Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Can I Grow Taller After Puberty?

By Rodney Williams

As often as the question "can I grow taller after puberty?" is asked, it is more often that the question isn't asked at all, as many believe they already know the answer, due to the widespread misconception that you can't grow after puberty. This is of course incorrect.

Growing taller naturally is largely based on your production of growth hormones, which hits its peak early in your teen years, even earlier for females, and then slowly bottoms out. In some cases though the production of growth hormones will continue at a significant enough level for many years after the initial spurt, that some people may continue to see growth well into their 20's, though this is rare.

Of course if growth hormones were the only thing that could positively affect growth, it would be largely left up to luck. The good news is that it isn't, and there are additional ways to promote healthy growth in our bodies.

To understand why growth is possible after puberty, it's necessary to understand the process behind growth, and how those natural processes can be targeted to induce growth in later years.

First though, back to growth hormones. If you've followed the baseball steroid and illegal substance scandals over the past few years, you've undoubtedly heard of human growth hormone, or HGH, a substance which can be used to dramatically increase the level of these hormones in your body, leading to incredible weight and strength gains, height gains, faster recovery from injury, and much more. These substances are considered dangerous though, and should be avoided.

In place of the HGH shortcut (and we know shortcuts and easy routes and usually never the answer), the same effect on a slightly lesser scale, as far as height gain goes, can be achieved through several different avenues. Stretching exercises that target the spine are just one of these ways, promoting growth of the spacing between your vertebrae, and increased height.

You can also gain height by cancelling out negative effects which may actually be decreasing your 'real' height. Poor posture is one of the most common areas in this category, with the spine, and sometimes legs, being accustomed to poor positions where they are not stretched out to their fullest extent. These issues are, for the most part, corrected with just a little effort.

Many are still unaware that height is not simply left up to chance or heredity, and that it can be affected much like weight, throughout your life. Just as losing or maintaining a good weight level is not easy, height gain is also not easy to achieve. With a little effort though, and the right methods of execution, you could find yourself being taller than you ever thought possible. - 15438

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