Increasing bone mass good?!
Question: Is it good if your bone mass increases?
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Answers: Is it good if your bone mass increases?
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Typically you reach your peak bone mass between the ages of 25 to 30, as you would have stopped "growing" and from then on your bone mass slowly declines.
However you CAN INCREASE your bone mass by specific interventions.
You can increase your bone mass through weight training (power lifters have thicker bones than normal people).
Also it can be increased through the use of drugs such as bisphosphonates (usually increase bone mineral density about 5-8%) or teraparitide (increase 8-10%) which are typically used to treat individuals with osteoporosis.
Finally I believe that human growth hormone would continue to increase your bone mass even if you have passed the normal age for peak bone mass, although HGH can cause significant health problems.
The advantage to having a greater bone mass is that bigger/thicker bones will be stronger and will take longer to thin as you age (or if you go into space)
The disadvantages would be that your body is heavier (bone weighs at least twice as much as muscle) and so it would take more effort to do anything.
hmmm, good question.
Your bone mass cannot increase, you can only keep the mass you have. Once a person has gone through a period of bone loss a person has to be careful that one is not loosing even more! Osteoporosis is a huge factor in this! If you feel that you are having bone loss you can always get a bone scan to see the density of your bones. As a precaution I take a daily supplement of Calcium and Magnesium while still drinking milk/dairy products. It is very important that your bones do not become too brittle or you will be dealing with fractures. Hope this helps!