bone health.
By Elizabeth Millard
Sep 24, 2020

chronic stress injury risk
lzfGetty Images
* According to new research published in the Journal of Clinical
Investigation, stress could lower your bone mineral density,
leading to an increased risk of bone-related injuries like
stress fractures.
* In order to help decrease your stress levels, getting enough sleep
is key. The Mayo Clinic recommends adults get seven to nine
hours of shut-eye per night.
__________________________________________________________________

The connection between low bone mineral density (BMD) and increased
injury risk from stress fractures are well established.
Although there are tactics that help keep bones healthy—weight-bearing
exercise like running is one—recent research suggests stress could
be thwarting some of those efforts.
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Your Guide to Self-Care During This Stressful Time

In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation,
researchers looked at the connection between stress caused by isolation
and the concentration in the blood of norepinephrine, a
neurotransmitter and hormone that’s part of the body’s stress response
and plays a role in heart rate and blood pressure.

When norepinephrine stays elevated, it decreases osteogenic markers—the
natural compounds in your system affecting bone tissue development,
such as collagen—and that can lead to reduced bone formation, the
researchers noted.

Drawing on research from mouse models, they looked at data on people
put into an isolated habitat that mimicked a space station, and found
that as anxiety became elevated, bone density started decreasing.

A takeaway here is that taking measures to reduce the amount of stress
in your daily life can bring about better bone health, in addition to
all the other benefits of lower stress like emotional resiliency,
improved cardiovascular and cognitive function, and stronger
immunity.

There are plenty of ways to take stress levels down, but with this
recent study in mind, perhaps the best is to focus first on sleep
quality. That’s because norepinephrine plays a significant role in the
sleep-wake cycle, and getting more sleep can help regulate that hormone
as well as others, such as cortisol and melatonin that all work
together to keep you on track. (For reference, adults should get seven
to nine hours of sleep per night, according to the Mayo Clinic.)
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“Our internal clocks, and keeping them set properly, affects more than
how well we sleep,” Madelyn Rosenthal, M.D., sleep medicine expert
at The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, told Runner’s
World. “It can have an effect on digestion, mood, exercise performance,
and other factors.”

All of that becomes a ripple effect, she adds. For example, running and
other exercise has been shown to be a major stress buster, and the same
is true with gut health. Sleep can improve both of those, Rosenthal
says, and that becomes a loop—as you boost exercise and digestion, you
sleep better, which helps you have more energy for your next run and
improves gut function. And along the way, you’ll build stronger bones
and reduce injury risk.

“The de-stress benefits of a good sleep schedule can’t be overstated,”
says Rosenthal. “If you need a starting point for feeling better
physically and mentally, start there.”

Join Runner’s World+ for more performance-boosting health tips!
Elizabeth Millard Elizabeth Millard is a freelance writer focusing
on health, wellness, fitness, and food.
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