I’ve recently learned I have lost an inch and a half in height in the past decade. I shouldn’t have been too surprised; my maternal forebears weren’t very tall to start with and they all lost height as they aged. However, an inch and a half is still a lot when you are as short as I am.
I got the news as the result of tests I take as part of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. It’s a 20-year national study with more than 51,000 participants aged between 45 and 80.
Every three years the researchers take measurements and assess competencies, both physical and mental. Every 18 months or so, I also participate in an interview where they ask me about my work, hobbies, relationships, habits and so on. During the pandemic, they also sent surveys to monitor how we were all managing with COVID.
The CLSA has been publishing papers regularly and I encourage you to dip into their research pages to see what they have learned about how we are aging in the 21st century.
Anyway, back to my height, or lack thereof. Bone loss is not unusual for older people. Women have less bone tissue than men and they also lose bone density faster during menopause. The CLSA tests came right as I was finishing menopause thus they were able to track my downward descent.
Losing bone density increases your risk for osteoporosis, which also leads to an increased risk of fractures. The bad news is I can’t recapture my height; the good news is there are things I can do to reduce my risk for the bone loss that leads to shrinking.
The Harvard Health page offers several useful tips:
- Eat a calcium-rich diet. I already drink milk and eat yogurt and cheese, as well as lots of kale, nuts and seeds. So this is on the keep-doing list.
- Take a Vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. The fact is, while I may be ingesting my daily servings in my food diet, I don’t know if my body has been absorbing it. I am going to start and see if this helps.
- Weight-bearing exercise. I weight train twice a week and try to walk regularly, especially when I am on holidays. However, I may not being doing enough. According to Harvard Health, “Putting pressure on your bones helps maintain bone strength.” Time to be creative and add more steps in my day.
- Avoid stooping and hunching. This is a hard one for me as I spend most days sitting at a desk. More times than not, I catch myself curled over the laptop or my sewing machine. My posture is suffering and I need to keep working on my core.
Still, I’m glad to learn there are things that I can do to hold steady. While we can’t control our genes, we can cultivate positive habits that can reduce the negative impact of our genetic inheritance.
MarthaFitat55 lives and works in exceedingly rainy Newfoundland and Labrador.
