seems that cleaner air plays a big role in this. Pollution can stress our bodies and mess with our hormones, both of which can weaken our bones. But trees and plants help clean the air, which means living near them can protect our bones.
Also, being active is easier and more appealing when you live near green spaces, and physical activity is another way to keep bones strong.
However, this study couldn’t prove for sure that green spaces cause better bone health. There were some limits to the research, like not knowing exactly how much green space each person had access to.
And since the study only included people who were generally healthy, the results might not apply to everyone.
Despite these limits, the findings are exciting. They suggest that being around more greenery might help keep our bones strong and reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
This adds to the growing evidence that making our cities greener isn’t just good for the planet; it’s good for our health too.
If you care about bone health, please read studies that plant-based diets can harm your bone health without these nutrients, and this bone problem may strongly increase COVID-19 death risk.
For more information about wellness, please see recent studies that too much of this vitamin may increase your risk of bone fractures, and results showing this type of exercise may protect your bone health, slow down bone aging.
The research findings can be found in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
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