If you are 1 in 2 women or 1 in 4 men over the age of 50, your life is affected by osteoporosis. But what really is osteoporosis, and what effects might it have on your life? Osteoporosis literally means “porous bone” It is typically the result of poor bone formation and or excessive bone loss, which eventually leads to a decrease in bone density. Factors that affect your bone density include age, hormone levels, activity status, and diet. However age tends to be the overarching culprit for the changes, as the other three factors often change along with age. For example, sex hormones decrease in both females and males as we age. For females, menopause greatly decreases estrogen output, and for males, testosterone begins a gradual downward slope beginning around age 30. Bone density is negatively impacted as both of these hormones decrease. Yet, although everyone does experience a decrease in their sex hormones over time, other factors such as activity status and diet can help offset those effects. Physical activity and forms of exercise are well known methods to maintain or improve bone density as you age. Wolff’s Law, developed in the 19th century by Julius Wolff, explains this idea perfectly, [...]