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When you are young and at the prime of your life, you feel that nothing you do, or not do for that matter, will affect you and your health. You feel you are invincible, forever healthy and young, able to do whatever you please and desire.

However, unless you have some sort of youth potion or supply of water from the fountain of youth, you must accept the fact that there will come a time when you will be facing the consequences of your disregard for your health and fitness. In 20 or 30 years, or maybe even less, you will start feeling the aging process creeping up your body, particularly in your joints. When you reach this time and age, and feel the excruciating pain that arthritis and rheumatism brings, you will start to feel sorry that you did not invest much time on being healthy and fit when you were younger.

Maybe, it is still not too late. Probably, you can still lose some weight, eat the right stuff and try to prevent the worsening of your condition. Below are some tips that can help you prevent having arthritis or at least avert the aggravation of such disease.

Pay Attention To Your Weight

You should act now and be more responsible for what you eat. Being overweight or obese is a major risk factor for developing arthritis in the future. The weight-supporting joints, such as the knees, are the ones that are suffering for carrying excess weight. If you already have arthritis, losing weight or maintaining your ideal weight will help a lot in easing the pressure from your knees and other weight-supporting joints.

Exercise Is Essential

A person who has a sedentary lifestyle usually has weak muscles, which is one of the risk factors of developing joint diseases. If you do not want to develop arthritis, you need to exercise regularly because it will help you develop more flexible, stronger joints and muscles. However, make sure that the exercise routine you take has low impact or intensity. Abusing your joints by performing abusive exercise regimen will do you more harm than good.

Repetitive Strain On Your Joints And Muscles Should Be Avoided

Chronic strains, aches and stress due to work, sports activities or hobbies should not be ignored because these might develop to future arthritis problems. If your work or activities require you to do heavy manual physical labor, squatting, and frequent knee bending, you need to take particular care on how to properly carry out your job so that your knee joints will not be harmed.

Spending most of your time in front of a computer, typewriter, stenograph machine, calculator and playing musical instruments, such as the piano, organ, cello and violin, may also lead to osteoarthritis. Make sure that you exercise your hands and fingers once in while at work and take a break for a few minutes to give your joints some time to relax.

If you already experience chronic pain in your joints and muscles because of your work, hobbies, or activities, you must seek the help of a physician.

Water Helps To Lubricate Joints

You need to drink at least 8 glasses of water everyday to ensure smooth performance of bodily functions. Water is also important in lubricating your joints, particularly because the cartilages in your joints are made up mostly of water. Minimize your intake of tea, sodas and coffee because they are diuretics, which not only encourage the elimination of fluids in your body, but also prevent water from being absorbed by your tissues.

Take Some Supplements

Since it is hard to get enough of the right amount of vitamins and minerals that your body needs from the food that you eat, you might as well take supplements. What your body needs to protect your joints are MSM, boron, glucosamine, and vitamins A and D.