Every parent wants their child to be healthy and hearty and gaining some height on the way is something most might wish for. However, your height is determined by growth hormones and growth plates or epiphyseal plates in your bones, which usually don’t get stimulated after the age of 18-19 years.
According to most studies, exercise, nutrition and sleep play a vital role in stimulating growth hormones and plates. But people often assume that there are many other ways to influence these factors and so there are many misconceptions about increasing your height. Unfortunately, most of them have no scientific backing and are more myths than anything else.
The following are some of the most common myths about height increase that you should stop believing in as soon as possible.
Myth 1: It’s impossible to grow in height after hitting puberty.
Fact: The idea that you may not gain much height after hitting puberty can be disheartening, especially if you’re a young girl who has just started menstruating too. But the fact is that puberty does not absolutely dictate whether or not you’ll gain any height, since your height growth depends on growth hormones and plates. As long as your body is producing those in sufficient quantities, which is usually until the age of 18-19 years, you may continue to grow taller.
Myth 2: Your height is determined solely by your genes.
Fact: Your genes definitely have a huge role to play in what your final height or rate of growth may be. But to believe that genetics is the only determinant of a good height is wrong because many factors contribute to it. A healthy lifestyle, proper nutrition, sufficient sleep and exercise, and well-maintained hormonal levels also play a huge role. Malnutrition, both obesity and undernutrition, can especially hinder your growth.
Myth 3: You need to drink a lot of milk to grow taller.
Fact: Growing children are told to drink milk regularly so that they’ll grow taller faster. However, this does not mean drinking milk is the only thing you need to do to be able to grow your height. What you need more of is calcium and vitamin D, two nutrients that help stimulate the growth plates. There are many other sources of both these nutrients, like sunlight, spinach and other green leafy vegetables.
Myth 4: Height-increasing insoles and surgery are good options to increase height.
Fact: The alternative medicine practice called reflexology propounds the use of insoles that target pressure points to help increase height. You should know that there is no scientific backing for these claims, so it may not work at all. Similarly, height surgery is a difficult, invasive, expensive and risky type of surgery which can cause injury to your neurological, vascular and joint systems. These injuries can be debilitating and so may not be a good option.
For more information, read our article on Growth hormone deficiency.
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