That shrinking feeling
Living past fifty is not an accomplishment that pumps up your social stature in this "who’s the fairest in the land" society. We revel in the sleek potency of prime time and find nothing nice about the crusty, fusty lid that age seems to clamp over the zippity-doo-dah of youth.
It’s not surprising that this loss of social stature has mind-body effects that are reflected in shrinking physical stature in the elderly. This shrinkage leads to impaired functioning, especially of the lungs, creating a feedback loop that results in ever-diminishing physical capacity. Since we’re all going to get older unless we decide to check out early, it’s a good idea to learn to recognize and replace belittling beliefs about aging with something more growth promoting.
The medical assumption about diminishing height as we age is that it is caused by decreasing bone mass. Because so many older people shrink, it is assumed to be an inevitable aspect of aging. The upper chest and shoulders narrow and the spine compresses with age, says the accepted teaching. In some people these traits combine to produce what looks like a habitual obsequious stoop and a loss of many inches in height. Women tend, on average, to shrink more than men.
The body of your beliefs
Let’s see what’s happening from the mind-body perspective. As you gain in years, you usually accept the unconstructive, diminishing cultural beliefs about aging without questioning them. They’re true. Everybody knows it. You can confirm this by using your eyes. Negative beliefs about age focus your attention on all the hunched, shuffling, shrunken oldsters hobbling from their handicapped parking places or obstructing your path through the mall. If a hale, hearty, vigorously upright elder should stride by, you probably wouldn’t notice the telling anomaly.
With each passing milestone birthday, you prepare to add to your conversation phrases like, "I’m doing great for my age," or "What can you expect at this age?" or "At my age I can’t expect to be able to…" You gather health statistics that confirm that you will shrink (or balloon) due to inevitable changes in metabolism. When you feel like slumping around tiredly, you tell yourself, "Well, I AM getting older."
If you don’t question these negative cultural beliefs about aging, you start the subtle physical process of embodying the diminished attitudes and shrunken expectations of the elderly. You begin shrinking yourself to fit this anticipated smaller container called "older person."
Posture and attitude go hand in hand. The cocky and self-assured stand taller and take up more space than the shrinking violets. Because of the mind-body connection, your psychological stance is reflected in physical alterations, so that when you pull in your energy in response to limiting beliefs about aging, you curtail yourself physically. If you assume you become less significant as you age, your posture reflects this, at first in very subtle ways, but with time, your diminished stature becomes habitual and exaggerated.
With every inch you shrink in height, your lung capacity diminishes ten percent. Getting less oxygen makes you feel tired and weak. Feeling tired and weak leads to doing less. Doing less makes you weaker and more tired. Such a cycle would make you feel old at any age, but it’s even more negatively reinforcing if you’ve also burdened yourself with unconstructive beliefs about getting older.
Stopping the shrinkage
What’s the mind-body cure for all this shrinking? First, notice beliefs about aging and question them. Remember, unless everyone on the planet ages exactly the same way, it is not inevitable that aging results in any specific changes except the final one. Make it a point to seek out examples of aging that contradict limiting social beliefs. Study those who are aging well for hints about how it’s done. Solid evidence supports the fact that dynamic aging is not the result of diet, nutritional supplements, special programs of exercise, or anything external. It is the outcome of a state of mind.
Also ponder the question of where your sense of self-worth lies. When you are no longer in your glossy-pelted breeding and earning prime, will you be less of a person? How might you buck that trend? You may not be able to remake society so that the media broadcast more age-friendly assumptions, but you can change your corner of the universe by noticing, valuing, and cultivating in yourself the qualities that give people significant stature at any age. What does that list look like for you?
The opposite of shrinking is growing, so you’ll also want to notice beliefs about aging that suggest that people stop growing and learning as they age. Life doesn’t get less fascinating because you get older. Shelve those musty old limiting beliefs and keep nourishing your growth at the banquet of new experiences spread before you daily.
Countering the negative mind-body feedback loop with ongoing, challenging, enjoyable physical exertion keeps you from starting to wear your body like an old raincoat. Don’t call this exercise and don’t do it as exercise, if exercise seems boring and onerous. Stay physically engaged because cultivating strength, stamina, dexterity, and flexibility increases mental fortitude, self-esteem, and energy—and it makes life more fun.
Yoga is excellent for developing an open, expansive posture and a sense of relaxed vitality. Weight training (which can be done at home with no special equipment except maybe one pair of dumbbells) builds strength that feeds physical and mental confidence and energy. Dancing or taking dancing lessons is a great way to playfully engage your body and mind.
Take yourself out for a daily romp like the animal you are. Physical play promotes an expansive sense of yourself, which is a sure antidote for that shrinking feeling.