Like the post before, I wanted to look at another idea, urban myth, or old wive’s tale. This one is about the connection between stunted growth and stunted growth.

I remember finding on many Yahoo Questions like Here, Here, Here, Here, and many many other internet boards and forums where one person asks this question and the others often ridicule,  joke, and say something. 

It seems that the general arguement made by anyone who really does believe this idea is that through masturbation, assuming a person is a teenage or adolescent male, it will lead them to ejaculate and lose semen, which contains hormones, specifically testosterone which is something you need to grow taller.

As we know from past research, having some relatively high level of testosterone is a good thing since testosterone will eventually aromatize into estrogen, which will be what causes the initial step in the endocrine system process which starts puberty and causes the “growth spurt” so many guys and girls experience around the 10-13 year range.

There is some evidence to show that good testosterone levels may have some positive correlation to being taller than average. If we remember from basic evolution, there are alpha males, and there are beta males. Alpha males are usually bigger, taller, and more aggressive than beta males. Alpha males also tend to have more sexual partners than beta males, and be more dominant and be leaders. They also have higher levels of testosterone.

However we also know that estrogen is also what will cause the eventual depletion of chondrocytes in the resting zone of the growth plate. The reason the growth plates really close is because at the end of puberty, there is a sort of 2nd wave of higher level of estrogen release into the body causing the last remaining chondrocytes to go through apoptosis and get the rest of the hyaline cartilage matrix to calcify and convert to bone matrix. From the PubMed study “Normal bone growth requires optimal estrogen levels: negative effects of both high and low dose estrogen on the number of growth plate chondrocytes.” I had porposed in a previous post “Alpha, Above Average Testosterone Males Are More Likely To Be Taller, An Endocrine Explanation” a hypothesis that the short stature male syndrome commonly called “Napoleon Complex” could be from a male who has too much testosterone in his system, with all the testosterone converting to estrogen and ending the growth process earlier than other men.

From this quick hormonal explanation, we can see that the scientific theory on the idea that masturbation would cause testosterone level to drop would not make any sense. What I am willing to propose, as a hypothetical is that there is a chance that at least occasional masturbation during the adolescent, teenage, still growing years might be actually beneficial for the growth process.

The first reason is that if the ejaculation process did cause any testosterone level, it would actually help a little in delay the eventual process of growth plate process, and increase the amount of time gor growth. Plus, masturbation does cause the release of good endorphins through the brain by the dopamine during orgasm. From source, “Dopamine-synthesising neurons that originate in the lower brainstem (specifically the ventral tegmental area) are activated during ejaculation in men, as measured by PET imaging (Holstege et al., 2003).”

Also…

Abundant evidence points to dopamine as the key neurotransmitter involved in stimulating orgasm in humans. Thus, administration of the dopamine precursor L-dopa, dopaminergic agonists (e.g. apomorphine), dopamine releasers (e.g. amphetamine), or dopamine reuptake inhibitors (e.g. cocaine or bupropion) facilitate the expression of orgasm in men and women. Conversely, administration of antipsychotics impair orgasm, by blocking postsynaptic dopamine receptors (see Komisaruk et al., 2006).

It would seem that L-Dopa is the precursor to Dopamine. We saw from previous like “Increase Height And Grow Taller Eating Mucuna Pruriens Or Velvet Bean“with L-Dopa, which is Levadopa, that it can cause human growth hormone (hGH) release. 

We CAN”T show this process: Masturbation–>Orgasm–>Dopamine–>L-Dopa–>increased hGH released –> increased height

The actual process direction is L-Dopa–>Dopamine.

What we can prove with the research and knowledge we do know that is people who are still growing who go through a lot of stress and anxiety does cause them to develop stunted growth. From PubMed study “Stress response in school-age children who have been growth retarded since early childhood.” there is a weak but positive correlation between stunted growth and psychological issues, although it could be more likely that stunted growth leads to psychological issues, not that psychological issues leads to stunted growth. There are however a few articles that was written in the mid 90s that I’ve found which suggest that extreme stress in the childhood years while still in physical development can lead to development issues not just emotionally and mentally but also physically. There have been quite a times that young adults or teenagers who ask this question of whether their psychological damage from some type of abuse in their childhood can lead to stunted physical growth like HERE. What we know from orginary medical science is that stress does cause the increase in cortisol levels. Cortisol is a steroid hormone, more specifically a glucocorticoid (source is Wikipedia). I have found multiple PubMed studies which show that glucocorticoids in general have been used to even inhibit the growth of exceptionally tall adolescent girls.

From the article “Editorial: Inhibitory Actions of Glucocorticoids on Skeletal Growth. Is Local Insulin-Like Growth Factor I to Blame?“…

Glucocorticoids have profound effects on the skeleton due to their actions on the cells of bone and cartilage. The consequences of these effects have serious clinical implications, and glucocorticoids cause osteoporosis and impaired longitudinal growth.

Unfortunately, most of the skeletal effects following chronic exposure to glucocorticoids result in decreased skeletal mass and short stature (2, 3, 4).

This shows a direct connection between constant high levels of stress and stunted growth and short stature.

If we go back to the issue of masturbation again, we understand that masturbation leads to orgasm, which causes a release of dopamine neurotransmitters to the brain. After most orgasms in general and the release of semen, stress levels in men drop dramatically. This shows that in an indirect way, masturbation can at least lead to reduced levels of stress in young, adolescent males who have high levels of hormones in their bodies driving them crazy, causing possible stress and anxiety.

In conclusion, masturbation will NOT lead to stunted growth. Masturbation may not cause height increase, but it may actually HELP PREVENT stunted growth from the excess increased levels of glucocorticoids caused by stress from the increased hormone levels in young males going through puberty. 

I remember getting a message in the website email inbox where a person asked why is it that his friend who has been living a really unhealthy lifestyle like smoking profusely and drinking a lot at his formative growing years still end up being 6′ 4″ where he would be eating right and staying away from drugs only ended up 5′ 9″. He was incredulous over the fact that he felt it was so unfair that his friend would be so much taller for doing the wrong things and still be better off in terms of height.

This got me to wonder whether the claim that “smoking causes stunted growth” to be true or not. So I wanted to spent some energy in this post and do some research to see whether smoking would really cause stunted growth. Before on this website, I had looked at the age old claim and “old mother’s tale” that “drinking milk will help you grow taller” with “The Real Correlation Between Milk, Calcium, Bone Growth, And Height“and whether “drinking coffee stunts your growth” with “Does Coffee And Caffeine Stunt Your Growth?” This post is for the smoking claim.

Analysis: First, we have heard many times over from “studies” that for mothers of the person being analyzed, that the babies of mothers who do smoke are on average less in weight than babies of mother’s who don’t smoke. If we rememberr our conjecture that often the height of a person can be determined by their initial birth size. Most people in general go through a similar growing pattern and growing rate. It just so happens that many giants who were genetically predisposed to being tall were born from bigger, taller mothers who had wider hips (The wider hips to taller eventually babies theory is proposed by me) would be able to hold a bigger baby in their womb/ uterus before they give birth giving the person a greater initial amount of mass, volume, and number of cells to proliferate than other people. This was the case with Yao Ming and Karan Singh who both were born at tremendous sizes. They went through a similar growth rate pattern in their developing years like everyone else, except that their initial size at birth was much bigger than other people. So by converse logic, we can say that at least for the case for smoking effecting a person’s size and height before they are born, there is a high correlation and chance that smoking will cause them to be stunted in overal eventual height. From the website HealthGuidance.com, the theory is this…

Smoking will not affect the pituitary glands which produce the hormones necessary for growth, but however it does result in an increase in carbon monoxide in the blood. This then in turn means that the blood has a lower concentration of oxygen and of the other things that it needs to build and repair tissue such as minerals and vitamins. What this then means is that when an area needs protein or other nutrients to grow, it will not be supplied with them as quickly or in such high quantities and quality. This may then mean that that function of the body is not carried out at all, or just that it is not carried out well.

At the same time smoking may result in lower amounts of testosterone – the hormone involved in building muscle, growing hair, and burning fat. This hormone is also involved in growth as it is an anabolic hormone that tells the body when to build tissue.

I would continue to find form other websites liks LiveStrong.com that smoking does cause some stunting by around 1 inch of height. They state…

Bone Growth

Smoking thwarts bone growth in adolescence and adulthood. Smoking during adolescence is also a major risk factor in developing osteoporosis later in life. Especially for girls, who already have an increased risk of developing osteoporosis, smoking can have detrimental effects on bone density. For teenage and adult male and female smokers, decreased bone density can result in osteoporosis, arthritis and bone fractures.

Fetal and Infant Development

Fetal exposure to tobacco smoke results in lower birth weight and delayed development in infancy. Exposure to smoke during fetal and infant development increases a child’s risk of respiratory tract infections, asthma, sudden infant death syndrome, behavioral problems and cognitive deficiencies, among other health conditions. Pregnant women should stay away from smokers.

What may finally put a nail to the coffin for this question and show rather conclusively that smoking will lead to stunting was this article I found from the CBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation HERE

Smoking won’t help teens lose weight, may stunt growth: study

Last Updated: Monday, March 24, 2008 | 4:33 PM ET

Smoking cigarettes won’t help teenage girls lose weight, but it may stunt teen boys’ growth, a Canadian study suggests.

The study, published online March 17 in the journal Annals of Epidemiology, found that teenage boys who smoke are on average 2.54 centimetres shorter than non-smokers.

“Girls who smoked did not end up skinnier than girls who did not smoke. They ended up having a similar height and BMI,” lead author Dr. Jennifer O’Loughlin, with the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Montreal, told CBC News in an e-mail.

“However the evidence presented supports the old adage ‘Don’t smoke. It will stunt your growth’, at least in boys.”

The study said the effect on boys’ heights may be because they are still growing when they start to smoke.

The researchers surveyed 1,293 Montreal teens from age 12 through 17 every three months about their smoking and lifestyle habits.

O’Loughlin said the researchers were most surprised to find that there was no link between weight and smoking habits.

O’Loughlin said the findings can be integrated into prevention messages to help persuade teens not to start smoking.

“Girls might not start smoking if they realize that they will not end up skinnier than girls who don’t smoke,” she said. “Boys may not start smoking if they think they might end up shorter and smaller overall if they smoke.”

She said the findings “might also help uncover the reasons why smoking affects birth weight and possibly growth in adolescents.”

The study is part of the Natural History of Nicotine Dependence in Teens Study, funded by the Canadian Cancer Society.

Me: It would appear that a lot of the Canadian websites like Canada.com report the same thing, that smoking will lead to some stunted growth. The website ScienceDaily.com would report the same study. From other sources we find evidence that smoking would actually cause the stunted growth of the lungs (Harvard). To put a final conclusion to this issue, I reference a page from the website for the American Academy/Association Of Orthopaedic Surgeons with these main points. 

The musculoskeletal system- the bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves in the body- is significantly affected by tobacco exposure. Tobacco smokers experience a decrease in bone mineral density which increases the risk of osteoporotic fractures.^8-12 Bone density loss is also found in people exposed to secondhand smoke.¹³ Furthermore, smokers have impaired bone healing, which can delay the healing of fractures and wounds, and has shown to negatively influence wound healing, bone surgery results and patient satisfaction when compared to nonsmokers.^14-17

There are many musculoskeletal risk factors associated with tobacco use:

• Smoking is associated with an increase in the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis.^18-20
• Smokers have a greater chance of developing systemic lupus erythematosus. An inflammatory, multisystemic, autoimmune disease of the connective tissue, characterized by fever, skin lesions, joint pain or arthritis, and anemia, and often affecting the kidneys, spleen, and various other organs.²¹
• Smoking is associated with rotator cuff disease in the shoulder.²²
• Nicotine, the most powerful substance in tobacco, causes a decrease in blood flow to all tissues in the human body. Proper blood flow is vital for wound healing.^14,16,23
• Smoking has been shown to be related to poor wound healing and delayed fracture healing.^14,16,23
• Each year more women will die from hip fractures than by breast cancer. Smoking has been identified as a major risk factor for the development of osteoporosis and osteoporotic related hip fractures.^24,25
• There is a strong association between decreased bone density and altered reproductive functions in women. ¹²
• Studies show that mothers who were exposed to tobacco delivered babies with low birth weight, and decreased bone development.⁷

Quitting smoking before surgery can help improve post-operative wound healing, and decrease recovery time.^15,17,26

Me: There is some overwhelming evidence and studies which does suggest that smoking does stunt the growing process for adolescents who are still growing. For the people who start smoking too early, it will stunt their growth. If they start smoking after they are done growing vertically, their height won’t be effected. However their BMI will be effected since there is a positive correlation between smoking and staying thin/ not eating/ not gaining weight. How the growth path is stunted is not revealed or described in any detail by the reporters who just write for the news and not for a scientific journal. If I was guess it would be that one of the many harmful chemical elements found in the tobacco gets into the lungs, goes into the blood stream, and starts disrupting normal cellular activities. Since for a child who is still growing taller, one of the most energy and resource depleting process in their body is the vertical increase of their body. Longitudinal growth of the long bones is a very resource intensive process. The process does require that the progenitor cells in the rest zone of the growth plate to differentiate correctly into chondrocytes and than stay healthy enough to proliferate at a reasonable rate to cause the columns needed for cartilage expansion and longitudinal growth. There can be dozens of chemicals from the tobacco after passing through the blood stream come close in contact with the epiphyseal cartilage and cause the cells to break down and die at a faster rate thus depleting initial number of chondrocytes available for proliferation and thus the longitudinal potential of the person. However we are seeing that the effects of smoking are not that harmful, where on average the heights of smokers are around 1 inch shorter than their non-smoking contemporaries. If a person is willing to sacrifice that 1 inch of eventual height for a chance to puff at a cigarette, then that is their choice. However there is obviously more serious issues than stunted growth and shorter height when it comes to smoking, like a higher chance for the development of cancer. So, either stop smoking or stay away from the vicinity of smokers so as not to get 2nd hand smoking.

In a previous post “Review On Supplement Double Action V Growth Enhancer Supplement, Gain Height and Taller” I had reviewed a product I had found being sold on Ebay as a dietary supplement which can supposedly help people increase their height but on average around 10 cm even in their 20-30s. I did a slightly lengthy review on it, but it seems that the seller, a hi-hawaii is selling also another height increasing dietary supplement product, this one called “Catwalk Growth Enhancer Supplement, 300 mg x 60 Tablets/Bottle, Gain Height & Taller”

What I will do for this post is similar but I will focus more on looking at the active ingredients listed so see if there is any potential. These are the ingredients the sellers claim are in the pill, something called “Cat Walk“. The name makes me think that its intended purpose is to make the legs longer for females who are probably trying to be or are models.

Ingredients: Maltose, dextrin, dolomite, shark cartilage extract, at the end Sansounin, olive leaf extract, Nokogiriyashiekisu, L-ornithine, L-citrulline, black pepper extract, cellulose, sucrose fatty acid ester, silicon dioxide, particulate, V. C, glycine, niacin, L-leucine, V. E, calcium pantothenate, L-valine, L-isoleucine, V. B2, V. B1, V. B6, V. A, folate, V. D, V. B12

Analysis: This analysis is only on the ingredients. In the previous post I sort of went over the issues I had with the seller of this product. The bottle is $65 for 1 bottle and $180 for 3 bottles. Some of the ingredients I have never seen before and some I have. The L-ornithine, L-Leucine, and glycine I remember are amino acids which are just basic building blocks of proteins. Others like silison dioxide I had seen before from my research into whether Silicea and Baryta Carbonica have any potential to increase height long ago. Niacin is Vitamin B3 and there has been a lot of controversy over this compound due to other people’s research before me. It seems however that a lot of the other ingredients are just different types of vitamins which can be found from a multivitamin like a Centrum Silver. I know that maltose is a type of basic sugar and that dolomite is a type of stone, made of Calcium Magnesium Carbonate, apparently (Wikipedia). It has no claimed medicinal or cosmetic applications. The shark cartilage extract is interesting since shark cartilage has been reported to help cure cancer and may increased the collagen level in a person’s body very little. black pepper extract is something that can be good for either reducing or causing inflammation. Other compounds like Nokogirihashiekisu is really hard to find any english based resources to see what it is, but a quick search on google suggest that it is some type of extract from a plant. This is also the case with Sansounin. These two I have no idea what they do. From just doing a very short outline guess at the applications and properties of the ingredients, I would say the supplement being sold is little more than a multivitamin combined with a few extracts from japanese plant extracts. I extremely doubt it would even help young children who are still growing increase their growth rate or ultimate height. There is even a chance that making a human swallow dolomite could cause them to develop pathologies and medical conditions, like kidney stones. Just stay away from this Ebay product since there is almost zero chance it will do anything.

Here is a picture at the bottom of the sales page which supposedly shows a Japanese man who grew upwards of 20 cms (almost 8 inches) from taking this supplement.

 

My Opinion: I want to say that this picture is one of the worst ways to prove that the supplement is effective. It is a sideways view shot of an asian looking man who on the right appears to be taller. There is so many ways for the seller or graphic artist to digitally edit the photo that this one picture is never enough to prove that such a thing does work. It could be that the two people in the two pictures are two different people, who happen to have close or similar side pictures. Or the picture was photoshopped, edited. or the angle of the picture was changed and moved closer to the person, to make the same person on the left look bigger in the right picture. If I was to guess, I’d say that the two pictures are of two different men.

I have NEVER heard of any supplement ever claim that they can make a 28 year old man grow taller, especially by 20 cms. The Japanese or whoever is selling this supplement are very outrageous and arrogant to claim that such a product even exist.

Further on, we would see pictures of another female who supposed grew taller by over 10 cms in 1 month, but of course the two pictures are of the back of a woman’s head. Really???

There is one picture at the bottom of the page in Japanese which might try at least to explain why the supplement has a chance of working but I personally can’t read Japanese so I am not sure.

From the page on Ebay selling this product, in the Description section…

Catwalk Growth Enhancer Supplement, Gain Height and Taller

18g/Bottle (300mgx60 Tablets)

Expiry Date: 2014

Suitable for someone who are serious about wanting to gain your height, it is special for long legs.

Ingredients:

Maltose, dextrin, dolomite, shark cartilage extract, at the end Sansounin, olive leaf extract, Nokogiriyashiekisu, L-ornithine, L-citrulline,black pepper extract, cellulose, sucrose fatty acid ester, silicon dioxide, particulate, V. C, glycine, niacin, L-leucine, V. E, calcium pantothenate, L-valine, L-isoleucine, V. B2, V. B1, V. B6, V. A, folate, V. D, V. B12

How to use :Take 2-6 tables a day before bed time. (with warm water). Should start with small quantity at first and increase it.

Quantity to see result :

10-19 years old = 1-2 bottles
20-29 years old = 2-3 bottles
30-39 years old = 3-4 bottles
40-49 years old = 4-5 bottles
50-59 years old = 5-6 bottles

Recommend: Sleep before 11p.m.

Exercises like basketball, jogging, jumping,swiming, pilates,yoga,pilates, stretching every day.

Keeping Condition : Avoid sun light,away from children and keep in dry area.

Please avoid for who get allergy from ingredients or when you pregnant or during feeding.

This is samples of people who took this supplement but please consider that how height can you grow, it depends on each indiviual person.

When I was writing the previous post confessing that I still am wearing shoes, boots specifically, with multiple insoles inside to make myself feel and look taller, I started to really stop and think about why I am still doing these things.

I had stated before that I was relatively comfortable and accepting of my height before on the site, so why do my actions not reflect that? Maybe the right way of expressing this issue is that I am not as obsessed or extreme in my height increase desire like I was years before. Back then, during a 4-6 month stretch of time, I only wanted to achieve one thing, and that was to grow taller, or at least get to the 6′ 0″ mark, which was only 1/4th of an inch away. Through intense exercise I did reach that goal,

However, I still am searching for such a solution, and willing to dedicate many years of my life to this cause, even if it turns out that there is nothing I can do that would work.

I think back in my life and wonder whether my obsession with height is not the cause, but an effect of something else, a deeper and more painful insecurity or anxiety which I am not willing to admit to myself at this point in my life and development. I know that for me, I never cared about becoming taller until I was in my early 20s, around the age of 22 to be exact. It started out small when I noticed that I was shorter than most of the other men in my swimming class. It slowly over time grew into a full blown obsession with me trying to read everything and research everything I could find.

I have studied some basic psychology and I know that if I was to be my own therapist and try to diagnose myself, I can objectively claim that I have an unhealthy focus or obsession over an area of my life which can’t really be changed. Then again, that is the opinion of a 40 year old medical school trained professional who is rich, successful, stable, and has a bright future.

I wrote in a previous post opening up further about my past, and the pain I felt. I had stated that because of me getting left by the my first love, I would go through several intense tramatic psychopathological breakdowns. Along with the seperation were two other even darker aspects of the breakup which really drove me even crazier than if this was an ordinary breakup/dumping. I have heard many, many stories of men/husbands going crazy and lossing their sanity after their grilfriends/wives suddenly leave them after being with them for many years.  I would feel extreme anger, depression, regret, fear, etc. and in the end, I had decided that I had to do everything that I had ever been secretly desiring to do. One of my goals was always to create this type of resource for everyone else in the world. I would go on to tell a friend who is on the short side that I wanted to dedicate my life to researching and finding to this problem. He was very supportive and happy that someone like me would be willing to put in the effort to do this since he also wanted to be taller. This is my first and only guess, my renewed fervor over height increase is my way of overcompensating for the fact that I am depressed and angry that “love” was taken away from me. At some area in my mind I think that I am a bad person or a person who never deserved to get the type of love I (and almost everyone else) so desperately crave. 

An amazing insight Anthony Robbins said once was that there is two very fundamental fears we have which we would do almost anything to avoid, displace, or repress. They are…

• We are afraid that we would not be loved or accepted by other people – We are afraid that love will be taken away from us. We are afraid of getting rejected, getting hurt, or not being loved back.

• We are afraid that we are not enough – That we are not good enough, good looking enough, smart enough to have the type of love, success, money that one part of us really desire and the other side is trying to resist and reject. We are being torn up inside over conflicting desires and emotional forces.

 

The problem seems to be more than just me. At home, my family members and relatives are still comparing height with each other, even though everyone has stopped growing. For my entire family, height has always been a sensitive issue, which I has wrote about in previous posts. From what I can see, all of this comparing to others to see who is taller, smarter, better, etc. is a way to make ourselves have a valid or real reason to love ourselves. I don’t think that I can really completely love myself.

If I was asked by another person “Do you love yourself?” I would have to say no. I am not who I wanted to be, not who I hoped I would already be. I feel like I am lacking in soooooo many areas of life.

When I was going through a phase in my life years ago where I was learning about the dynamics of male-female relationships, there was one question that was posed to see whether a person was truly ready to be in a relationship after being so shy and afraid. It it “If you are a girl/boy, would you date yourself?”. At this point, I would say “no”. I don’t really love myself. I feel like I am not good enough, or deserve to gain the success or wealthy I do have. There is an amazing amount of guilt I carry and i am not sure why I can’t seem to let that feeling of guilt go.

So my basic question that I was asking myself since yesterday was this “What really caused this obsession to surface? What was the initial trigger that started this entire process?”

The more I think about it the less it makes sense from an objective point of view. I am average height of a US male, maybe even slightly taller. Some people in my family even say that I am “tall” which is a label that I have ben extremely careful never to use to describe myself. This problem with feeling insecure about my height never bothered me when I was younger, and I was comfortable with being average height. What happened? What caused all of this?

Why do I every day when I walk along the street have to be constantly comparing myself to other people in height, and nothing else. It doesn’t matter that if they were dressed in suits and I was dressed in sweats, if I was taller than them I felt good about myself, and if I was shorter than them, I felt bad about my self. Can a person’s self of confidence or self be so much linked to one’s size? Is there no other barometer I can use to measure my worth or value as a human being?

At this point, I realize that I am not perceptive and aware enough about myself to be able to answer this question on what really caused this thing to develop. I do think now that my constant over-emphasize on size and height is most definitely either a distraction or expression of a repressed anxiety or insecurity. I think that ultimately, if I dug deep enough inside of me, the real core of all of my insecurities, the cause for my insecurity of my height, is from something else.

The most common stated answer is that I am acting out of fear. I am afraid of something and my way of dealing with this internal anxiety is to try to control something else, displacement, and not ever being able to be honest with my subconscious mind and deal with what is really giving me internal pain.

When I try to answer this question of the post “Can Our Desire For Height Or Height Dissatisfaction Be A Symptom Of A Deeper Insecurity Or Unresolved Issue From Our Past?” I think that this issue is something that is from my past which is from something deeper, and I can only make a guess but I still don’t know what would be the real original cause for this issue.

At some level, this website/blog has been my way of expressing some of my deepest insecurities on my own height issues for so long. And here is another confession I wanted to reveal to the readers. I am partly ashamed to reveal it but I think it has to be done since I finally feel like I can be more open about these thing.

To this day, I still wear boots with padded height increasing insoles inside because I am still insecure about my height. In the beginning I tried stuffing 2-3 insoles into sneakers 1-2 sizes bigger than what I would wear so my feet would fit. Each insole was only about 1/3 of an inch thick. It doesn’t seem like a lot but for me, even 1 inch felt like a huge difference to me when I would be walking outside in public. I know personally a 5′ 4″ guy who must always wear his New Rocks Boots which gives him also 3 inches of height.

At this point, I feel comfortable with myself enough to actually enjoy wearing  these types of insoles and boots. They give me a comforting feeling when I put them on, and they make me feel safe and secure because of how strong and durable the boots are.

These days I put either 4 or 5 insoles inside to give me maybe around 1.5 extra inches into the shoes. In addition to the around 1 1/2 inches of heel height already in boots, that means that I am standing on 3 inch tall boots, which overall is actually comfortable, and easy to walk in. I have gone down in number to just 4 insoles in recent months because I tried out thicker socks. It turns out that there is actually some brands of really thick socks I have found which seems to make the insoles less important. I have even experimented with using even less insoles numbers with brand named dress shoes for a more classic look. If this talk sounds like the speech of a man obsessed or crazy, I am willing to admit that I am a little crazy about my height and height increase.

On one extreme, years ago I tried hiking boots with really thick heels, about 2 inches thick, and put multiple insoles (around 6-7)  in to see how they felt that was really awkward and dangerous so I reduced the height to something that I could walk and even run in. I would be standing 4 inches taller but I looked so strange when I walked in them so that phase went away.

The shoes that I have been wearing for over 4 years now, which I haven’t changed because they easily and rather comfortably fulfills all of my needs. It is Steel Toe Hiking Boots from Walmart. About 5 years ago they cost only about $27 plus tax but these days due to inflation it has increased  to around $34 plus tax. I like these shoes because of the high outer edges. With some shoes, when you add the thick insoles, it leaves no room for one’s feet or the feet slip out. The shoe sizes I buy is around 3-4 sizes bigger than the ordinary size. However, I really feel great with the extra 1-2 inches of extra height, the strong steel toes, the quality of the boots, and sturdiness of the heel.

Maybe one day I will be completely comfortable with me just wearing shoes (or even sandals) without any type of padding. But not right now, I like the extra height the boots with insoles give me.

I realized that for at least half a dozen posts so far I’ve been referencing this idea I have coined known as “Hidden Height’ and I wanted to explain it completely and as well as I can with this post.

I want to create this post so I can just reference and point to this post and idea the next time some person decides to message or tell me that their cousin/friend/brother/etc. managed to grow 1-2 inches from doing exercises and al taking some weird Ayurvedic and/or traditional Oriental medicine based herbal multi-vitamin, all natural supplement pill.

Some people have also been good and understand the idea completely and realize that some minimal amount of height increase might be possible using ordinary stretching, regular intense exercising, and a lifestyle change.

If we wanted to get really technical, if someone asked me “Can I grow taller even though I am 25-35 years old and my growth plates are closed using ordinary exercise routines and taking some type of supplement?” I would have to say Yes. Technically, they can but not at the results that they would hope for. Instead of 7 inches, I say that they will only gain 1 inch in extra height, maybe 1.5 inches if their previous lifestyle conditions satisfy certain qualities. Most people should only expect around 1/4 to 3/4th of an inch increase from before.

Usually the people who come to this website are below average in height, and hoping for some type of Miracle or Magic Pill or supplement or multi-vitamin that can be a fast, easy, relatively painless way to increase their height by over 3 inches. Some people I get messages from ask to gain 7-8 inches. They want to go from 5′ 7″ to 6′ 4″ (This is by YouTube profile height increase seeker SkinTightFlash). What he is asking for is a 9 inch increase in height. From NBA basketball lingo, he wants to go from a Spud Webb to a Dwyane Wade. Some other people make equally insane desires with wanting 7-8 inches in increase.

Well there is NO SUCH THING at this point in medical science and technology. However, if we use our common sense and think a little, we realize that it is more likely that we can gain some height if we are persistent and do exercise on a regular schedule. I once wrote in another post that probably around 40-50% of an group of people in the developed countries can increase their final maximum height by up to 1 cm, permanently too. Now, it may not seem like lot since 1 cm is actually less than even half of an inch (more precisely, 1 cm = 0.393700787 inches). What I am saying is that with maybe just 30 days of hard intense exercise, a percentage of people who wish to be taller will be taller.

Most doctors, orthopaedics, and endocrinologist would claim that it is impossible to grow taller after you have reached physical maturity, which is another way to say your epiphyseal growth plates are closed, or that your are now passed the phase of puberty. The truth is that they are not being completely accurate on that claim. Technically their are only half right.

I am validate the fact from my own personal experience of gaining 1/4th of an inch through a many month long exercise regime and many other people who post on the GiantScientific.com forums that it is possible to gain some height after reached adulthood.

However all that height was really just the result of one’s vertebrate decompressing less during a certain time of the day. A few years ago, I measured my height with a completely shaved standing up completely straight, leaning against a completely vertical white wall, looking at a large mirror in front, and standing completely straight, that my height actually was slightly over 6′ 0″ when I measured myself immediately after getting out of bed after a long sleep at night, maybe even reaching almost the 6′ 0.25″ mark. I had reached this arbitrary set length standard point made by the US/British Unit Standards. I was at 182.88 cms tall, which has been some sort of social based acceptable height level for so many females on most online dating sites. For other nations who use metric units, that acceptable height level for dating by many females was 180 cms, or 70.8661417 inches, which is actually less than 5′ 11″. Of course the height increase was only for the maximum height after getting out of bed. I never measured whether my evening height also increased, which was something I forgot to do.

“Hidden Height” comes from the vertebrate and torso region. It will not come from the limbs/ legs. There is no space in the knees or other synovial joints which can expand, decompress, or be stretched out through normal exercise. This idea refers to the potential of real possible a height not completely maximized or realized a person can gain if they went through ordinary but intense exercise routines. The human body is technically a living organ/tissue which can be manipulated and molded, but when it comes to the hardest type of living tissue, the bone, only certain areas of the human body can be stretched out further in the vertical direction. The height increase gained is from effectively changing one’s lifestyle of exercise. If a person is already fit, healthy, and exercise regularly, their “hidden height” would be less than for a person who in the beginning has vertebrate curvature like a person suffering from hunched back and scoliosis. People who have been traditionally lazy, overweight, and slouches a lot will see the biggest results. Every one else will see results that are much less.

In the beginning of my initial research I looked for case reports of people who on the height increase forums claimed that they did gain some increase, but it either went away or was reduced after they stopped doing the exercises. Most of these people would go into deep detail on their exact routine.

From this thread HERE, I am copying and pasting a post a efocmacro, Veteran Height Seeker said…

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 3:52 pm    Post subject:

Hey guys, i started July 7th 2007, i did spine stretches with the lynx backstretcher and did yoga stretches for a duration of 3 months. i hit a 2 inch gain (im lucky because my spine was already pretty curved to begin with). After the 3 months, i went on hiatus, i didnt really do any back stretching up until about a few days ago. I regained some of the height but not the full 2 inches yet (i had lost an inch from being on hiatus). I will progress on that as time moves on. 

I started 5’6, i am now 5’7.5 

Right now i am experimenting something new. I already handled the top portion of my body (spine), now its time to try the lower portion of my body and the most difficult (legs). Since my Growth plates are already fused, i dont know what GH can really do for my legs, but im willing to give it a shot. 

I am currently taking GH factor supplements 

From a 2nd post by someone I have referenced and talked about before, a Monaug5 HERE – Monaug5’s Progress from 5’8 to 5’10

monaug5 Veteran Height SeekerJoined: 05 Sep 2008 Posts: 231 Location: Essex, UK

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 3:54 pm    Post subject: Monaug5’s Progress from 5’8 to 5’10 Age: 20 (Birth Date: Aug 1991) Starting Height: 5’7.75(Night time) -1.72m-(March 1st 2009) Current Height: 5’9(Night time) -1.75m- (As of January 2012)Dream height 5’10(Night time) -1.78m- Mom’s height : 1.70m (5’7- Daytime) Dad’s Height : 1.85m (6’1 – Daytime) Bro’s Height : 1.80m (5’11) – was 5’6 when he was 13!!!!!!! _________________ Starting Height: 5’7.75 -1.72m (On the 3rd August 2008) Current height: 5’9 -1.75m- (Currently) Dream height 5’11 (1.80 m) Age : 20Last edited by monaug5 on Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:51 am; edited 13 times in total

Well my routine will be similar to N Specs but without the muscle building: 
– Sprint for 5 mins with 5lb ankle weight attached to my legs. 
– After sprinting attach 5lb to each leg and sit for 1 hour then take then off and go to bed. 

I am expecting a growth from this. 

I am sure you can all see from my families height why I want to be 5’10 and beyond lol

I have decided to change my routine for the final time as now I have thoroughly read through the routines of legends of this forum such as summerdance, outofthebox and N Spec and t therefore come to the conclusion that large enough weights with a suitable sitting time will get results.

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So my routine is simply sitting with 10lb each leg ankle weight or also known as 5kg each leg for 30 mins. Multiple sessions of sitting with this weight will be done throughout the day Monday to Friday with me posting my progress at least every 2 months(most likely sooner) 

The gains will not come fast and I will be happy if I can see a 1.5inch gain between the month of September and July 2010 as that would see me hit my 5’10 goal with ease. 

Tomorrow I am buying the weights from ebay for £28 thats Great British Pounds by the way so if I do gain all of this will be known as quite cost effective. 

My eventual goal will be to hit 5’11 during my routine and then take a few weeks break to see if I lose 1 inch but after speaking N Spec and him tell me that he is 5’8.8 from 5’9.5 he previously was I am expecting to end up at 5’10.25 once my break is completed. If I feel good with my body after the break then I will look into continuing the routine further but for me the immediate height satisfaction will come once I am as tall as my brother. 

One revelation I found out today is that my brother has legs that are no more than 3.5cm longer than mine meaning I could gain 4cm/1.5inches in my legs then I would be equal to him. 

Like N Spec I will be measuring my height against something but my first measurement was taken with a measuring tape. 

As you can see the measuring tape is not 100% straight but if it was then I measured as weak 5’8 as my brother 5’10 and a family friend 5’11.5 measured me with the inclusion of my little brothers hand. My next photo should come around Q2 2010 with me proudly measuring 5’9 or thereabouts as currently as of typing this I stand at 174cm(5’8.5nighttime) 

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From another post Hi5even, Gained 1 Inch – Seeking another one more…

Hi5even Rookie Height SeekerJoined: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 44

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 5:38 am    Post subject: Gained 1 Inch – Seeking another one more Hi,I started at 5’7, now im 5’8. About 6 months back, i started my HI routine, the first 3 months were Tremendous, and i gained an Inch from that. The last 3 months have been horrible, quite a few irregularities, the food intake hasnt been all that great either. First three months, i started Skipping and hanging together. Due to monsoon, i could only hang as i do it in the park next to my apartment. I DID start skipping, last month, again i couldnt do it cause of lack of discipline, work commitments, etc. For those who want to read a journal of my first 3 months, heres the link -> http://www.giantscientific.com/height_gain_forum/viewtopic.php?t=3247&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 As for now, i am starting my HI routine again. I must say im a bit let down due to no progress in the last 3 months, though the disciple hasnt been strong, id still say i hung 85% days all these months. So my routine will be fairly simple and straight – Jumping rope – Ive been doing about 1200 – 1400 since last 1 week. Hanging – Ive been 12 sets of 30 seconds. That means 6 complete minutes, with 30 seconds of break in every set. From today, im going to push it to 7 minutes. Sleep – My sleep pattern hasnt bee stable. I sleep 8 Hours average, but there have been times i could get only 6 hours of sleep. Id really like your inputs. I also want to know if, in your experience has any one lost their gains after a big gap or after they finished their HI program. Thanks and eagerly waiting for you guys’ response.

What is obvious from maybe the only 3 members of the forum who got some clear results is that none of them ever managed to get even 2 inches of height increase. Monaug5 had the largest increase in height, around 1.5 inches, but he states from his post that he already had some vertebate curvature to begin with. I think I remember seeing maybe 2-3 other people on the forums say that they got some increase too, and one person did claim 2 inches.

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This was by someone named WireySpindell –  ONE YEAR, TWO INCHES

WireySpindell Height Seeker PhDJoined: 11 Mar 2006 Posts: 1363

Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 3:04 pm    Post subject: ONE YEAR, TWO INCHES Hello everybody, I stumbled across this site a few months ago, and figured now would be a good time to share my story with you. Today is my one-year anniversary of starting my height program, and as of this morning I am 5’10 1/4″ – exactly two inches taller than when I started a year ago.My routine began with mostly stretching excercises, about 20min a day, 6x a week. I used one of the routines found at www.geocities.com/gottogrow/ . The site hasnt been updated in 5 years and i tried to contact the administrator with no reply, but there is still plenty of helpful information that can be used along with the wealth of info on this site. Click on the OTHER INFO section and theres posts from a guy who gained 3 inches in 2 years. I found that inspirational when I went a few months without results. I later added swimming to my routine, swimming 5 days a week for a good while, recently cutting down to 3 after i began lifting weights again. Lifting weights can be helpful in boosting GH production, and generally leads to a more balanced physical development (shooting up an inch in 2 months can leave you feeling skinny!), but I make efforts not to do excercises that put too much strain on the spine. For instance, istead of doing curls standing up, i’ll use the shoulder rests, I stay away from shoulder press, etc. I’m not sure how detrimental certain excercises can be to your success, but i figure theres no harm in being careful. I find bench press and squats the best for pure GH production. I also bike with a raised seat for 10 min before every workout, and try and get at least 5 min of bar hanging every work out day. As for supplements, I take a multi- vitamin 1x/day, calcium 2x/day., glucosaime/chondroitin 2x day, and glutamine 1x/day. I’m about to replace the glutamine with L-arganine L-ornithine. I eat healthy, and also take a whey protien, as your body needs all the protien it can get when doing this. The most important factor though, I believe, is the right mindset. You have to believe that you are going to accomplish your goal, and stick to your program. Growing isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do, but then again it isn’t the hardest either. Patience, hard work and dedication is all that is really is standing in your way. I’m looking forward to re-dedicating myself to this program, and getting to 5’11” 5′ 11 1/2″ by this time next year. If you have any questions feel free to ask, i’ll do my best to answer them. _________________ Cheers, WireySpindell Starting Height: 5’8″ (March, 2005) Current Height: 5’10” Goal: 5’11”, and then 6’0″ … Parents Height: 4’11”, 5’9 1/2″ Age: 25

Here in a next post he explains the results and at what time frame he achieved them in.

WireySpindell Height Seeker PhDJoined: 11 Mar 2006 Posts: 1363

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:58 pm    Post subject: Well, the excercises on the other site are pretty much the same on the ones found on this site. What was helpful on the other site was that it actaully had a 6-month program you could follow, and different excercises for every week so your body is constantly adapting. You don’t neccessarily need to follow any program word for word, just keep in mind you should change up the excercises every week or so to keep your body adapting. This goes for any form of training.As for results, I kept a log so its easy to break down. I grew about 1/2 an inch in the first month (5’8 1/4- 5’8 3/4). This, of course, was a big boost. It was another couple of months to get another 1/2 inch, growing maybe a quarter inch every month (5’8 3/4- 5’9 1/4). Over the next 3 month period i grew half an inch, with some gaps where i didn’t see too many results and then waking up one morning and being up a quarter-inch. So, after 6 months I’m up 1 1/2 inches. The last 6 months i put on another 1/2 inch, again, long gaps with no progress followed by occasional spurts (I’m now 5’10 1/4 in mornings). I think the fact that winter was setting in slowed me down a bit -I’ve heard it talked about on here that spring and summer are peak growth times, and winter is slowest (I also recommend a vitamin E supplement to offset this as well as help with calcium absorption). I also thing though, that there’s a drop off in growth as you move forward- i grew 1/2 inch in month, then 2 months for another 1/2 inch, then 3 months, then 6 months, etc…. I think every consecutive inch takes a little longer, and this kind of makes sense because when you start your body develops quicky and reaches a peak, after which its hard to improve on. Kind of like weight lifting- the first 15 lbs are easy, and then it takes ages to gain anther 5. hope that kind of explains things. _________________ Cheers, WireySpindell Starting Height: 5’8″ (March, 2005) Current Height: 5’10” Goal: 5’11”, and then 6’0″ … Parents Height: 4’11”, 5’9 1/2″ Age: 25

What we are seeing from these members is that some of them do achieve what I thought was not possible, which is up to the 5 cms or 2 inch mark. You can see that these guys are not doing anything really innovative, crazy, or intense. They are being smart, practical, but also dedicated and persistent.

What they have been able to do is get the “Hidden Height” or potential height increased. to be fully realized. From exercising and stretching they have been able to increase their height. As for the supplements, I am not sure if the supplements they were taking helped in any way. However I don’t think it would hurt to take some of the supplements like Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulphate.

Sometimes all that is needed to validate an entire area of field is one real case that is proven in the laboratory in a double blind study with controlled variables with a p value over say .001. This type of arguement can also be applied to the idea of validating the existence of an afterlife. All it takes is for one person to come back from the dead and claim that they saw Jesus or some other religious symbol and most people would believe that it is real if they could come back with some proof.. The cases above show that “Hidden Height” does exist and for some people, it can be substantial. People like Lance Ward and Pierre Pozzuto (creator of A-Grow-bics) have been able to get some height for their clients. With Pierre’s program, a reporter did go through with his program and achieve 2 inches of height increase. She wrote about it in the article entitled “Impossible? No. But it’s definitely a bit of a stretch! How one 5ft 2in writer gained two inches in height“. However I would say that she got a little more than average, and most people should expect less.

Some height increase is possible. and with certain types of equipment, like a traction machine, the height increase may be able to reach 2 inches. However anything else would be not possible. Most people’s bodies can’t stretch and decompress that much. Even in space with zero gravity, the human height can only increase to a maximum of 2 (source, source). I would guess that the average human who is between 5′ 4″- 5’10” is would only see at most a 2 inch of increase in space, due to microgravity. The actual value is not actually 2 inches, but 3% of one’s earth bound height. So if you take 3% of say a 5′ 10″ human, you get (70 inches)x(.03) = 2.1 inches