Dear LPG

I am younger than I used to be, although I am sure many readers will be able to make the same claim. Any pensioner approaching their late 80s will agree.

On average, we get about 10 to 15 years of retirement before those little medical things go wrong. We tend to dismiss the signs and get on with our lives as best we can, but if I am honest with myself, I remember when I started to take tablets to regulate my blood pressure, and the blood sugar levels began to creep up a bit.   The other challenge is often the aches and pains that start in our legs and back, reminding us that we are not as young as we used to be.   But through it all, we battle until we notice someone else beginning to see the odd way we walk to compensate for what we do our best to refuse to feel as we get on with our daily routines. 

This is when your height starts to be affected.  It happens gradually, and I know the people around me have been too kind to confirm.   Sometimes, it is only when you get seen by the doctors, and they weigh and measure you, that the truth kicks in. 

I found myself in front of the full-length mirror more often, and that was when I realised that not only was I shorter, but I was also becoming a bit hunched. It can be one of those realisations that negatively gets to you even though you know it is inevitable, but I have always been one of those people who, once I see a problem, try my best to move on to the solution as soon as possible.  

The internet has quite a few bits of information to offer that will not make a dramatic difference to your height but might improve your posture by a centimetre or two. A few exercises designed to improve posture might cause a little too much pain, but they might just help a few of us older, slightly bent-over people be a little more aware of the way we stand and think.  

They say that you can tell a lot about a person’s outlook on life by the way that they stand, so for anyone who is not as happy as they once were when they stand in front of their reflection and study their physical demeanour, I hope the links help a bit. 

WT, Downham

WT shares some internet advice that might help…

(►►►)    (►►►)   (►►►)    

…and LPG adds some information on today’s celebration…

(►►►)