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Why Wearables Matter for Bone Health
When you think about bone health, wearables might not be the first tool that comes to mind. But as Dr. Torkil Færø, physician, author of The Pulse Cure, and guest on this week’s Stronger Bones Lifestyle Podcast, explains — these devices can offer valuable insights into how your lifestyle is impacting your bones and overall wellbeing.
Your bones act as the “bank” of your minerals. Every time you experience stress, lose sleep, or eat inflammatory foods, you’re making withdrawals from that bank. Wearables give us real-time feedback on stress, recovery, and balance—helping us make better choices before those withdrawals add up to bone loss or fractures.
The Science Behind Wearables
Most wearables measure heart rate variability (HRV), a powerful indicator of how well your autonomic nervous system is managing stress and recovery. HRV helps you see whether you’re:
- Operating in a stressed-out, fight-or-flight mode (sympathetic).
- Resting, repairing, and rebuilding (parasympathetic).
When HRV is low, it’s a sign your body is under strain, which could make your bones more vulnerable to loss. High HRV reflects resilience and recovery—exactly what we want for strong bones.
Sunlight, Stress, and Strong Bones
One surprising connection Dr. Færø highlights is the role of sunlight. Heart rate data consistently shows that health outcomes improve in the summer compared to the winter—fewer deaths, stronger bones, and better HRV. That’s because sunlight supports vitamin D production and mitochondrial health, both essential for bone strength.
Even short daily exposures—10–15 minutes without sunscreen on your arms, legs, or torso—can provide powerful benefits. If you’re concerned about skin health, remember that balance and moderation matter.
Food, Stress, and Inflammation
Wearables can also reveal how food choices affect your stress levels. Many people discover that sugar, gluten, and dairy spike stress responses and lower HRV, even if they don’t notice symptoms right away. For women managing osteoporosis, this is especially important: inflammation pulls minerals from your “bone bank,” weakening your skeleton over time.
Instead, focus on whole, unprocessed foods—meals your grandmother would recognize. This simple shift can improve recovery, balance hormones, and protect bone health.
Actionable Tips You Can Start Today
- Try a wearable. Start simple with an affordable Garmin watch or Oura Ring. Use flight mode to limit EMF exposure and check your data once a day.
- Track recovery. Pay attention to your HRV trends. Low numbers? Focus on sleep, hydration, and relaxation practices.
- Soak up safe sun. Aim for 10–15 minutes of sunlight exposure on bare skin each day.
- Mind your meals. Notice how sugar, dairy, and gluten affect your body. Replace them with nourishing, anti-inflammatory foods.
- Prioritize sleep. Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and screen-free. Go to bed and wake up at consistent times.
Resources and Links
- Dr. Torkil Færø’s book: The Pulse Cure
My Takeaway
Wearables aren’t just about counting steps or tracking calories—they’re a window into your body’s stress, recovery, and resilience. For women navigating osteoporosis or osteopenia, these insights can be the missing piece in keeping bones strong and preventing fractures.
Podcast Subscribe Links - Reversing Osteoporosis
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Oxalates, also known as oxalic acid, are naturally occurring compounds found in many plants, vegetables, and fruits. They are part of a plant’s defense mechanism against predators and can be found in high concentrations in foods like spinach, rhubarb, beets, nuts, chocolate, tea, and certain beans.
Regarding bone health, oxalates can bind to minerals such as calcium in the gut, forming calcium oxalate. This compound is not easily absorbed by the body, meaning the calcium that could have been utilized for bone strengthening is instead excreted. This process can potentially lead to lower calcium availability for bone health, which can be particularly concerning for individuals at risk of osteoporosis or other bone-related issues.
However, for most women, dietary oxalates do not pose a significant threat to bone health, especially if their diet is balanced with enough calcium and they do not have a history of kidney stones.
Your gut is crucial for stronger bones for several reasons:
- Nutrient Absorption: The gut is where most nutrient absorption occurs. For bones to be healthy and strong, they need a variety of nutrients, particularly calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and vitamin D. A healthy gut efficiently absorbs these essential nutrients from your diet and facilitates their transportation to the bones.
- Gut Microbiome and Bone Health: Research has shown that the gut microbiome (the community of bacteria living in your intestines) can influence bone density. Certain gut bacteria help in producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) like butyrate, which have been shown to promote bone health. SCFAs can enhance the absorption of minerals necessary for bone strength and play a role in reducing inflammation, which can negatively affect bone health.
- Hormone Regulation: The gut helps regulate hormones that are involved in bone metabolism, including insulin, thyroid hormones, and sex hormones like estrogen. For example, estrogen is vital for bone density, and gut health can influence estrogen levels through the enterohepatic circulation, where estrogens are processed in the liver and intestines.
- Reducing Inflammation: Chronic inflammation, which can stem from poor gut health, is linked to many conditions that compromise bone strength, such as osteoporosis. A healthy gut helps to reduce systemic inflammation, protecting bones from inflammatory damage.
- Immune System Modulation: The majority of the immune system is located in the gut. An imbalance in the immune system can lead to autoimmune conditions, some of which affect the bones. Maintaining gut health helps to ensure the immune system works correctly, protecting against autoimmune reactions that could impact bone health.
In essence, maintaining a healthy gut contributes significantly to stronger bones by ensuring the effective absorption of vital nutrients, regulating hormones, reducing inflammation, and supporting a healthy immune system. Therefore, a diet rich in bone-healthy nutrients, prebiotics, and probiotics, along with lifestyle factors that promote gut health, is key to maintaining strong bones.