This study I found months ago which I only got a chance to really go over until today has made me and potential other height increase researchers maybe rethink over the whole endeavor of what we are doing. Some startling data and claims revealed in the study below seem to suggest that even the stretching exercises we are doing has little to no effect.

Study Title: Diurnal variation in stature: is stretching the answer?

Authors: L D Voss, B J R Bailey

• Department of Child Health, Southampton General Hospital – L D Voss
• Faculty of Mathematical Studies, University of Southampton – B J R Bailey

Abstract

Aims—To investigate the extent and timing of diurnal variation in stature and to examine the eVectiveness of the stretched technique in reducing the loss in height.

Setting—A Southampton school.

Design—Fifty three children, divided into two groups, were measured by two independent auxologists using a Leicester
height measure. Each child was measured four times, at 0900, 1100, 1300, and 1500, using both an unstretched and a stretched technique.

Outcome measures—Height loss after each of the three time intervals for both unstretched and stretched modes.

Results—There was a clear decrease in stature during the morning, but no further loss occurred after the subjects had been up for around six hours. The mean height losses for the unstretched (stretched) modes were 0.31 cm (0.34 cm) and 0.20 cm (0.23 cm) for the periods 0900 to 1100 and 1100 to 1300, respectively, but only 0.045 cm (-0.019 cm) from 1300 to 1500. Stretching did not reduce the eVects of diurnal variation, but significantly aVected the recorded height by an average of 0.28 cm. There was no significant diVerence in reproducibility using either technique (SD 0.30 cm stretchedv 0.31 cm unstretched).

Conclusions—Diurnal variation in stature may substantially aVect the reliability of height data and careful consideration should be given to the timing of repeat measurements. As most height loss occurs in the morning, afternoon clinic appointments would be preferable. The standard stretched technique does not appear to reduce diurnal variation, nor does it affect
precision. Measurements made using an unstretched method are recommended to avoid interobserver diVerences, known to occur where diVerent observers are used.

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Analysis & Interpretation:

This article is something that I have been wanting to find for a long time, which talks about the phenomena which we as height increase researchers have known for so long, which is that after we get out of bed from going through a regular cycle of sleeping, we actually are a little taller, and over time, that height drops throughout the hours that we are standing up and awake. The general belief is that the intervertebral disks are being compressed.

It seems that there is a scientific term for this phenomena called “Diurnal variation” and there are quite a few studies that the article references which talks more about the phenomena known as diurnal variation.

Getting back to the original point of this point, I am asking and trying to answer two main questions..

1. How much height on average is lost by adult people (assuming they are male and between the adult height of 5′ 6″ – 6′ 0″)?
2. How Much height can be regained if we did stretching many hours after waking up and we already experienced diurnal variation?

I refer to a few select passages that I found from the article…

“…confirm the presence of diurnal variation in the adult. Most agreed that the total loss amounted to between 2 and 3 cm, and the evidence suggested that the greater proportion of the decrease in height was occurring in the trunk.

some studies also showing that much of the height loss can be restored by taking a short nap. Almost all reports agree that the greater proportion of the decrease in stature appears to occur soon after rising, though it is assumed that, without a nap, further loss continues throughout the day

Even in studies using larger numbers, one found a mean decrease in height of 1.54 cm in 100 children between rising and late afternoon, whereas another found a mean decrease of just 1.0 cm in 70 boys between early morning and bedtime

A stretching technique did become widely adopted about 20 years ago, however, after Whitehouse et alsuggested that ‘gentle upward pressure on the mastoid processes’ could minimise the eVects of diurnal variation.11 Indeed, these authors claim to have shown that, using this technique, loss in stature between morning and afternoon, though not entirely eliminated, can be reduced to a maximum of 0.46 cm.

The aims of the present study were twofold: (a) to ascertain the time of day at which height loss eVectively ceases; and (b) to examine the eVectiveness of stretching in reducing diurnal variation in height”

What the selected sections shows is that the height loss seen in people, but children for this experiment example is around 2-3 cms, or 1 inch. Some smaller groups of subjects showed even smaller height loss, just 1 cm. The thing that is noticed is that the height is lost from the trunk (torso). Most of the height loss happens right after a person gets out of bed, in the early hours.

This is the biggest thing that can be taken from the study….

“Figure 2 clearly shows that, on average, stretching added a constant amount to the unstretched height, but did nothing to reduce the diurnal loss of height…”

This shows that stretching can cause a very small amount of height increase in people who have already experienced diurnal loss of height, but that amount is usually slightly more than 3 millimeter or 0.003 meters in difference (it really is that small)

In the discussion section, the researchers reveal their conclusion which reveal what I had seen from obsessive measuring of my own height many years ago…

The present data confirm both the existence of diurnal variation and that the greater proportion of the height loss occurs during the earlier part of the day. Over the period 0900 to 1500 we found an average decrement of around half a centimetre, though several children lost well over 1 cm regardless of the method used (fig 1). On average, the largest decrement occurred during the first time interval, 0900 to 1100.

Once a child has been up for six or seven hours there appears to be no further discernible loss of height—the timing of afternoon appointments can therefore be more flexible and measurements made after 1300 can be repeated at any other time in the afternoon.

This is the part which also is sort of an eye-opener in terms of revelation.

Though commonly used, the technique of stretching does not appear to have any advantages. It simply increases the measured height, in this case by almost 3 mm. This amount appears to remain constant, irrespective of the time of day at which the height is measured

There is some confusion over this term; there can be no such thing as the ‘true height’ of an animate body, only a mean height, with variability about it….The aim is not to record the maximum height possible, but a height that can be easily reproduced

Stretching was therefore ineffective in reducing the stature lost during the course of the day, as suspected by Buckler.

So to the two question above, the answers are….

1. The average amount of height loss due to diurnal height loss is around 2-3 cms for most adults.
2. The amount of height gain that can be achieve is only about 3 millimeters. That gain will not be effective in reducing the loss of height over the course of a day.

These results are very interesting because they seem to go against everything that we as height increase researchers would hope for. Where I had hoped that we can increase our height 2-3 cms, maybe even 4 cms, it seems that the more likely result from stretching is only a few millimeters.

There are of course exceptions to the rule on how much of extra height can be regained like with the TightSkinFlash guy on Youtube. I did a post about the guy in the post “Reviewing A Height Increase Success Story By SkinTightFlash From Youtube, A Lance Ward Supporter”. This guy gained a little more than 1 inch from 3-4 hours of daily stretching. He went from 5′ 7″ to 5′ 8″ which is quite impressive. However now I say that his case is an outlier, something that most of us can’t expect anymore.