Even moderate amounts of physical activity can improve bone health in perimenopausal women, according to a new study.
Researchers at AbdulAziz Unviersity in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, studied 1,235 Saudi women aged 30-49, measuring them for bone density at the beginning and the end of the study. The women were divided into four groups: those whose weekly exercise totaled less than 30 minutes; 30 to 60 minutes; 60 to 120 minutes; and more than 120 minutes. Exercise included fast walking, cycling and mobility exercises.
Researchers found that bone-mineral density was higher in the spine and the neck femur among women who exercised, as compared with those who were more sedentary. The exercise group also showed higher levels of “bone density markers” like serum-insulin-growth-factor.
Researchers said that exercise contributed to a continuous maintenance of bone strength. Bones seem to adapt continuously to mechanical," Mohammed-Salleh Ardawi, Ph.d, and colleagues wrote, adding that modeling helps the bone reform to meet functional requirements “and indicates the importance of "maintenance of bony tissue after maturity."
The study appeared in the “Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.”
