Arthritis is one of the most common diseases. Arthritis causes our stiffness, pain, and damage to our bones and joints. While rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, osteoarthritis in most cases is caused by old age. Maybe also hereditary.
Osteoarthritis is caused by the general wear of our bones and muscles. This may be faster for some people because of various factors. Some of these factors are a bad diet, an unhealthy lifestyle, settling routine, lack of exercise, etc.
Although osteoarthritis cannot be fully prevented, making a person’s conscious change in a person’s lifestyle can significantly reduce the risk of osteoarthritis. In this article, we include lifestyle changes that can help reduce your chances of developing osteoarthritis.
9 Changes in lifestyle that reduce the risk of osteoarthritis:
1. Exercise
Exercising is one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of osteoarthritis and various other bone health diseases triggered by general wear. Exercising helps increase the absorption of nutrients by our bones and muscles that promote long life in it. Exercise also promotes joint and muscle elasticity.
2. Manage your weight
One of the main causes of osteoarthritis may be obesity. Extra fats around the bones and joints we put excessive pressure on them. This excessive pressure can bind their damage. Many studies show fat people have a higher risk of getting osteoarthritis.
3. Be careful with repeated movements
This might sound contradictory. However, repeated movements are not as healthy as exercising regularly. If your work or hobby requires you to practice the same physical movements several times every day, it might affect the health of your joints and bones.
4. rest
Muscle and bone mobilization as mentioned above can also cause more damage than good. Although exercising every day is important, it’s okay to rest if there is excess tension in your bones and joints.
5. Pay attention to your blood sugar
High blood sugar levels or diabetes have also been shown to increase the risk of osteoarthritis. You can see the early signs of type-2 diabetes through regular body examination through blood tests.
6. Don’t ignore pain
If you have experienced pain in certain joints, you are advised to meet a health professional about the same thing. Prolonged joint pain can develop into osteoarthritis or related diseases that cannot be cured.
7. Treat injury
Similar to joint pain, you are also encouraged to treat and pay attention to injury. Injuries caused by impacts can pose a threat to the joints and health of your bones. You may be at a higher risk of delaying osteoarthritis or other diseases if you leave an untreated injury.
8. Drink enough
Alcohol has various adverse effects on our health. Many studies have shown that excessive and regular alcohol consumption also affects the health of our bones and muscles. This worsens our bone health and accelerates the wear process.
9. Stop smoking
Smoking has various negative effects on our bodies and may even have life -threatening effects. Smoking also accelerates the process of general wear of our bones and muscles. This might increase the risk of being exposed to osteoarthritis or other chronic diseases.
In conclusion, our lifestyle plays an integral role in our physical health. Making healthier lifestyle choices lowers our risk of osteoarthritis and various other diseases that may later lead to osteoarthritis.