The Learning Journal allows you to step back and reflect on the concepts you studied in this unit.
In this Learning Journal, imagine you work for a community health organization. How would you promote bone health in your community? What practices do you feel like are important to emphasize and why?
Be sure that your Learning Journal entry is a minimum of 500 words.
In this week's reading, I learned about the formation of the skeletal system, the prevention of skeletal diseases, and the maintenance of health. It turns out that the skeletal system forms the basis of our bodies and enables us to perform various activities such as daily living and exercise. In this Learning Journal, I assume that I work for a community health organization and consider how I can promote bone health in my community, what practices are essential to emphasize and why.
Calcium, especially calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate, is a critical component of bone, but we can not make calcium in our body, so we must obtain it from our meals (OpenStax, 2018). At the same time, taking sufficient vitamin D is also critical to bone health because it works for calcium absorption and bone remodeling (OpenStax, 2018).
For economic reasons, many people in the world can not have enough nutritious diets. Especially people in developing countries eat starchy staple crops such as rice, corn, or wheat because they can not afford to spend money on nutritious food (Zimmerman & Snow, 2012). Experts insist that people often lack high calcium foods, even in developed countries. Those daily diets with high carbohydrates and lacking vegetables, fruits, and high calcium foods cause "deficiencies in certain nutrients important for maintaining health" of bones (Zimmerman & Snow, 2012, chap.2).
These nutrients are essential not only for the elderly but also for many middle-aged and young people during their bone development. Meals served in kindergartens, schools, hospitals, and many other public institutions must be monitored to ensure adequate intake of these essential nutrients for bone formation and maintenance. I will employ nutritionists in a community health organization and entrust them with creating and proposing delicious, nutritionally balanced menus.
Also, osteoporosis is a general disease for many older people. "Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by a decrease in bone mass that occurs when the rate of bone resorption exceeds the rate of bone formation, a common occurrence as the body ages" (OpenStax, 2018, chap.6). Bone density is thought to decline gradually with age. "As a result of the loss of bone density, the osseous tissue may not provide adequate support for everyday functions, and something as simple as a sneeze can cause a vertebral fracture" (OpenStax, 2018, chap.6). My grandmother fell and broke her femur last year. Her standard of living has fallen sharply after the fracture, and she decided to give up living alone and move into a group home (elderly support facility). Fortunately, her broken bones have healed, and she is back to being active, but osteoporosis is a significant concern for the elderly.
The textbook also mentions the link between exercise and bone health, saying regular exercise and resistance training are especially efficient to "slow down the eventual bone loss due to aging and for preventing osteoporosis" (OpenStax, 2018, chap.6). Therefore, I would like to create an easy exercise program for the elderly that reduces the risk of fractures, prevents osteoporosis progression, and provides it to the general public.
In conclusion, diet and exercise promote bone health in the community. I will employ nutritionists in a community health organization and entrust them with creating and proposing delicious, nutritionally balanced menus for public institutions such as kindergartens, schools, hospitals, etc. I will also create an easy exercise program for the elderly that reduces the risk of fractures, prevents osteoporosis progression, and provides it to the general public.
Thank you, professor. Have a nice day:) (572 words)
References
OpenStax. (2018). Anatomy & physiology. Houston, TX: Rice University. Retrieved from https://cnx.org/contents/FPtK1zmh@12.6:fEI3C8Ot@16/Preface.
Zimmerman, M., & Snow, B. (2012). 2.4 National Goals for Nutrition and Health: Healthy People 2020. In An Introduction to Nutrition, V1.0. Unnamed Publisher. Retrieved from https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/an-introduction-to-nutrition/s05-06-a-fresh-perspective-sustainabl.html
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