Great news for all of us! 
Fight Osteoporosis While Gardening
by Hayley Krischer
Here's some great news for gardeners: If you are working in the garden more than once a week, chances are you are fighting osteoporosis and don't even know it. Because new studies show that gardening is better for you than you thought.
Women over 50 who garden at least once a week have a higher bone density reading (the reading that is used to diagnose osteoporosis) than women who take part in almost any other form of exercise, according to a new study by the University of Arkansas. Outside of weight training, yard work and gardening beat out other weight-bearing exercise such as jogging, swimming, walking and aerobics.
It makes sense, because digging holes, pulling weeds and carrying sacks of dirt and fertilizer provide great opportunities to build muscle and bone. But another important reason gardening is so effective at preventing osteoporosis is that gardeners garden as a labor of love -- something you just can't say about most aerobicizers. And of course, you're going to do something that you love much more frequently than you're going to do something that you ought to do.
Gardening as good as weight training in fight against osteoporosis Jun. 17, 2003
Provided by: Canadian Press
Written by: LORRAYNE ANTHONY
(CP) - When was the last time 30 minutes at the gym easily turned into two hours without even realizing how much time had passed? For athletes and those who exercise daily, this might happen on occasion. But for many - those who have to talk themselves into going to the gym in the first place - each minute on weight machines or treadmills seems to drag.
Yet those same people get out in the yard planning to spend 20 minutes weeding and end up an hour later realizing just how much work goes into gardening. What is often overlooked is just how much of a workout gardening really is.
Not only does it allow one to reap the benefits of a beautiful yard - lazing away the sultry summer days surrounded by beautiful blooms or munching on fresh salads - but gardening also provides a workout that increases bone density, which can help keep osteoporosis from claiming height and health.
Osteoporosis is one of the most prevalent diseases of aging, affecting 1.4 million Canadians. It is characterized by the deterioration of bone density, leading to increased fragility. It is a sneaky disease as bone loss occurs without any symptoms. While it largely afflicts those over 50, it can strike at any age and there are twice as many women with the disease than men.
A study published last year in the journal of Women and Aging, confirmed previous studies that physical activity has positive effects on bone but it also found benefits of weight-bearing activities such as yard work and weight training on bone density.
"We were not surprised by the weight training being correlated with high bone density but the yard work was an initial surprise," said Lori Turner, associate professor of health science at the University of Arkansas and one of the authors of the study. "But then after we stopped and thought about the activities people do when they work in the yard, it made sense.
"You push a mower, you pull weeds, you bend down, you carry things, you dig - there's a lot of weight-bearing activity going on."
Jane Schlosberg likes to get out into the yard in mid-April, or as soon as she can start "shovelling the manure and getting the garden ready."
Her fair-sized backyard, about nine by 18 metres, in Dartmouth, N.S., keeps both her and her husband, David, busy. He can do all the heavy lifting and the tilling of the soil now that he's retired.
But Schlosberg, 58, still finds the garden to be quite a workout. Besides shovelling, there's planting new growth, transplanting perennials, pruning bushes and, of course, mowing the lawn.
"You're often down on the knees stretching and twisting, pushing and pulling," she said. "It's certainly strenuous work. In the spring there are always sore muscles. "
Schlosberg has been a passionate gardener for more than 30 years but she still has osteoporosis. She knows gardening won't cure her, but she keeps at it because "who knows what it would be like if I didn't do any physical activity."
While heredity contributes to osteoporosis, so does lifelong diet and physical activity. Good eating and exercise as teens are crucial to building strong bones. For older people both are important for maintaining bone density as well as agility.
"Exercise's effects on bone mass and its importance are throughout life but especially in the developmental phase in adolescence and in seniors where exercise has more than just a bone stabilizing effect. It also has a role in fall prevention," said Dr. David Kendler, assistant professor of endocrinology at the University of British Columbia who directs the osteoporosis program at Providence Health Care in Vancouver.
One of the best things about finding out that gardening is a great form of exercise, Turner believes, is that because so many older people enjoy it they will actually do it.
Getting someone out in the garden is much easier than getting someone who has never lifted weights in his or her life to start weight lifting at a gym, she said.
Schlosberg can attest to that. A self-confessed slug by nature, she doesn't garden because it's a good workout.
"It's a really, really pleasurable experience to eat things you've grown," she said. "I garden, dance and canoe, not for the physical benefits, but purely for the pleasure."
Fight Osteoporosis While Gardening
by Hayley Krischer
Here's some great news for gardeners: If you are working in the garden more than once a week, chances are you are fighting osteoporosis and don't even know it. Because new studies show that gardening is better for you than you thought.
Women over 50 who garden at least once a week have a higher bone density reading (the reading that is used to diagnose osteoporosis) than women who take part in almost any other form of exercise, according to a new study by the University of Arkansas. Outside of weight training, yard work and gardening beat out other weight-bearing exercise such as jogging, swimming, walking and aerobics.
It makes sense, because digging holes, pulling weeds and carrying sacks of dirt and fertilizer provide great opportunities to build muscle and bone. But another important reason gardening is so effective at preventing osteoporosis is that gardeners garden as a labor of love -- something you just can't say about most aerobicizers. And of course, you're going to do something that you love much more frequently than you're going to do something that you ought to do.
Gardening as good as weight training in fight against osteoporosis Jun. 17, 2003
Provided by: Canadian Press
Written by: LORRAYNE ANTHONY
(CP) - When was the last time 30 minutes at the gym easily turned into two hours without even realizing how much time had passed? For athletes and those who exercise daily, this might happen on occasion. But for many - those who have to talk themselves into going to the gym in the first place - each minute on weight machines or treadmills seems to drag.
Yet those same people get out in the yard planning to spend 20 minutes weeding and end up an hour later realizing just how much work goes into gardening. What is often overlooked is just how much of a workout gardening really is.
Not only does it allow one to reap the benefits of a beautiful yard - lazing away the sultry summer days surrounded by beautiful blooms or munching on fresh salads - but gardening also provides a workout that increases bone density, which can help keep osteoporosis from claiming height and health.
Osteoporosis is one of the most prevalent diseases of aging, affecting 1.4 million Canadians. It is characterized by the deterioration of bone density, leading to increased fragility. It is a sneaky disease as bone loss occurs without any symptoms. While it largely afflicts those over 50, it can strike at any age and there are twice as many women with the disease than men.
A study published last year in the journal of Women and Aging, confirmed previous studies that physical activity has positive effects on bone but it also found benefits of weight-bearing activities such as yard work and weight training on bone density.
"We were not surprised by the weight training being correlated with high bone density but the yard work was an initial surprise," said Lori Turner, associate professor of health science at the University of Arkansas and one of the authors of the study. "But then after we stopped and thought about the activities people do when they work in the yard, it made sense.
"You push a mower, you pull weeds, you bend down, you carry things, you dig - there's a lot of weight-bearing activity going on."
Jane Schlosberg likes to get out into the yard in mid-April, or as soon as she can start "shovelling the manure and getting the garden ready."
Her fair-sized backyard, about nine by 18 metres, in Dartmouth, N.S., keeps both her and her husband, David, busy. He can do all the heavy lifting and the tilling of the soil now that he's retired.
But Schlosberg, 58, still finds the garden to be quite a workout. Besides shovelling, there's planting new growth, transplanting perennials, pruning bushes and, of course, mowing the lawn.
"You're often down on the knees stretching and twisting, pushing and pulling," she said. "It's certainly strenuous work. In the spring there are always sore muscles. "
Schlosberg has been a passionate gardener for more than 30 years but she still has osteoporosis. She knows gardening won't cure her, but she keeps at it because "who knows what it would be like if I didn't do any physical activity."
While heredity contributes to osteoporosis, so does lifelong diet and physical activity. Good eating and exercise as teens are crucial to building strong bones. For older people both are important for maintaining bone density as well as agility.
"Exercise's effects on bone mass and its importance are throughout life but especially in the developmental phase in adolescence and in seniors where exercise has more than just a bone stabilizing effect. It also has a role in fall prevention," said Dr. David Kendler, assistant professor of endocrinology at the University of British Columbia who directs the osteoporosis program at Providence Health Care in Vancouver.
One of the best things about finding out that gardening is a great form of exercise, Turner believes, is that because so many older people enjoy it they will actually do it.
Getting someone out in the garden is much easier than getting someone who has never lifted weights in his or her life to start weight lifting at a gym, she said.
Schlosberg can attest to that. A self-confessed slug by nature, she doesn't garden because it's a good workout.
"It's a really, really pleasurable experience to eat things you've grown," she said. "I garden, dance and canoe, not for the physical benefits, but purely for the pleasure."
