My bone density results improved from 10 years ago according to a recent DEXA scan to my surprise. I didn't do a lot except take a supplement that I put a friend on to help heal his broken neck and which his neurosurgeon and orthopedic physician approved. I started taking the stuff because it was just sitting on the kitchen counter. It includes what I think of as the bone-support trinity of algae-based house, vitamin D3 and K2 plus trace minerals including boron.

Otherwise my bad eating habits and everything were still in effect, including drinking a lot of coffee which I now know is bad for the bones so has been curtailed. [I have a sneaking suspicion that I might have lost a lot of bone density earlier in life because of some lifestyle factors like erratic diet, etc.]

I'm done a lot of research and reading the studies about bones and bone health over the past year. I'm taking this stuff seriously because I hope to never ever take any of the currently available osteoporosis drugs. One thing that I found encouraging was that exercise, especially resistance training, results in the bones and muscles engaging in a feedback loop. That is subjecting bones to appropriate and safe stress, over time, can trigger or speed up bone cell reproduction. And some of the information that the bone needs is communicated by the muscles being used.

It's almost as if the body is asking if this is the new normal, this level of activity, and if so decides to prepare for it. For some reason I thought that was profoundly encouraging and just further reconfirms my appreciation for the mysteries of the human body. But it's also a really good argument for thoughtful resistance training beyond the obvious benefits.