“Drinking more milk makes you stronger!”. You might have unknowingly read this sentence in your mother’s voice. I know I did. If that is the case, I’m about to deliver some very bad news.

Your mom was wrong.

(Well, kind of.)

Milk is a great source of calcium and protein - but it’s not the end all be all of health. As you grow older, your balanced diet is generally enough to provide the calcium required for the body. Milk then is not really a necessity as much as a suggestion.

Then there’s the issue of overconsumption of milk. Drinking milk thrice a day is GREAT for infants, but doing so as an adult has more drawbacks than benefits. A study found that high milk intake was linked to a high mortality rate amongst its participants, along with a higher fracture rate in women.

So, while milk might have made you stronger as a kid, excessive consumption is definitely weakening your bones as an adult. Beware!

Having proved your mother wrong(sort of), let’s go over some other common myths about bone health.

You can feel your bones weaken:

Most people who have osteoporosis(low bone mass) only learn about it after they’ve suffered a broken bone. That is because there are no visible symptoms for this condition, and the broken bone acts as the first indicator.

This means that try as you might, feeling your bones weaken is not something you can DO and the only way to know about this disease is through preemptive screening.

Smoking doesn’t damage bones:

No Smoking PSAs usually mention lung and liver damage when discussing the harm it causes. And while the harm to the lungs and liver is very real and dangerous, this means that bones are often left out.

This might have led you to believe that smoking doesn’t damage your bones. And well, we can’t have that, can we? Smoking reduces the blood supply to the bones as it does with many other tissues, and also slows the formation of bone-forming cells, which means they make fewer bones.

And there’s more: Bones weaken as a whole due to smoking which means that fracture and wound recovery time increases noticeably if you have a smoking habit!

Cracking your knuckles leads to Arthritis:

If you’re somebody who frequently cracks their knuckles, an irritated companion might have passed this myth along to get you to stop. However, this urban myth has no basis in reality according to a paper published by the Western Journal of Medicine.

This paper was published in 1975, yet the myth has persisted even in the twenty-first century. Now, just because cracking your knuckles doesn’t cause arthritis doesn’t mean it has no consequences.

Cracking your knuckles leads to reduced grip strength, so letting go of this habit is still a good idea - just not for avoiding arthritis!

Sleep doesn’t impact your bones:

Recent studies show that sleep deprivation has a net negative impact on your bone mass - which leads to a greater risk for osteoporosis.

The reverse is also true. People who sleep for 8 hours a day had the lowest risk of osteoporosis. So, if you’ve been looking for reasons to sleep more, here is a sign from the universe!

Osteoporosis only affects older people:

While greater age certainly leads to a greater risk of osteoporosis, it is not the only factor. Genetics, gender, diet, and hormone change all play an important role in osteoporosis.

And as discussed above, smoking can also noticeably increase your chances of getting the disease. 

Bone Pain and Muscle Pain are identical:

While differentiating between bone pain and muscle pain is a difficult task, they are not exactly the same.

From the duration of pain(longer for bone and shorter for muscle) to the intensity of the pain(greater for bone), they do have some differences.

Debunking this particular myth is helpful when going to the doctor. So the next time you feel some pain, try to learn whether the pain comes from deep within your body(bone) or it feels more superficial(muscle) before booking an appointment to ensure a more accurate treatment!

While these myths range from mildly annoying to actively harmful, debunking them has the same result - ensuring better bone health for all.