Height loss, it turns out, is less a standalone curiosity and more a general marker of the body quietly falling apart in several directions at once – muscle loss, frailty, cardiovascular decline, all arriving as an ensemble cast rather than solo acts. None of it will get my colleague his missing inch and a half back. And for those wanting to feel better about their own modest shrinkageIf you want genuine perspective, consider the real extremes. Next to that, my colleague’s inch and a half looks like nothing more than a rounding error, and he should, frankly, stop going on about it. Editor’s note: We left this story in inches as that was how the originally measurement was recorded on the football photo.