SPF: Don’t Let Your Bones Get Burned
Whether you opt for 15, 30, or 50, it’s rare to find someone amongst us that doesn’t lather up before laying out (or even being out on a summer day!). The sun and its rays are no joke. They can leave their mark in the form of burns, peels, sunspots, and even wrinkles—ugh! And if that wasn’t enough to scare you into some good water-resistant SPF, think skin disease and skin cancer. But while sunscreen fills the shelves at nearly every drugstore, reminding you to lather up or pay the price, what lies under your skin is much quieter. Your bones don’t tell you when they are about to burn (a.k.a. break), and the reminders to protect them are much subtler. However, if they are ignored, the burn can be just as severe as the strongest rays.
In the same way that you would protect your skin during the summer, you should protect what lies under your skin #yourbones all year round. Adequate calcium and vitamin D intake, coupled with a healthy diet, weight-bearing exercises, and estrogen during the reproductive years are the SPF that your bones need. In fact, this is the formula that makes up the SPF 70 sunscreen for your bones!
But while most of us know that milk (a.k.a. calcium and vitamin D) is “what does a body good,” you might be surprised to know that estrogen is equally as important. News flash: estrogen is not just a hormone made by your ovaries to keep your eggs developing. It is also necessary for bone buildup and bone strength. In fact, how much you take in during your adolescent and young adult years can dictate what happens in your later years. No estrogen in your younger years can cause some major breakage in your later years (think osteoporosis and osteopenia).
Bones reach their peak mass by about age 30. However, to reach the “summit,” they need estrogen during your teens and twenties. Therefore, women who are not on hormonal contraception and don’t get regular periods (a lack of periods because of continuous pill usage does not count!), is sort of standing out in the sun without sunscreen. When your bones don’t reach peak bone mass, there is nowhere for them to go but down later.
And as most of us know, the estrogen story does not end at age 30. Your bones continue to rely on their fountain of youth for years and years to come. Estrogen production is essential deep into our 40s and even 50s. Therefore, for women whose periods bid them adieu early it’s important to make sure that you speak to your GYN about hormonal replacement therapy.
While postmenopausal hormone therapy has gotten more bad press than both Democrats and Republicans making a decision combined, it’s actually not bad for most women. In fact, estrogen supplementation, started at the right time in the right woman, can be the key to reducing your chances for heart disease, bone disease, memory loss, and serious vaginal dryness. So, don’t listen to everything you hear on TV; this is one decision for which you should hear what your doctor has to say.
It’s really no different than sun damage. Burns sustained in your younger years make your skin way more susceptible in the later years. And while freckles and sun spots may be cute at age 15, they’re not so much at age 55. Additionally, they pose a risk for skin cancer at age 50. The same goes for how you treat your bones then and now. So, don’t forget to lather them in milk, vitamin D, calcium, and exercise: this SPF will save you big-time breakage in the future.