So many changes occur as we age. It starts with a few gray hairs and fine lines and, maybe, a few aches and pains. You might struggle to read the menu in a restaurant because the print is too small. But a healthy lifestyle can slow down and mitigate some of these changes. But did you know you also become shorter with age?
Over a lifetime from age 16 to 18, when you stop growing, you could lose as much as three inches in height by the time you reach your seventies. One study in the Journal of Epidemiology found that women lost an average of two inches due to aging while men lost around 1.2 inches. If you’re not supermodel height, you don’t look forward to getting shorter. But why does this height loss occur and is there anything you can do about it?
Spinal Changes: The Backbone of Height Loss
One of the main reasons you lose height with age has to do with the structure of your spine. Your spine is made up of vertebrae, which are bones, separated by intervertebral discs. These discs absorb shock when you move. As you age, the pull of gravity causes the discs between your vertebrae to flatten and become drier. As they lose water and flatten more, the space between your vertebrae shortens and your vertebral column does too. This is a type of disc degeneration that comes with aging.
Plus, if you have osteoporosis, you can develop fractures or breaks in your vertebrae that cause your spine to compress and shorten. These tiny fractures, known as microfractures can eventually lead to the collapse of your vertebrae. Women are most susceptible to such fractures after menopause.
Bone Loss: The Silent Thief
As mentioned, osteoporosis can cause your spine to compress and shorten. Osteoporosis is sometimes referred to as ‘the silent thief.” The reason? It damages your bones in a stealth way, often not causing symptoms until you develop a fracture. The microfractures resulting from osteoporosis can lead to a noticeable decrease in height as the vertebrae compress. It’s a reminder of the importance of bone health, particularly in the later stages of life.
Postural Changes: The Role of Muscles
It’s not just your bones and discs that contribute to height loss as the decades pass. Muscles play a role too. If you’re not physically active and do core exercises, like planks, your core muscles weaken. Since these are the muscles that support your back, spine, and internal organs, weakening of these muscles can cause poor posture and measurable losses in height, as you can’t easily straighten your body to maximal height due to muscle weakness. You also have less support for your spine and are at higher risk for back injury. You often see this problem in people with sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass.
Foot Changes: The Foundation of Our Stature
Here’s another surprising fact. Your feet also contribute to loss of height due to aging. During the second half of life, you might notice the arches of your feet become flatter. Although it’s modest, this flattening contributes to height loss. It shows how connected all our systems are to one another.
Cartilage Wear: The Cushioning Effect
A less significant cause of height loss is damage to cartilage, the flexible connective tissue that cushions and protects your joints. Over a lifetime, it can undergo significant wear and tear that degrades it and impacts joint health. This contributes to damage that plays a modest role in loss of height due to aging. Over time, cartilage damage can lead to osteoarthritis, a degenerative form of arthritis that causes stiffness and pain in weight-bearing joints like your knees and hips. Staying active and eating an anti-inflammatory diet may help slow cartilage damage and degeneration due to aging.
Quantifying Height Loss
As mentioned, height loss related to aging isn’t insignificant. Research shows women lose almost double the amount of height, on average, compared to men by age 80, with men averaging around and inch and women about two inches, but up to three inches by the eighth decade. Women lose more because they experience more bone loss after menopause due to lower estrogen levels. A downside, besides becoming shorter, is that losing bone density increases the risk of fractures and disability.
When to Seek Medical Advice
It’s normal to experience some loss of height as you age, but if you lose height quickly, it could be a sign that you have osteoporosis or another condition involving your spine. That’s why it’s important to measure your height at doctor’s visits and keep an accurate record. You can also check your height at home. You should always consult a healthcare professional if your height changes suddenly, as early intervention can prevent further complications.
Mitigating Height Loss: A Proactive Approach
Although we cannot completely halt the aging process, you can minimize height loss by supplying your body with nutrients that support bone health, like calcium, vitamin D, vitamin K2, and magnesium. Doing moderate amounts of high-impact exercise, like jogging or jumping, helps stimulate new bone formation and preserve bone density. Talk to your doctor if you have joint issues that make high-impact exercise uncomfortable.
Strength training, using a resistance that allows you to do between 4 and 6 reps before fatiguing helps preserve bone too. Also, maximize your core strength by doing exercises that strengthen your core, like planks. Strength training also helps counter height loss by keeping the muscles that support your spine strong.
Conclusion
Height loss is an inevitable part of aging, just like gray hairs. But understanding the factors that contribute to it will help you take proactive steps to preserve your stature and avoid the ravages of osteoporosis. Take care of your bones! They’re the foundation that keeps you upright and on the move.
References:
- Iwasaki T, Kimura H, Tanaka K, Asahi K, Iseki K, Moriyama T, Yamagata K, Tsuruya K, Fujimoto S, Narita I, Konta T, Kondo M, Kasahara M, Shibagaki Y, Watanabe T, Kazama JJ. Association between height loss and mortality in the general population. Sci Rep. 2023 Mar 3;13(1):3593. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-30835-1. PMID: 36869154; PMCID: PMC9984491.
- Schäppi J, Stringhini S, Guessous I, Staub K, Matthes KL. Body height in adult women and men in a cross-sectional population-based survey in Geneva: temporal trends, association with general health status and height loss after age 50. BMJ Open. 2022 Jul 8;12(7):e059568. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-059568. PMID: 35803618; PMCID: PMC9272122.
- “Why do I shrink in height as I age? – Harvard Health.” 01 Jul. 2022, https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/why-do-i-shrink-in-height-as-i-age.
- “Why do we shrink as we age? – Live Science.” 26 Aug. 2024, https://www.livescience.com/health/why-do-we-shrink-as-we-age.
- “Ask the doctor: Why do we get shorter as we age? – Harvard Health.” 11 Apr. 2014, https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/ask-the-doctor-why-do-we-get-shorter-as-we-age.
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