Actually, it's because bone loss in the vertebrae and the gradual collapse of the intervertebral discs causes the trunk to shrink.
So it's not that the pants are getting higher but rather that the head and shoulders are getting lower.
In other words, the oldsters are slowly disappearing into their own pants. If they live long enough, they eventually have to open their fly to see where they're going.
J.R. wrote:
It gives you more time to catch them, when they start to fall down.
Good one
The question is why do younger people wear their pants so low (the older people where here first).
Wisdom comes with age. Some day young people will get some (hopefully) and start wearing their pants at a reasonable height.
Because the fashion disaster known as "wearing your pants so low down your arse, that your underwear can be seen by everyone" is figured out as being a fashion disaster.
floundering jogger wrote:
High pants were stylish when your grandfather was young. He is wearing them the way he always has.
^this (seriously all this shit about body composition is idiotic)
It's an association -- but YOU'RE ASSUMING the direction of causality.
Why do people get older when they wear their pants higher?
Wait... more... too low!
I feel like this is appropriate given the topic...
You're all wrong. We're talking about runners and former runners here I assume. Then it's because all that lifelong strain on your lower back makes it increasingly inconvinient to reach down towards the floor should the pants start to slip downwards, hence the subcontious mind adds safety inches at the waist by the decade. :-)
So you don't turn into Kyle Merber.
Lol, It's all about comfort.
As most people get older, (there are exceptions), they tend to change shape.
Getting larger around the midriff, (mainly men like me), or developing a pear-shaped butt, (most often seen in the female gender), are inevitable shapes for some of us.
Both these shapes are not compatible with standard waistline pants.
Something I have discovered as I have moved to Asia in my later years is that adjustable, (tie-waist), pants are great for wearing at any height, low or high waistline. And they tend to deal really well with the comfort value over my small, but perfectly formed, beer belly.
I now wear Thai Wrap Fisherman pants most of my day, and even use them for Tai-Chi and my morning run, they are great for Yoga too.
Do a search; "shopbeachwearonline Thai fisherman pants"
Jerry Nadler Is A Pants Wearing Gangsta https://www.barstoolsports.com/boston/jerry-nadler-is-a-pants-wearing-gangsta
Serious Answerer wrote:
Serious answer - when skinny men or women get older, esp. if they don't stay in shape, they lose muscle mass in their glutes. Then a belt doesn't have a place to rest and won't stay at your waist. So you pull your pants up above your hips and use the top of your hips to hold your pants in place. Or, if you end up with a big gut your pants won't stay in place under your gut so you have to get it up over part of your stomach.
So keep building up those glutes and don't get a beer belly. Or buy suspenders.
I couldn't have said it better. I still remember an aerobics teacher who, in describing the benefit of a glutes exercise, said, "This is to prevent the 'frog-butt' you see on old men."