A Hormone Preventing Aging of Bones

The fracture that elderly people has to be careful most is Femoral Neck Fracture. It is said that 40 % of people who had femoral neck fracture become unable to walk.
 
That is why it is important to maintain strong bones in order to have healthy life even if getting older.
 
Hormone preventing the aging of the bone
 
There are more than 100 kinds of hormone produced in the body. Secreting those hormones normally harmonizes the condition of the body. According to recent research all over the world, it has turned out that the more a certain hormone is, the lower the risk of fracture is.
 
According to a research in 2015 reported by Aahrus University Hospital in Demark, when administrating a hormone to 20 women whose ages are more than 50 for 1 year, the bone density of the femoral neck increased by average 2.3 %.
 
The biggest cause of fracture is osteoporosis which is condition that the inside of bones becomes hollow and weak. The quantity of the bone is the most with the age of 20 to 40, and after that it decreases gradually. The dangerous thing in osteoporosis is that there are almost no subjective symptoms.
 
Osteoporosis is a disease caused by lack of calcium or others, leading to low bone density and resulting in fragile bones. That makes the inside of bones hollow and makes the bone easy to be broken by small impact. But because there are no subjective symptoms, it becomes too late without knowing it.
 
The hormone preventing the aging of the bone is Melatonin.
 
Melatonin is a type of hormone produced in the brain and is secreted especially at night, promoting sleep.
 
Other effects of melatonin discovered recently are:
1. Anti-oxidant effect which prevents aging
2. Prevention of dementia
3. Prevention of aging of bones
 
Why can Melatonin prevent aging of bones?
 
The bone repeats a cycle that old bones are destroyed and new bones are produced. There are cells that destroy bones and cells that produce bones. 10 % of bones are replaced by new bones in a year.
 
But by aging, the balance of the cells to destroy and the cells to produce bones is lost and the cells to destroy bones become active. The activated cells to destroy bones makes bigger holes in bones and the cells to produce bones can’t fill in the holes completely. It means that if the cells to destroy bones become too active, producing new bones can’t catch up with destroying bones.
 
Melatonin suppresses the activation of the cells to destroy bones
 
The cells destroying bones usually secrete appropriate amount of liquid melting bones, which is hydrochloric acid. But if the liquid melting bones is secreted too much, bones become frayed.
 
Melatonin is expected to suppress the activated cells destroying bones.
 
When astronauts return to the earth, they can’t even walk. Under weightless condition, the cells destroying bones become active while the cells producing bones become less active. That makes bones melt within a short time.
 
In 2010, an experiment to confirm whether melatonin suppresses the activation of the cells to destroy bones was performed in the International Space Station. The experiment was performed with sales of gold fish which has similar structure to human bones. The activation level of the cells destroying bones in the space was 26 % more than normal, but the one with melatonin was almost same as normal. It proved that melatonin suppresses the activation of the cells destroying bones. (Fig. 1)
 
How to prevent aging of bones by secreting Melatonin sufficiently
 
Melatonin is secreted at night. To secrete sufficient melatonin, sun light is important.
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(1) When to bathe in the sun
 
Bathing in the sun in the morning resets biological clock and 14 to 16 hours after that, melatonin starts to be secreted. If you go to bed at 11 pm, if you bathe in the sun between 7 and 9 am, melatonin is secreted sufficiently.
 
It is considered that the more you bathe in the sun, the more melatonin is secreted.
 
(2) How much to bathe in the sun
 
About 30 minutes under the condition of partially cloudy is good enough. It is not necessary to be sunny.
 
Experiment: Can a person whose bones have become weak improve the condition by bathing in the sun?
 
76 years old female who had lumber compression fracture before she noticed attended an experiment. Her melatonin is 6.27 (ng/mg CREA) while the average of 70s is 14.8 (ng/mg CREA). The activation of the cells destroying bones is 291 (mU/dl) while if it is more than 309 (mU/dl), the quantity of bones is decreasing.
 
She bathes in the sun only for 10 minutes in her normal life. So she has to bathe in the sun 20 minutes more to secrete sufficient melatonin.
 
She tried to bathe in the sun for 30 minutes for 5 days.
 
5 days later her melatonin became 7.99 (ng/mg CREA) from 6.27 and the activation of the cells destroying bones became 277 (mU/dl) from 291.
 
In addition to the improvement of these numbers, her sleeping was improved as well because melatonin also controls sleeping.
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