Sometimes
one has a lightbulb moment. Mine came today over a breakfast boiled egg
(from M&S and lovely it was too). We were talking about Brian May
and the fact that some people have just too much talent and some of us
could do with it being shared out a bit more equally. [For those who may
not know Brian May was/is also an astrophysicist.]
Somehow
via Demi Moore (who wasn't an astrophysicist) we got onto the subject
of height and Anna remarked that at one time she had been her height
(1.65m). According to my medical records when I went to Lewis I was
somewhere near 5' 10½". Now I am somewhere over 5'9". Where did that
inch or so or couple of centimetres go? It was at that point that I had
the lightbulb moment. Our spines condense. If we make the assumption
that our bodyweight and composition remains the same over that 40 years
then that bulk has to go somewhere. If you squash something it will
often bulge at the middle. So as we get older and shorter out tummies
get bigger. Simple. It was nothing to do with the wine.
Totally logical. I love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark. Original thought isn't one of my strong points but I used to be reasonable in the logic department.
DeleteBrian May is a proper super star. He cannot only play great music, defend badgers and do pure mathematics but has earned more than the rest of us put together. Makes us all look like Muppets. Superman.
ReplyDeleteI have mentioned several times to my sister that horse riding isn't good as all that bobbing up and down makes ladies bums bigger. I never though that osteodegeneration of the spine was the cause of my tummy expansion.
What's the word for collapsing discs?.... I know it is becoming aged or unbecoming aged.
Adrian age cometh not alone!
DeleteAh. So that what's happened...
ReplyDeleteApropos multi talented people, I have a friend who played football for Huddersfield, cricket for Yorkshire, and he's a brilliant artist. And he's nice, too. And good looking. Oh well....
Frances I've never been of the 'life's not fair' school but sometimes I do wonder......
DeleteThere have been times when even logic has confounded me but this revelation makes perfect sense. Another of life's mysteries explained. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pleasure Pauline.
DeleteI still claim to be 1.62 since no one has bothered to re-measure my height in the last 45 years or so. Now I got curious and tried to do it myself and was a bit surprised to find myself 1.63. I know I lost weight, but does that also mean getting taller?! Then I realised I had slippers on... I suppose I may have shrunk to 1.61! ;)
ReplyDeleteSo you were 1.62 at the age of 5 Monica? I suspect that you may have grown since then.
Delete45 years ago I was 15 years old, GB - not 5 - and I think I was pretty much full-grown by then. :) My first separate passport is from 1972 (age 17) and states my height to be 162 cm. As far as I can recall, that figure has never been questioned since. (Fortunately, passports don't mention variations around the middle...)
DeleteInteresting post. Great leaps of logic. It must have been a great egg. I always thought it was gravity that pulled us closer to the ground!!!
ReplyDeleteAh but you see Red gravity would have pulled all our bits nearer the ground! It was a great egg by the way.
DeleteGood gracious ! a light bulb moment indeed. And I certainly can't think of any reason why people shrink.( Apart from magic, that is)
ReplyDeleteApparently Jenny the bits between our vertebrae get squashed. Still seems a lot to me. Perhaps I just stood up straighter 40 years ago.
DeleteI'm so happy that someone has finally explained this belly bulging phenomenon to me....thanks muchly GB!!
ReplyDeleteI feel quite smug Virginia.
DeleteI agree. In part. But for most (some?) women, it also has to do with childbearing years. I lost height when I was relatively young....in my 40's. The little belly came later.
ReplyDelete