A person’s height plays an important role in the development of his personality. Being short or tall can often contribute to issues associated with self-esteem.
Your height is mainly determined by 2 factors:
Genetics
Height is majorly genetically programmed. Whether you will grow tall or short is already in your genes. Thus, it is commonly seen that children of tall parents grow up to be tall and those of short parents, short.
Hormones
Hormonal surges in the body result in the development of secondary sexual characters and height during puberty. In humans, the adult height is accomplished up to the age of 15 to 18 years. Teenage girls and boys grow rapidly during the years of puberty. This is called the pubertal surge.
Girls tend to achieve their adult height by the age of 15 years, whereas boys continue to grow for a bit longer after puberty.
Though it is difficult to stimulate or restrict a person’s growth in terms of height, following a few things during childhood and adolescent years can help one shoot up a few more inches.
1 . Eat Right
-Consuming well-balanced, healthy, and adequate quantity of nutritious food during childhood and teenage boosts height during the pubertal surge.
-A diet rich in proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals promotes the overall healthy growth of the body.
-Having a protein rich diet is very crucial for adequate growth during childhood and adolescent years. Include eggs, tofu, lentils, soy products, lean meats, milk and milk products and nuts in the diet to ensure that your boy gets all the protein that it needs.
-Nutritional supplements like iron, calcium, protein, etc. are usually not required if you are consuming a well-balanced diet. However, they can be used sometimes in cases of deficiencies to boost one’s height.
2 . Stock Up On Calcium
-Milk is an important component of your diet that fulfils the increased demand of calcium of growing bones during puberty.
-The end plates of the bones continue to increase till puberty, after which they stop growing. Hence, it is necessary to provide an adequate amount of calcium and vitamin D to the body during the growth years.
-Calcium is procured from all dairy products like cheese, paneer, curd, chaach, etc. Ragi is another important source of calcium.
-Exposure to early morning sun helps in vitamin D production which is essential for calcium metabolism.
3 . Strengthen Immunity
Maintaining good immunity to fight repeated illnesses is vital.
-Falling sick frequently during childhood and teenage years hampers the overall growth of the body.
-Maintaining good hygiene practices also ensures that the risk of infections is minimised.
-Nutritious food and exercise help in maintaining a strong immune system.
4 . Make Exercise A Daily Routine
-Regular exercise or getting involved in regular sports activities like running, swimming, cycling, dancing, and yoga right from childhood leads to increase in height during puberty.
-Performing stretching exercises regularly have shown to boost height.
-Avoid exercises that involve lifting heavy weights, especially during adolescent years. These exercises during pubertal years very commonly result in stunted growth.
5 . Improve Your Posture
-Practice maintaining an upright posture when doing your daily chores. A person who sits and stands erect appears taller.
Lastly, one must remember that your physical stature does not determine your stature in life! Staying healthy is more important than being tall!