It's not just our spines that shrink as we age. Pip Harry finds out which body parts lose a few sizes over a lifetime and what you can do to protect yourself.
The Spine
Spinal surgeon Dr Randolph Gray from Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney says we can all expect to lose a few centimetres from our height as we grow older. "The average loss of height from 30 to 70 years is around 3cm in men and 5cm in women. This then increases to 5cm in men and 8cm in women in the next decade of life."
The spine shrinks due to a normal age-related degenerative process which includes the discs, vertebrae and joints. "The loss of disc and vertebral body height will also increase kyphosis (forward bending of the spine) and contribute to apparent loss of height," …show more content…
That could be listening to classical music, doing Sudoku, a cryptic crossword or reading.
Parts that Grow!
The heart
Professor Henry Krum, director of Monash University's Centre of Cardiovascular Research and Education in Therapeutics, says the heart can balloon when it's not functioning correctly. "In normal ageing the heart doesn't change its shape much, if the heart is healthy. But if anything else is going on like heart attack or high blood pressure, it can cause dramatic changes in the heart's shape and size. In some cases the heart can double in size. We call this the 'wall-to-wall' effect, as the heart will take up the entire chest cavity, instead of just the one side."
What you can do: Simple lifestyle changes will help with heart health, says Krum. "Keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol under control will reduce risk of heart attack. That involves plenty of exercise, minimising salt in the diet, reducing alcohol intake and losing any extra weight. It's also important to give up smoking and try to reduce cholesterol in your diet by avoiding saturated fats."
The
The Spine
Spinal surgeon Dr Randolph Gray from Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney says we can all expect to lose a few centimetres from our height as we grow older. "The average loss of height from 30 to 70 years is around 3cm in men and 5cm in women. This then increases to 5cm in men and 8cm in women in the next decade of life."
The spine shrinks due to a normal age-related degenerative process which includes the discs, vertebrae and joints. "The loss of disc and vertebral body height will also increase kyphosis (forward bending of the spine) and contribute to apparent loss of height," …show more content…
That could be listening to classical music, doing Sudoku, a cryptic crossword or reading.
Parts that Grow!
The heart
Professor Henry Krum, director of Monash University's Centre of Cardiovascular Research and Education in Therapeutics, says the heart can balloon when it's not functioning correctly. "In normal ageing the heart doesn't change its shape much, if the heart is healthy. But if anything else is going on like heart attack or high blood pressure, it can cause dramatic changes in the heart's shape and size. In some cases the heart can double in size. We call this the 'wall-to-wall' effect, as the heart will take up the entire chest cavity, instead of just the one side."
What you can do: Simple lifestyle changes will help with heart health, says Krum. "Keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol under control will reduce risk of heart attack. That involves plenty of exercise, minimising salt in the diet, reducing alcohol intake and losing any extra weight. It's also important to give up smoking and try to reduce cholesterol in your diet by avoiding saturated fats."
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