eldery shrinkage?

[dstebbins]

As you (should) know, little kids grow in stature because our bodies are constantly creating new cells. As a child, our body creates cells faster than old cells die, which cause us to become physically larger. At age 18, the rate at which cells are created start to cancel out with the rate at which cells die, causing us to stop growing. However, in our elderly years, our cells start to die faster than our body can manufacture new ones, causing us to, essentially, shrink.

 

Does that mean that, at least in theory, if we could avoid all other forms of death, and live long enough, we could eventually shrink to the size of a fetus or zygote, and die THAT way?

[CharonY]

The premise is wrong. Shrinking is not due to reduced cell proliferation. We even change height a little during the day due to diurnal variations in swelling of invertebral disks. During aging the height changes are also mostly due to changes in the spine.

 

Wrong premises usually result in wrong conclusions and even worse extrapolations.

Edited August 19, 2010 by CharonY