How to Prevent Losing Height as You Age

As you get older, you might notice that you’re now looking directly into the eyes of people who used to be shorter than you. It’s common to lose height with age, and the most common culprit is loss of bone density. 

Thankfully, there are many ways to protect your bone health, preserving its strength and mitigating your risk for height loss and brittle bones that are prone to breaking. 

At Hibari Family Medical in Edgewater, New Jersey, our family medicine team offers a wide range of services, from geriatric care to women’s health, to help meet your medical needs in all stages of life. In this month’s blog, we discuss why age-related height loss occurs, what you can do to take action, and how our team can help. 

Aging and height loss

In most cases, loss of height with age is due to loss of bone density. 

Your bones are constantly remodeling themselves, producing new bone tissue to replace old bone tissue. When you’re younger, your bones build up density quickly since new tissue is created faster than it’s discarded. However, as you get older, the scales start to tip in favor of bone loss, meaning your bone tissue breaks down faster than it regenerates.

As this process continues, you can eventually develop osteoporosis, which is a medical condition that puts you at high risk for bone fractures and contributes to height loss. Women have a much greater osteoporosis risk due to naturally smaller bones and loss of bone-supporting estrogen after entering menopause. 

In fact, 10 million people in the United States over age 50 have osteoporosis, and 8 million are women.

How to slow down bone loss

Unfortunately, there isn’t any way to prevent bone loss entirely because that process is part of aging. However, you can practice some healthy habits to protect your bones from breaking and  slow down progressive bone loss that leads to losing height as you age.

Increase your intake of calcium and vitamin D

Calcium and vitamin D are vital nutrients for strong bones. Men over 50 should get 1,000 milligrams of calcium daily, and women over 50 should get 1,200 milligrams. You can take a calcium supplement, but you should also include more calcium in your diet, which you can find in dairy products, leafy greens, beans, and fatty fish like salmon and tuna.

Include more vitamin D in your diet by eating fatty fishes, egg yolks, and vitamin D-fortified products like orange juice and soy milk. Supplement vitamin D levels through sun exposure and nutritional supplements.

Exercise

When your bone tissue registers activity, it responds by triggering an increase in new tissue production. If you lead a sedentary lifestyle, your bones don’t register any activity and don’t do any remodeling.

To combat this, it’s important to exercise regularly. The best activities for stimulating bone tissue regeneration are walking, running, and weight-bearing exercises, including strength training. 

Make lifestyle changes

Quitting a smoking habit and maintaining a healthy weight are both integral parts of living a generally healthy lifestyle. They’re also both necessary for boosting bone health and avoiding height loss. 

Dropping a longtime habit of smoking and losing weight can be tricky and easier said than done. Our team is happy to partner with you to help you make healthier choices and increase your well-being.

To learn more about how to reduce your risks for osteoporosis and age-related height loss, schedule an appointment with our team by calling our office or using online booking today.