You already know that regularly hitting the gym keeps you looking and feeling your best. But the tough workouts you do in your youth could also help you stay healthy later in life, according to a new study published in the journal Menopause.
Researchers measured the heights of more than 1,000 women, then measured them again five years later. The women lost an average of 0.4 inches over the five-year period. The 70 women who lost over an inch of height were older, weighed more at baseline, and took more corticosteroids, which are known to cause osteoporosis.
The connection between physical activity and height after menopause is likely the fact that exercise helps build stronger bones, according to the press release.
“Although this study was done on postmenopausal women, there is a key message for younger women: strenuous exercise in teenage years has lasting effects on your bones later in life,” says Wactawski-Wende.