If I asked you to imagine a powerful man in your head what image would come to mind?
Likely a well-dressed, clean-cut, tall man who has been successful in whatever path he has chosen. While this image is a stereotype and not at all a requirement to be successful and powerful in life, many men around the world still strive to achieve this look in order to portray power.
Most of these qualities are completely in your control. By this I mean that you can control the way you dress, the way you wear your hair, the amount of work you put in, etc. The one thing that seems to be out of your control is your height.
Actually, that’s where you are wrong.
You DO control your height. Contrary to popular belief, steps can be taken to increase a person’s height in order to reach their fullest potential. I’m here to help every short guy out there gain a couple inches and hopefully some new found confidence so that you go out there and crush whatever you set your mind to.
First it is really important to mention that a large portion of your height does stem from genetics. It’s a simple fact that your genetic makeup is bound to play a part in the person you become. As humans, we inherit various traits passed down to us from our mother, father, as well as extended family. These traits are what make us unique individuals.
Our genes control our eye and hair color, face shape, skin color and of course our height. Height is a polygenic trait. A polygene is a gene whose individual effect on a phenotype is too small to be observed, but which can act together with others to produce observable variation. For those of us who aren’t scientists that basically means it’s a gene that works to make you who you are on the outside. Best way to explain is like this: if you have a lot of short people in your family, the odds are against you.
However, if you have a lot of tall people in your family, you’re not necessarily going to be tall. It all just depends on how everything mixes in your body. You won’t be able to know your final height until you reach full physical adulthood. Generally that comes at about age 18 for women and age 21 for men. There are some techniques for guestimating your final height before reaching it. One way you can do this is by following a few simple calculations:
With this in mind, there are however a few simple techniques you can use to take fate into your own hands and reach your fullest height potential.
One of the most important steps in your growth process is to ensure that you are eating properly. As I am sure you’ve heard a thousand times, your diet affects so much of the rest of your life. Getting the proper amount of minerals and vitamins in your system will assist you in your quest for a few extra inches.
Now you’re probably saying, “Okay great… but what does eating right actually look like?” Here is a helpful breakdown for you:
Theses vitamins and minerals are the building blocks for your body. All of them will help promote bone and muscle growth, allowing you to grow stronger and taller. It’s a two for one deal! So why not do it?! Be sure to avoid fatty/high carb (empty carb) foods. These will only work to slow down the production of growth hormones within your body. Also try to stay away from drinks with high phosphorus content. These types of beverages can cause the calcium in your body to be excreted through your urine. So basically you’re peeing out all your hard work, and no one wants that. You may want to consider taking an age appropriate supplement once a day to help ensure you are maintaining a healthy amount of vitamins. It is also very helpful to stick to a routine.
Our bodies react well to order in our lives.
It is important to eat at least 3 meals a day on a regular schedule with small healthy snacks in between. Overall, the better your diet, the faster you are going to grow. A healthy diet will also allow you to live a longer, more productive life.
A strong immune system is a key player in your growth success. This may seem strange, but it’s true. Having a healthy immune system that allows your body to stay strong and fight off disease will keep you on track towards your optimum height. This is because there are certain illnesses that can actually stunt one’s growth.
Now of course there are steps you can take to keep your immune system in check:
Resting won’t only help your immune system stay strong, it also aids in your overall growth process. Growing teens need between 8.5-11 hours of sleep a night in order to grow properly. I know, that’s a lot! But let’s be honest, who doesn’t love to sleep? I am literally giving you permission to sleep in until noon, so take it! Of course this isn’t always possible due to things like school and work, so be sure to be getting to bed early enough to get the proper amount of sleep if you need to be up early in the morning.
Why is sleep so important for body growth? Because your body literally grows and regenerates tissue while you rest. Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is produced naturally while you sleep, increasing your body’s height. Have you ever noticed that you are taller in the morning than at night? It’s true! You shrink ever so slightly during the day due to your daily physical activities. This is why rest is so essential. If you only allow yourself 5-6 hours of sleep a night, you don’t give your body enough time to grow. This type of lifestyle isn’t going to get you anywhere near your desired height.
Having a healthy sleep environment is also incredibly important. You want a space that is a calm as possible. Don’t sleep with lights on or constant noise because it will work against your natural sleep cycle. You want to aim for an environment that is as dark and quiet as possible. Consider sleeping without a pillow, or with a pillow that has minimum height to it. I know this sounds strange, but you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do to get the results you want. Pillows work to form a rounded shoulder and in turn decrease your height. Sleeping without a pillow will help to straighten out your spine and increase your length.
The rounding of your shoulders due to your pillow leads me directly into the next important step in your growth journey, obtaining good posture. Posture is everything when it comes to your height. Who cares if you’re 6 feet tall if you hunch your back so much that you look like you could be 5’ 8”.
A hunched back will actually work to affect the curvature of your spine. In doing this it will prevent you from reaching your optimum height. Now, you may think the solution is simple, just straighten up and move on. But it’s not actually that easy. Once the damage has been done, it is extremely hard to reverse the spinal curvature to its original length.
That’s why it is so important to catch it early and work hard to fight against the urge to hunch over. Some things you need to focus on are keeping your chin high, shoulders back, hips over feet, sitting up straight and walking with a purpose. I know when you are sitting at your desk having gone out the night before and all you want to do is sleep it is incredibly easy to slump over in your seat and relax your body. However, if you want to be taller, you have to fight against that desire and keep your body in the upright position. You can do it. I believe in you. Good posture = your optimum height.
Exercise is obviously a very important factor in living a healthy life in general. But it also can work to benefit your overall height. If your growth plates have not yet closed due to your age, exercise is definitely the way you want to go. If they have, exercise won’t help you unfortunately.
Activities such as swimming, running, yoga, etc. all work in favor of body growth if they are combined with a healthy diet. You can also do exercises that work to better your posture. Be sure to avoid doing extreme heavy lifting during your growth process. This isn’t to say that in order to be tall you need to be thin and weak. Not at all! I am just saying that you want to be careful with the workouts you are doing during your growth process so that you are not working to stunt your growth in any way.
You may also want to work on doing some stretching to help your overall length. Stretching your muscles and ligaments will help increase the height of your body. You can also work on extending and strengthening the spine to help with growth. You can do this through yoga, chin ups, pull ups, and toe touches. Doing these things regularly will work to increase your height if you are still in the growing process.
There are tons of growth-stunting factors out there. Your job is to be sure and avoid as many of these as possible if you want to increase your height. A perfect example of these environmental factors are things such as alcohol, drugs and stress. If these things are ingested or experienced in significant amounts while you are young and still growing, they will work against your body’s natural ability to grow and will not allow you to reach your fullest potential. Malnutrition is also a huge environmental factor that can stunt your growth. This is why a healthy diet is so important in your life.
Now, there is lots of talk out there about various other factors that can affect one’s overall height. I’m here to clear things up a bit.
Following all of these steps, while still of the age when growth is possible, will surely help you to grow to your fullest potential. If you are doing all of these things and still not seeing any gains in height at all, consider talking to your physician. While growth conditions are rather uncommon, they are not unheard of. Talk to your doctor in order to ensure that you are in good health.
Now, for those of us who are past the point of no return with our body growth, meaning that we have aged out of the growing process, there are still a few steps we can take to increase our height. Here are a few options you may want to consider if you are past 25 and still not pleased with your height:
With everything in mind I hope you now go out and take your height into your own hands! You don’t have to completely accept the cards you have been dealt by genetics. Follow these steps and you will be able to feel taller and more confident in no time. Best of luck!
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