Why do we shrink in height as we get older?

Have you ever questioned why we shrink in height as we get older as time passes by? Some begin to stoop and might even become a few inches shorter. So, what causes us to shrink with age?

It turns out that our muscles are being diminished within older age. Our bones eat themselves or deteriorate and our cartilage shrinks with aging. They become contributing factors to decrease height with old age.

However, the speed of this process varies based on a person’s genes, physical nutrition, and exercise level during a person’s lifespan.

*We shrink with age due to bone deterioration and weak muscles*

According to the National Institute of Aging Research, 2,084 men and women began to shrink at 30 age. This shrinking got faster with time.

This research shows men lost an average of 1.2 inches (3 cm) in height and women lost an average of 2 inches (5 cm) between the ages of 30 and 70. They conducted this research on people ranging in age from 17 to 94.

Men dropped two inches (5 cm) and women lost three inches (8 cm) by the age of eighty as we get older and our bones start to deteriorate.

However, bones start to form around the ninth week of pregnancy. They keep growing until people are in their mid-20s. Moreover, when bones have to support more muscle mass, they get denser.

Collagen fibers that stretch and improve local blood flow are produced by growing muscle. This promotes the formation of bones. However, bone development reaches the ending point around ages 25 to 30.

*Bones development stops at 30 and start to lose mass slowly between 40 and 50*

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Afterward, our bones start to break down old bone more quickly than the body can create new bone around the ages 40 to 50 which causes us to lose bone mass slowly.

Marian Hannan is an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School who studies aging. She stated humans’ ages vary depending on their biological conditions. Bones are like a matrix that is all connected.

According to Marian, collagen protein and minerals, hydroxyapatite make up the majority of the bone matrix. Loss of bone mass weakens those bridge-like structures and microfractures, which break down those tiny bone bridges in case of little loads. So, bone loss is the answer to why we shrink in height as we get older.