So this little trick is not a real method or technique but more of a tip, a slight hack on the measuring process.

I found out about this trick while going through my obsessive height measuring days about 3 and a half years ago when I went through a 3-5 month period where the only thing I wanted to do or accomplish was to figure out way to add height. I would swim for 2 hours a day doing intense drills, eat a meal heavy in protein and fiber, go home and lie down, and sleep another 9 hours. That was my day and I would do stretching, and yoga, and everything to my body to make it stretch and elongate.

I even shaved my head to make sure the measurements were accurate. I was completely bald for over 3 months during that time. (I know, I should have gone out and gotten a girlfriend. I probably was driving myself crazy)

I bought a ruler that was exactly 6 foot in length, and made a light black horizontal line mark for where 6 foot was but after the edge of the ruler. That meant that If my head ever even touch the black mark in any way, my height had elipsed and reached the 6 foot mark.

A mark was made for 6′ 0″, also 5′ 11.5″ line , and then a 5′ 11″ line. I knew that if the tip of the middle of my head ever crossed that 6 foot black horizontal line mark, I was over 6 foot. I noted that every morning when I woke up, the tip of my head clearly passed that point. I was 23-24.

I remember when I was 20-21 and I had come back home from college for the Summer and was getting measured by my mother on height in the morning right after I woke up. She noted that I was around 5′ 11.75″ . She smiled and joked that I was almost to the 6 foot mark. I didn’t like that.

So fast forward 3 years and I am trying to get myself that extra 1/4th of an inch to prove to my mother that I was over 6 foot. I would sometimes stand beside that door where the marks were and see how close I could reach those marks by moving my head or tilting my head. And this was where I had noticed the trick.

For most people, the shape and form of the skull is an oval but not completely the perfect shape. Apparently for most people, the back of the head skulls is slightly longer than the front part. The front part of the skull is not bulged out because the frontal forehead has to slide and slant down to reach the occipital bulges which is where our eye brows are.

This is the Frontal View of the Skulls. As you can see, the human body and head is symmetrical in almost everyway. Symmetry is a huge property that this universe exhibits. It seems that for every great force or phenomenon in the world, there is an equal and opposite phenomena that counteracts it and balances the universe out.

From this position, we can turn and twist our head and the top or tip of the skulls does not go up or increase in any way since everything is symmetrical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a side view of the human skull. What you will see is that from the side, the human skulls does not show symmetry from the left side and the ride side if we drive a line or transverse plane that cut the skulls in half in the middle from top to bottom. The back of the human head is far larger and bigger than than the front part

The trick is that we can exploit this assymetry when we are in the process of measuring height. 

If we use  a few mathematical tricks to find the area center of this picture (using integration of curves of areas from calculus) which is 2-D, we can then put a pin through that point on the picture. Now, what happns if we then turn or twist or tilt the picture?

If we turn  the picture on the right in a clockwise direction, the tip of the head does no increase but decrease. However, if we turn the picture in the counter clockwise direction, the tip of the top of the head does increase.

And that is the trick. Of course we have only a limited degree of free the head can actually go through, like 90 Degrees. However, in certain positions and degrees that the head tilts towards, the back of the head which bulges out will indeed show that the tip of the head increase slightly. I personally have found that one should tilt the head about 45-50 Degrees away from the imaginary axis drawn through the spine of the body.

Of course this trick is more for the type of person who is obsessive with measuring themselves. With the right tilt of the head in the downward position, the back side of the head will rise up and give one another 1/8th to 1/4th of an inch. I got about an extra 1/8th (or more) of an inch increase in height when I simply just tilted my head down at the right direction with the right Degrees in angle.

If you wanted to potentially use this technique to add even more than say 1/8th of an inch, to say 1/4th of an inch, I would strongly suggest that you practice stretching, tilting, and rotating your head and neck on a regular basis. It will not only help with your skull and neck flexibility thus improve blood circulation, you can also theoretically (but maybe not actually) increase the length of your neck for added height by both decompressing the cervical/ neck vertebrate and tilting your skull in the right angle to add that needed extra 1/8 th – 1/4th of an inch

Now that is not a lot but if one is right at the edge of reaching a new height threshold, the trick just might push them over. I once managed to pursuade my Organic Chemistry teacher to give me 2 extra points on a final exam after coming into his office hours when the class was over and I managed to improve my B- stnading to a full B.

So, sometimes the smallest extra lift and increase in effort is what it takes to give us the needed boost to get us to reach our goals. Hopefully this trick is something you ca take with you the next time someone wanted to measure you.

Note: This trick will not work with everyone because everyone’s skull is different. For some people, the back of their head does not bulge out alot. Also, be careful when doing the twisting and stretching of the head and neck. I am not responsible for any exercises you decide to do and/or any injuries you might suffer because of my advice.