I have stated before that there are quite a few board I frequent and this was an interesting idea that I found just yesterday. The idea was proposed on the site, The Tallest Man. You can find the board message HERE.

Apparently a rather tall sideshow individual from the 19th century who was 6′ 9″ Eugene Arceau claimed that he would sleep 36 hours at a time and managed to gain 4 inches from it. (Resource)

So are we supposed to believe in this type of claim? I am not sure since the story is so anedoctal but there should be something we can take from it.

Sleeping does help increase our height, at any age. With sleep, the vertebrate in our body does decompress and the disks are allowed to expand slightly. After a long sleep, we are taller when we wake up than before we went to sleep.

During the formative growing years, we learn that growth hormones are released at the greatest rate when we are sleeping. Usually this is when we are in deep sleep. There are many articles that shows the link between deep sleep and the excess production and release of HGH, thus height increase.

Of course one can easily point out that our growth plates have fused so deep sleep might not work , but I don’t think it would hurt to get some more sleep anyway. Even without our growth plates, we do wake up at least half an inch taller for most of us.

I wanted to post this long list of sleeping tips for the reader which was taken from this link HERE

• Sleep in a comfortable and firm mattress. If it is not firm enough, place a sheet of plywood underneath the mattress. Sleeping on a hard surface will align your spine in the natural position. This will lengthen your spinal, and also allow growth hormone to easily travel across the body.

• Sleep in a room that is dark, quiet and fresh smelling. Do not expose yourself to bright light while you aresleeping. Light will make your brain stay awake.

• It is important to sleep in a well ventilated room. Don’t be afraid to open a window, even in winter. It is better to put on an extra woollen blanket than to breathe in stale air. The amount of clean oxygen rich air that you breathe has an effect on your growth. Poor air can prevent you from growing during sleep.

• Sleep with clean, soft, and comfortable clothes. Rough clothing can block the blood circulation and make you shift and turn many times during the night, thus prevent you from deep sleep. Remember your growth hormone can only work well when you fall into deep sleep.

• Keep your hands and feet warm. Scientific studies have shown that warm hands and feet will help induce REM (rapid eye movement) deep sleep. Cold hands and feet will keep you from deep sleep.

• Drink a big glass of water before going to bed and when you wake up; this will help clean out your system Milk can also help you sleep. It contains an amino acid called tryptophan. Which produces the effect of a sedative. Do not consume any foods or drinks  that contain caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol at least 4 to 5 hours before going to bed. Caffeine and nicotine are stimulants that will keep you from sleeping. Also, refrain from a large meal at least 3 hours before bed time.

• Do exercises during the day can help you sleep better at night.

• Take a hot bath before going to bed helps induce deep sleep because it cleans your body and relaxes tense muscles.

• Practice total relaxation and deep breathing for a few minutes before you go to bed.

• Relax from head to toe. Close your eyes and relax every part of your body. Do complete breathing exercises by following the three phases: (1) Inhale slowly and deeply through the nose for 3 to 5 seconds making sure that your stomach as well as your chest expand. (2) Hold your breath for another 3 to 5 seconds, tighten your stomach muscles lightly. (3) Exhale slowly and fully through the mouth and nose. This breathing exercise will help smooth your blood circulation and get your body ready to rest.

• Maintain a habit of sleeping at the same time everyday, including weekends. This will help you develop a regular rhythm for sleep. Your brain will send you “sleep signal” at about the same time every day, which can help you fall into deep sleep easier and faster.

• Each person has his/her own specific daily sleep requirement. It is not true that the more you sleep, the better it is for your growth. Too much sleep will cause your body to develop laziness and slow down your metabolism, thus increase the danger of gaining weight. On average, a young adult who is growing needs at least 8 hours sleep every day. Teens need 9 hours or more. However, this is just an average and may not apply to you precisely.

• The best way to figure out the exact amount of sleeping time you need is not to calculate it at all. Just sleep early every night. Do not use any alarm clock, and let yourself wake up naturally. Your body has its own biological clock that can determine the exact amount of sleep it needs. As long as you have good sleeping habit and do not break it (by forcing yourself to stay up too late or get up too early), your body will take good care of itself.

• Also, it is easy for you to detect if you get enough sleep each day. If you are energetic and do not feel sleepy or very tired the whole day, then you had enough sleep last night. Otherwise, you had better readjust your schedule and try to sleep longer.

• Sleep with appropriate posture is also very important for your growth during sleep. Sleep with correct posture can help you lengthen your spine and increase your height; sleep with incorrect posture can put
strains on your neck, shoulders and back and stunt growth during sleeping.

• Sleep on your back with a flat pillow under your knees. This will align your spine properly and prevent any back aches caused by sleeping in a bent position. Raising your knees and feet slightly will help your brain get more oxygen rich blood. The greater amount of oxygen that your brain receives the higher the energy you will have to help yourself grow during sleep.

• Sleep on side, with your knees bent. This will effectively flatten the back. A flat pillow may be used to support the neck, especially if shoulders are broad.

• Do not use high pillow. While lying on your back with your head resting on a high pillow, your neck is bent forward and your back is arched in a very unnatural position. This will put strains on your neck, shoulders, and back, and also stunt growth since your spinal column is arched during most time of the night. Do not sleep face down. This will exaggerates swayback and strain neck and shoulders.

• “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”.  Be in harmony with nature.  The more we distance ourselves from nature the more we become unhappy and out of touch with ourselves.

Me: So jump into bed right now and get some rest. Your body deserves it. 

This article post will be one of the most controversial posts on the website so far because of the nature of steroids and the horrible side effects that can have on a person. Let me start out by saying that I have only found anecdotal evidence through stories of people who have grown taller from taking certain types of steroids.

Most of my information comes from many of the steroids and bodybuilding boards and forums I found across the internet. Most people would state very clearly that taking steroids , usually HGH or somatropin would not help or do anything once the epiphyseal growth plates are closed. I personally would agree with them on that point but there is a few things which I would want to add.

The thing is that human height is 95% determined by bones, the other by cartilage, muscle, and ligaments. While the bones, is believed not to grow, the steroids can still have an effect on the cartilage, maybe even thickening the cartilage.

If one was seriously thinking about taking the steroids path, here are the main 6 steroids which people have stated does work in gaining some height. Most people have stated that one can gain only 0.25 inches through taking a large amount of it over a year. However, the side effects of steroids taking is not worth it in my opinion just to gain a quarter of an inch.

1. Human growth hormone (aka HGH) or somatropin – Reference

2. Anavar (aka oxandrolone) – Reference

3. Dianabol (aka Methandrostenolone) – Reference

4. Synthroid

5. Winstrol (aka stanozolol) – Reference

6. Primobolan (aka methanolone acetate) – Reference

It would seem that most people agree that if one had gotten hormone treatment before the growth plates fused, they growth rate would have been accelerated, but it is not conclusive whether being accelerated means that the rate of growth just came earlier in life or that the growth rate was increased.

From the Boards at the Impartial Height Increase Board found HERE, this excerpt is taken

“”The steroids that are bad for your growth are the ones which convert to estrogen…other steroids which doesnt aromatizes (doesnt convert to estrogen) are good for the growth of your bones. I dont know if it will work with u…steroids have a rare patern of success…some ppl have experimented growth having steroids at 21 years of age and we are talking here about a big growth spurt 3inches-5inches. Low doses of steroids during a short period of time isnt dangerous at all and has very little side effects. And talking about this steroid which made me grow 0.5cm in 40 days, WINSTROL, doesnt makes u fat…bodybuilders use it…to “dry” themselves…meaning that it will make u stronger and more dryed, with less fat, but again using the steroid at low doses…will only have an effect on your bones, and not in your muscles or fat…the steroid is quite cheap but u need a prescription”

I take another part from the boards here

“”he gave me winstrol…a non aromatizable steroid…I was having 50mg (one injection) each 20 days which is equal to 2.5 mg daily (for 40 days) its an unsignificant dose..but its very effective to increase height(remember i grew with my growth plates fused without any exercise..besides running 2 days a week)”

I wanted to conclude this post with a few considerations for the reader. Most people have reached the consensus that if one tries to take steroids to increase height, they can actually have the reverse affect and can decrease one’s growth rate and one can end up shorter than one was intended for if left alone. 2nd, steroids do have some bad side effects including sexual dysfunction, so more research needs to be done. If you intend to take steroids, do your own research first and get all the facts first. That is why this post will be the first in a series of posts which looks at which steroids out there have been reported to help one increase height. Stay tuned over the next few months.

In a recent article that I read, a person made a comment that bovine growth hormone was tested to see if it could be used in application to make people taller. The Bovine somatotropin (abbreviated bST and BST), or BGH, is a peptide hormone produced by the cow’s pituitary gland. Apparently, human IFG-1 (insulin growth factor) and bovine IGF have an identical amino acid sequence and nearly identical biological activity.

From wikipedia – “Since 1994 it has been possible to synthesize the hormone using recombinant DNA technology to create recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST), recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), or artificial growth hormone. Monsanto developed rBST and marketed it as “Posilac”.

The purpose of the bovin growth hormone BGH was to be injected into cows so that they can produce more milk than non treated cows. Many organizations went against this idea since the claim was that milk treated with BGH and milk untreated with BGH are different, and the difference when consumed by humans can lead to disastrous side effects. There is a very well established correlation between abnormally high levels of circulating IGF-1 and the development and growth of human cancers. Testing so far has mostly shown that the milk of the treated cow did not have much difference.

As of right now, the BGH is banned in over a dozen countries. However for the US, the treated milk is allowed to be distributed to be drank. From wikipedia,

“The FDA stated that food products made from rBST treated cows are safe for human consumption, and no significant difference exists between milk derived from rBST-treated and non-rBST-treated cows.The FDA found BGH to be biologically inactive when consumed by humans and found no biological distinction between rBST and BST. In 1990, an independent panel convened by the National Institute of Health supported the FDA opinion that milk and meat from cows supplemented with rBST is safe for human consumption.“

For the wikipedia article on bovine somatotropin, click HERE

Me: Here is my educated guess on the subject. The consumption of the genetically altered milk probably does have a slightly greater concentration of growth hormones in it than the non treated one. The additional growth hormone probably causes an earlier onset of physical maturity in a developing child body than untreated milk. Studies have all shown that an earlier onset of physical maturity through puberty means that the growing process will end earlier so the final height of individuals are shorter. Comparing the average height of Americans and Canadians, where Canada bans the milk, the Canadians are on average taller than their american counterparts. While it is true these two facts may have absolutely no correlation to each other, it  could be considered that there might be some link, not accounting Canada’s better healthcare or that it is further away from the equator. A suggestion to increase height through taking growth hormon treated milk is to take it when one is actually going through the process of puberty and slightly after it.

I guess today will be one of those days that I focus more on a ecological and evolutionary frame than biological or mechanics. The next subject I wanted to raise is the process of Insular Dwarfism.

Insular Dwarfism is the process where though a line of generations, the size of a species actually decreases because the amount of space the species population can inhabit is very limited. This type fo phenonmenon is a smaller part of what scientists call the “island rule” (or better known as Foster’s Rule) where when animals and organisms from a larger mainland is transported to a smaller limited land like an island, the large animals decrease in size while the smaller animals increase in size. Foster’s rule (also known as the island rule) is a principle in evolutionary biology stating that members of a species get smaller or bigger depending on the resources available in the environment.

The main ideas on why this phenomenon occurs are stated from the Wikipedia Article on Insular Dwarfism found HERE.

There are several proposed explanations for the mechanism which produces such dwarfism.

One is a selective process where only smaller animals trapped on the island survive, as food periodically declines to a borderline level. The smaller animals need fewer resources and smaller territories, and so are more likely to get past the break-point where population decline allows food sources to replenish enough for the survivors to flourish. Smaller size is also advantageous from a reproductive standpoint, as it entails shorter gestation periods and generation times.

In the tropics, small size should make thermoregulation easier.

Among herbivores, large size confers advantages in coping with both competitors and predators, so a reduction or absence of either would facilitate dwarfing; competition appears to be the more important factor.

Among carnivores, the main factor is thought to be the size and availability of prey resources, and competition is believed to be less important. In tiger snakes, insular dwarfism occurs on islands where available prey is restricted to smaller sizes than are normally taken by mainland snakes. Since prey size preference in snakes is generally proportional to body size, small snakes may be better adapted to take small prey.

Me: It would thus be true that for endothermic mammals like humans which need a rather large amount of land to survive, the process of being moved from a mainland to an island will most likely result in the size of the people there being reduced. To make sure that one’s future generation will only increase in size, thus follow the Cope’s Rule, one should be focused on getting enough space and resources to thrive. Noting also Bergmann’s Rule and Allen’s Rule, we could also add that we should focus on finding places that is not close to the equator to minimuize our surface area to volume ratio but not at the expense of limb length. 

To learn more about island dwarfism, and it’s reverse island gigantism, go to the link HERE.

The Cope’s Rule is a slightly less well known rule developed by paleontologists an ecologists to explain how an organism’s size evolves over time. Compared to say the Bergmann’s Rule or Allen’s Rule, it may be the weakest rule to really use.

I learned about Cope’s Rule when taking a class on biology annd ecology back in college when explaining about evolution along with Bergmann’s Rule and Allen’s Rule and I felt that it is very important for any serious researcher into the process of human growth to know about this rule

I don’t remember the rule completely well so I will take the follow excerpt from the Wikipedia Article on Cope’s Rule which you can find by clicking HERE.

Cope’s rule

– Postulated by the American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope, states that population lineages tend to increase in body size over evolutionary time. While the rule has been demonstrated in many instances, it does not hold true at all taxonomic levels, or in all clades. Larger body size is associated with increased fitness for a number of reasons, although there are also some disadvantages both on an individual and on a clade level: clades comprising larger individuals are more prone to extinction, which may act to limit the maximum size of organisms.

Effects of growth

Directional selection appears to act on organisms’ size, whereas it exhibits a far smaller effect on other morphological traits, though it is possible that this perception may be a result of sample bias.This selectional pressure can be explained by a number of advantages, both in terms of mating success and survival rate.

For example, larger organisms find it easier to avoid or fight off predators and capture prey, to reproduce, to kill competitors, to survive temporary lean times, and to resist rapid climatic changes. They may also potentially benefit from better thermal efficiency, increased intelligence, and a longer lifespan.

Validity

Discussing the case of canid evolution in North America, Blaire Van Valkenburgh of UCLA and coworkers state:

Cope’s rule, or the evolutionary trend toward larger body size, is common among mammals. Large size enhances the ability to avoid predators and capture prey, enhances reproductive success, and improves thermal efficiency. Moreover, in large carnivores, interspecific competition for food tends to be relatively intense, and bigger species tend to dominate and kill smaller competitors. Progenitors of hypercarnivorous lineages may have started as relatively small-bodied scavengers of large carcasses, similar to foxes and coyotes, with selection favoring both larger size and enhanced craniodental adaptations for meat eating. Moreover, the evolution of predator size is likely to be influenced by changes in prey size, and a significant trend toward larger size has been documented for large North American mammals, including both herbivores and carnivores, in the Cenozoic.

— 20, 20, Van Valkenburgh et al.

In some cases, the increase in body size may represent a passive, rather than an active, trend. In other words, the maximum size increases, but the minimum size does not; this is usually a result of size varying pseudo-randomly rather than directed evolution. This does not fall into Cope’s rule sensu stricto, but is considered by many workers to be an example of “Cope’s rule sensu lato“. In other cases, an increase in size may in fact represent a transition to an optimal body size, and not imply that populations always develop to a larger size.

Me:  This is my interpretation and application of the Cope’s Rule. When making the arguement that size is always better, it is important to note that the rule is not always applicable. as stated, “In many cases, Cope’s rule only operates at certain taxonomic levels: for example, an order may obey Cope’s rule, while its constituent families do not….Despite many counter-examples, Cope’s rule does hold in many instances”

So, if I am ever doing an evolutionary analysis on how the human body should grow as time progresses, I promise that the Cope’s Rule will be used sparingly. 

Since we got into the discussion of Bergmann’s Rule, it is only fitting that we also talk about its kissing cousin, Allen’s Rule.

It states that endotherms from colder climates usually have shorter limbs (or appendages) than the equivalent animals from warmer climates. Endotherms are organisms who produces heat through internal means, like say through muscle shivers or raising of one’s metabolism. Mammals and birds classify as endotherms but reptiles and fish are classified as ectotherms,

The theory behind Allen’s rule is that endothermic animals with the same volume may have differing surface areas, which will aid or impede their temperature regulation. This means that two people of the same volume but the person who has less surface area through short limbs is will lose less heat.

We take an excerpt from the Wikipedia Article on Allen’s Rule HERE.

“”In cold climates, the greater the exposed surface area, the greater the loss of heat and therefore energy. Animals in cold climates need to conserve as much energy as possible. A low surface area to volume ratio helps to conserve heat as there is a smaller surface area for the heat to pass through.

In warm climates, the opposite is true. An animal will overheat quickly if it has a low surface area to volume ratio. Therefore, animals in warm climates will have high surface area to volume ratios so as to help them lose heat.

(From a physics point of view, it does sound very reasonable.)

“”A contributing factor to Allen’s Rule may be that the growth of cartilage is partly dependent on temperature. “Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have shown that temperature can directly affect cartilage growth, providing a biological explanation for this rule….were significantly shorter in the mice raised in the cold, compared with the mice raised at warmer temperatures….when they tried growing bone samples at different temperatures, the researchers found that the samples grown in warmer temperatures had significantly more cartilage growth than those grown in colder temperatures”” (!!)

When Allen’s Rule is applied to humans, the researchers seem to mostly agree that Allen’s Rule is valid. Verne Troyer who played Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies is an example of someone who has short limbs relative to their body. He is 2′ 8″ tall and suffers from cartilage–hair hypoplasia dwarfism He is pictured above.

“”According to William R. Leonard of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida, human populations follow Allen’s rule. As evidence, Leonard cites a study by D.F. Roberts of the Anthropology Laboratory at Oxford University that showed human populations follow Allen’s rule. A.T. Steegman of the Department of Anthropology at State University of New York investigated the assumption that Allen’s rule caused the structural configuration of the “Arctic Mongoloid” face. Steegman did an experiment that involved the survival of rats in the cold.^] Steegman found the rats with narrow nasal passages, broader faces, shorter tails and shorter legs survived the best in the cold – Wikipedia”

Me: My final conclusion to the Allen Rule is that it is a useful “rule of thumb” to be considered when we do make arguements about limb and height deviations seen between different ethnic groups located across the world. Limb length relative to height is often a good determinant factor on how the human body has evolved against nature over time.

Note: You can find more information about Allen’s Rule by clicking HERE which gives a great understanding of the Principle by Palomar University. 

Tyler’s Notes:

Here’s an interesting new study regarding Allen’s rule.

Allen’s Rule Revisited: Temperature Influences Bone Elongation During a Critical Period of Postnatal Development.

“Limbs of animals raised at warm ambient temperature are significantly and permanently longer than those of siblings housed in the cold. These highly reproducible lab results closely parallel the ecogeographical tenet described by Allen’s extremity size rule, which states that appendage length correlates with temperature and latitude. It is unclear what mechanisms underlie these differences and in what pattern they emerge, since the morphology is traditionally thought to reflect naturally selected genomic adaptations for thermoregulation. This study tests the a posteriori hypothesis that adult extremity length is subject to substantial modification by temperature during a brief but critical period of early postnatal development{this may explain why being born in the summer increases height}. Weanling mice were divided into three groups and housed at 7°C, 21°C, or 27°C for eight weeks. Tail lengths and body mass were measured weekly. Mass did not differ at any age. Analysis of tail elongation curves revealed two distinct phases: an initial period of rapid temperature-sensitive growth in which elongation rate was directly impacted by temperature; and a second phase of continued growth in which rates were identical among groups. Comparable growth reactions occur in response to other environmental variables such as exercise, suggesting that the skeleton is most responsive to external stimuli during a window of heightened sensitivity when growth occurs most rapidly.”

Couldn’t get the full study yet.