Taking Care of Your Bones: The Benefits of Weight Lifting, Exercise, and Healthy Choices

You can impact the health of your bones, at any age. 

In the realms of health and fitness, we focus a lot on changes we can see and feel. We see muscles become more toned when we lift weights and exercise. We feel ourselves getting stronger.

When we work on cardiovascular fitness, we notice that we can walk, run, hike, and so on with less effort. We feel the fitness. When we become consistent in our efforts to be fit and healthy, we also see our body shape and composition change. 

But our bones? We can’t see or feel how our bones change over time. In addition, the perception by many is that bones are fixed.

The reality, however, is that our bones are living, changing parts of our body. Much of our bone health is formed when we are young, but adult lifestyle habits continue to have a significant impact on bone density and strength. As the Royal Osteoporosis Society points out: "Bones are made up of living tissue. They get stronger when you use them.”

Bones are continually breaking down and regenerating. They are affected by what we eat, how we live, the exercise we do, the medications we take, our stage of life, as well as other factors. And bone health has a big impact on our wellness as we age. 

What Your Bones Do For You

Our bones, of course, form our skeletal system. Bones are responsible for the fundamental way we move, and they shape our stature. They are the anchor points for connective tissues and muscles. Bones are the foundation of our entire body.

A healthy skeletal system keeps us upright and moving well. Healthy bones also withstand significant bumps and falls, without breaking. When your bones become weak, the opposite happens: falls can result in significant injuries, especially broken bones. As we age, these injuries can have a big impact on our independence, quality of life, and even our life span. 

A press release put out the Endocrine Society titled "Broken bones among older people increase risk of death for up to ten years" quoted Jacqueline Center, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia: “A fracture is the starting point for much wider health issues that persist long after the fracture has healed and can ultimately result in earlier death.” 

Put another way: broken bones are a very serious issue for older adults. Bones health, then, is an important part of a long, healthy, vibrant life. 

Keeping Your Bones Healthy 

Without a doubt, we know that putting stress on bones helps keep them healthy.

This is especially important for women as they age: estrogen plays a big role in bone health, and it drops significantly in peri- and post-menopause. Studies also show that we all naturally start to lose bone mass as we age. Conditions regularly associated with poor bone health are osteopenia and osteoporosis: according the the Cleveland Clinic, "Osteopenia is the medical definition for bone density loss. It can become osteoporosis if the bone density loss worsens."

“The good news,” says the Harvard Medical School article titled “Strength training builds more than muscles,” “is that research shows that strength training can play a role in slowing bone loss, and can even build bone.” 

In addition to strength training—which includes lifting weights—movement that involves impact also helps promote bone density and strength: activities that involve jumping, hoping, bounding, and other impactful movement, like boxing, are particularly helpful. Short bursts of intense activity, like intervals, are good as well.

Always remember to ease into any new exercise routine, especially lifting heavier weights and activities that are particularly intense. Consult your doctor or other medical professional with any questions or for any necessary health clearance. Working with a professional trainer or fitness instructor is also recommended.

Nutrition also plays a role in bone health: in particular, getting adequate Vitamin D and Calcium are important. Additionally, cutting back on or eliminating alcohol and smoking are highly recommended. There are also some medications that can impact your bone health. It’s best to talk to your doctor about the prescriptions that you regularly use. 

Get to Know Your Bones

You can learn about your bone health through a DEXA Scan, which is a way of measuring bone density. Dr. Peter Attia discusses DEXA Scans and a lot of other useful information about bone health on his podcast The Drive, in the episode Navigating Bone Health, which re-aired on July 6, 2025. 

In that episode, Attia states the common recommendations for when to get a DEXA Scan: 50 years old for people at high risk, and 65 or 70 years old for women or men respectively who aren’t at high risk. He also mentions that the World Health Organization, or WHO, recommends a scan a decade earlier (at 40). Attia himself prefers to see scans as early as in the mid-30s.

Getting a baseline on bone health can be very helpful. Talking to your doctor and educating yourself on this matter will help you decide when is best for you to start gathering information about your bone health. 

At any age, being mindful of your bones and how critical they are to long-term wellness is important. As living, ever changing parts of your body, bones are impacted by what you do today, and tomorrow. 

You can help improve your well-being for years to come by taking care of your bones now. Strength training and high impact exercise are key aspects of that journey.