Live Healthy Or Shrink

Living a healthy life, it turns out, doesn’t just keep you well; it keeps you tall. Researchers at USC, Harvard University and Peking University who analyzed from 17,708 adults beginning at age 45 are convinced that lifestyle choices people make in adulthood — and not just the hand they’re dealt as children — influence how tall they stand as they age. A USC news release reports that the study revealed an especially strong relationship between height loss and cognitive health. Those who had lost more height were also much more likely to perform poorly on standard tests of cognitive health, such as short-term memory, ability to perform basic arithmetic and awareness of the date. Wait, there’s more: Among the socioeconomic factors that correlate to height loss, urban dwellers had much less height loss than those in rural areas, and having completed primary school, rather than being illiterate, is associated with 0.9 cm less height shrinkage in men — a large difference when considering that overall average height loss for men is 3.3 cm. Completing high school meant an additional 1 cm less in shrinkage.