Staying in the plateau for half a month will increase your height by 2 centimeters? Wrong! The place where you can really grow taller is...

Some time ago, a batch of news appeared on the Internet, saying that a 39-year-old blogger went to the plateau for a half-month trip and actually grew 2 centimeters taller.

After seeing this news, many netizens also expressed their desire to travel to highland areas such as Tibet to make themselves taller. But can traveling to the plateau for a period of time really make adults who have stopped growing continue to grow taller?

In fact, this is not reliable.

There is no scientific research to prove that high altitude areas can make people grow taller. Not to mention that adults in their 30s have stopped growing taller, this growth rate is also quite outrageous.

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According to the “Evaluation of Height Development Levels for Children and Adolescents Aged 7 to 18”[1] released by the National Health Commission in 2018, under normal circumstances, children in adolescence, a period of rapid growth, only grow by about 10 centimeters per year. It is not very likely that an adult will grow 2 centimeters in half a month.

The reason for this result is either that there is something wrong with the height measuring tool or that the height is measured at different times. It is normal for a person's height to fluctuate by 1 to 2 centimeters within a day. So adults should not think of increasing their height by traveling to plateau areas. Although going to Tibet will not make you taller. But if you go to a higher place, you still have a chance to grow taller.

Can you really grow taller by going to space?

According to Wu Dawei, deputy chief designer of the astronaut system of China's manned space program and director of the general office of the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, the height of astronauts will indeed change by 3 to 5 centimeters after staying in space for a period of time.

This is because in a microgravity environment, the gaps between the intervertebral discs will become larger, making the spine longer. Therefore, people also need to take this into account when designing clothes for astronauts.

However, the height that astronauts "grow" in space is only temporary. After returning to the normal gravity environment of the earth, the gaps between the intervertebral discs will return to their original size, and the extra height will "shrink back."

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However, this "pulling and contracting" process may cause some adverse effects on the astronauts' bodies.

In 2016, a study published in the journal Spine pointed this out [2]. The study observed and recorded the height and spine-related physiological indicators of American astronauts and found that the astronauts did grow 4 to 6 centimeters taller during their six-month stay in space. However, these astronauts also experienced spinal pain. This is related to the decrease in muscle content around the spine.

Moreover, when comparing the data of astronauts and other fighter pilots, it was found that astronauts had a 4.3 times higher risk of developing a herniated disc than other pilots.

So, going to space can indeed make people grow taller, but such growth is only temporary and will have a negative impact on the body. At present, astronauts at home and abroad have to do specific exercises in space to reduce the negative impact of the microgravity environment on the body.

Compared with growing taller , adults should pay more attention to "aging and shrinking"

For adults, it is certainly unreliable to think of growing taller by traveling to plateaus.

Moreover, for adults approaching 40, height growth is no longer a matter of particular concern. In contrast, "aging shrinkage" (that is, height will begin to "shrink" as you age) is more worthy of attention.

Although "shrinking with age" makes people think of people over 60 years old, "shrinking with age" actually starts happening around the age of 40.

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According to Pham Liem, a geriatrician at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, as people age, they may become shorter because of a shortening of the spine due to the wear of cartilage between joints and osteoporosis. For adults, height loss may also occur due to a loss of muscle mass.

Between the ages of 30 and 70, an adult’s height may decrease by approximately 2.5 cm, and after age 80, may decrease by a further 2.5 cm[3].

Another survey of Chinese people aged 45 and over predicted that as they age, men will shrink by about 3.3 cm and women will shrink by 3.8 cm [4].

Although shrinkage is inevitable, the study also found that the degree of shrinkage is negatively correlated with people's living conditions, especially their nutritional levels. In other words, paying attention to a balanced diet to ensure calcium intake, as well as keeping active and slowing down the rate of muscle loss can also reduce height shrinkage.

Therefore, for adults, "increasing height through travel" is not reliable. The right way is to exercise more, eat healthily, and protect your height.

References

[1] “Evaluation of height development levels for children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 years”

[2]Chang DG, Healey RM, Snyder AJ, et al. Lumbar spine paraspinal muscle and intervertebral disc height changes in astronauts after long-duration spaceflight on the international space station[J]. Spine, 2016, 41(24): 1917.

[3]https://uamshealth.com/medical-myths/do-people-shrink-as-they-age/

[4]Huang, Wei, Xiaoyan Lei, Geert Ridder, John Strauss and Yaohui Zhao. 2013. "Health, Height, Height Shrinkage, and SES at Older Ages: Evidence from China." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5 (2): 86-121.

Planning and production

Author: Science Scraps Popular Science Team

Reviewer: Tang Qin, Director and Researcher of the Science Popularization Department of the Chinese Medical Association

Planning丨Lin Lin

Editor: Lin Lin