You won’t find any man in the whole world who wants to be short. You may meet extremely tall men or women who complain about their height and the problem they face due to it, however, those are some good problems to have compared to being short.
I am 5’9″ and I was self-conscious about my height for a few months. I wasn’t self-conscious when I was the shortest in my class, I wasn’t self-conscious during my senior years of high school or college. But for a brief moment of time, when I overdosed myself with Youtube and TikTok videos, I was suddenly overwhelmed by the fact that I am short.
However, I was already 21 years old, and there was little I could do to increase my height. I did what everyone in my age does, tried whatever I could to appear tall.
If you are a teenager with everyone in your class taller than you or an adult who wants to add a couple of inches to level the playing field, you may be surprised to know that there are a few things you can do to increase your height.
Things You Can Do Throughout Adolescence & as an Adult to Look Taller and Maximize Your Potential For Growth!
According to scientists, DNA is responsible for 80% of a person’s height. Rest 20% depends upon nutrition, medical condition, environment, fitness, etc
If you are going through adolescence, there are several things you can do to add a few inches to your height. However, If you are over 21, there is nothing you can do (except limb lightening surgery) to increase your height. All you can do is maximize your overall looks so that you appear tall, just like I do sometimes.
Here are 7 things you can do to add a few inches to your height & look taller:
1. Consume a Balanced Diet & Exercise More
Consuming a balanced diet during your growth years is crucial for the overall development of your body. Your diet should contain fresh fruits, whole grains, vegetables, milk and milk products, eggs, flesh foods, nuts, etc. You should also limit the consumption of sugar & junk food.
In general, your diet should provide 50-60% of total calories from complex carbohydrates, about 10-15% from proteins, and 20-30% from fat.
Moreover, You don’t need to specifically increase the consumption of Vitamin D or calcium to reach your maximum height, all you need to do is make sure you are consuming a balanced diet full of macronutrients and micronutrients your body needs.
You can use the cronometer app to count your calorie and track nutrition.
Exercise More!
When it comes to exercising, you don’t have to train with every single exercise you can find on the internet to increase your height. Just stick with basic exercises.
The more exercises you will fill your routine with, the more difficult it will become for you to maintain consistency. And at the end of the day, consistency is the key to success.
These exercises mentioned below are simple and will assist you in reaching your maximal height and maintaining your overall health & fitness:
- Pull-ups or Bar Hanging: 3 sets of Max reps/5 sets of 30-60 second hold
- Jump Squat: 3 sets of 10-20 reps
- Skipping: 3 sets of 2 minutes
- Jogging: 20-Minute
- Swimming: 20-minutes, any stroke
For reaching your maximal height, you should consider performing the first three exercises daily, whereas you can jog & swim 2-3 times a week. You can combine this workout routine with your current routine. You can get a skipping rope and pull-up bar from amazon.
2. Maintain Ideal Body Weight to Look Taller
By losing weight and reaching your ideal body weight, you will look taller for two reasons:
- Your spine becomes decompressed with weight reduction, which results in extra inches.
- It will become easier for you to maintain a proper posture if you have an ideal body weight which again will help you in appearing taller.
To lose weight, you can follow a diet and the workout routine mentioned below:
- Jogging: 30-Minute
- Skipping: 3 sets of 2 minutes
- Bicep curls: 5 sets of 10-20 reps
- Shoulder Press: 5 sets of 10-20 reps
- Squats: 5 sets of 10-15 reps
Use lightweight dumbells if you are a beginner.
Before you start a diet, you need to determine your ideal weight and the weight you need to lose. You can use an ideal weight calculator to determine that. You can use the calorie calculator to determine how many calories you need to consume to lose weight.
You can also use the macro calculator to determine how many macronutrients and calories you need to consume depending on your goal.
To lose weight, you can also stick to a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day. This much reduction in calories is healthy and sustainable. If you have tried calorie deficit before and it didn’t exactly work for you, you can try the keto diet.
Keto is a diet plan that focuses on foods that contain a lot of fats, an adequate amount of protein, and very few carbohydrates. Millions of people have tried the keto diet and shared their keto journey on Instagram with unbelievable before and after transformation photos.
However, keto is complicated and requires a lot of planning. You should consider following keto under the guidance of your dietician. You can also get a custom keto diet meal plan from here.
This diet plan will also be tailored to your weight loss goals and will be created based on the expertise of certified nutritionists, personal trainers, and chefs.
3. Perform Yoga Poses That Increase Height
Certain yoga asanas will help you in stretching, strengthening, and realigning your spine, lengthening your leg & back muscles, correcting your posture, and improving your overall health & fitness; All the preconditions for reaching your maximal height.
Here are five yoga poses you should perform consistently to reach your maximal height:
You should consider performing these yoga poses first thing in the morning.
4. Sleep More
Sleep is as important as nutrition when it comes to reaching your maximal height. The majority of human growth hormone (HGH) is released in pulses when you sleep; Lack of sleep lowers the production of this hormone.
If you want to increase your height, You have to make sure that you get the proper amount of sleep every day. Skimping over your sleep occasionally won’t make much of a difference. However, during your adolescence, it’s better if you make napping (recommended amount) your top priority.
According to CDC.gov, toddlers ages 1-2 years should get 11-14 hours, children ages 3-5 years should get 10-13 hours of sleep, children ages 6-13 old should get 9-11 hours of sleep, teenagers ages 14-17 old should get 8-10 hours, and adults ages 18-64 old should get 7-9 hours of sleep.
5. Improve Your Posture to Add Inches to Your Height
Even if you are an adult, you may gain approx. 2 inches within the next 15 days by improving your posture, and all you have to do is perform the yoga poses mentioned above and make sure you sit, walk, and stand properly from now on.
The problem is years of desk jobs, sitting, sedentary lifestyle, and lack of exercise can result in bad posture. And this bad posture results in back pain, neck pain & headaches, poor sleep, spine misalignment, makes you look shorter than you are, etc.
However, you can reverse all this by performing yoga and consciously maintaining good posture from now on.
6. Use Fashion to Your Advantage
Fashion is a weapon only a few have mastered in our generation. However, the difference it can make in your life is something that can not be comprehended.
Whatever you want to be, you can be using fashion. You can appear classy, fun, mysterious, dangerous, awkward, etc. It’s all up to your decision.
Even if you can’t increase your height, you can still appear taller by using fashion.
However, with fashion, there is no take it or leave it deal. The only deal you have is to take it or suffer further damages due to lack of fashion deal. So, put effort into developing your style and use it to overcome any limitations you desire to.
You may find this article on How to appear taller and slimmer useful.
Conclusion
Height is a brutal fact, and there are advantages related to it in every field of life. Being short has no realistic advantages unless you want to be short.
Luckily life has more to offer and ask than just height and physical prowess. Our society has various hierarchies and fields. And even if you are lacking in one, you surely will find a hierarchy or a domain where you can become good, if not genius.
If you can’t change your height, don’t waste time thinking about it. The time you spend thinking about it is much better spent on a task or a profession where you can make a difference.
At the end of the day, no matter your strength and flaws, people around you will keep moving forward toward their own goals. It’s for the best if you spend less time worrying about your weakness and more time making things happen, getting good at something that will positively impact your life.
This way, you will get everything you want and more, or at least have a shot at what you want.
P.S Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this article on How to Increase Your Height, feel free to share it. Moreover, leave a question below in the comment section if you have any.
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Rudra
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