Firstly, exercise is important in helping the body lay down enough bone in early life. This enables the body to lose bone mass later on without reaching critical limits. All people are encouraged to exercise regularly to achieve a higher peak bone mass or maintain the bone that they already possess. Exercise also confers benefits for your heart, blood pressure and general well being. You should aim to exercise at least 20 minutes every other day for this to be useful.
Smoking is known to increase osteoporosis.
Smokers are advised to stop. Stopping smoking also confers additional benefits such as less risk to your heart and lungs, less bad breath, increased fitness and more money to spend. Women after the menopause should consider whether hormone replacement therapy would be useful. It is not clear how long the effect of HRT on bone density persists. The optimum length of treatment with HRT is currently being debated.