Preventing Height Loss with a Healthy Lifestyle: Tips and Reasons for Shrinking in Height

We know from old grannies that they were once taller than they are now, but did you know that you start to shrink from the age of thirty? Fortunately, you can, at least partially, prevent this yourself.

You literally reach your peak when you are around 20. After that, your height remains almost stable for ten years, but between the ages of 30 and 60 you shrink by an average of one centimeter per decade. After that it goes faster. Tall and short people shrink the same amount, but women lose more height than men. In total, people become an average of 5 to 8 centimeters shorter.

Muscles and vertebrae
There are three processes that cause this, explains geriatrician Anton De Spiegeleer at HLN. “To begin with, the cartilage and connective tissue of your intervertebral discs ages in your spine. When you’re young those are nice pads between your vertebrae, but they get dried out and that makes you smaller.”

“Secondly, the vertebrae become compressed as a result of osteoporosis. Your bones become more porous and this is often accompanied by back pain. That is something that women in particular suffer from, we suspect due to the hormonal processes during menopause. Thirdly, your muscles age: as you age they lose mass and strength. That happens with all the muscles in your body, but when your back and abdominal muscles become weaker, you walk more and more bent over.” You also lose a little bit of length because your feet sag. As a result, you sometimes get bigger feet as you get older.

Healthy lifestyle
If you shrink relatively quickly, that is an alarm signal, claims the geriatrician. “It is often a sign that there is rapid aging and you are also more likely to have other problems such as cardiovascular disease or problems with the brain.” But a lot can be prevented with a healthy lifestyle. “You can control about 50 percent yourself, which is a huge amount and you can really make a difference to your health there.”

First, you need to stay active to maintain your muscle strength. “Regular exercise is very good for slowing down all types of aging processes. What few people realize is that you not only need gentle physical activities such as walking, cycling and swimming, but also strength exercises in which you exercise more intensively.”

It is also important that you adopt a good sitting posture at the computer and that you eat a healthy diet, especially sufficient proteins are important to maintain bones and muscles.

Bron(nen): HLN