Aging of Bones

Aging is a natural phenomenon. Anything that happens naturally cannot be averted. And hence aging cannot also be averted. Aging in humans occurs in all the regions. It is due to a process called gene repression.

The process is losing some of your genes that control the organs of your body, due to many factors like physical damage and physiological damage etc. All the organs and the body parts are affected by aging. Bones are no exception. The bones get aged, become weak as the age progresses.

The major changes that take place in the bone are due to mineral deficiency. The bone is made up of many minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorous etc. But as the age progresses, these minerals start to deplete and bone becomes very weak. This result in a situation called osteoporosis, better understood as porous bones. There are many other changes that accompany the mineral deficiency. The mineral depletion causes the mass of bones to come down and hence the density of the bones also comes down.

The water content in the cartilage decreases. The cartilage is the thing that provides cushioning effect to the bones. If that loses water content in becomes stiff and will not be able to provide the cushioning effect. As a result the bone gets stressed. The connective tissues also become less elastic. Coming to the joints, they will not be as mobile and movable as they are normally. They become less flexible and hence are susceptible to disorders like arthritis etc. All these changes occur in the ones and are inevitable. The only possible prevention is exercises and work outs that will keep these bones at work continuously, which may slow down the process.