Word for growing taller

Height Essentials

Know That Genetics Is NOT Everything When It Comes to Your Height

You might be wondering:

Why does this guide even exist?

I mean, isn’t 60 to 80% of your height determined by your genetics?

While genetics do play their part, here is what you need to know:

If you do the right things, it’s possible to grow several inches taller than the rest of your family.

Here are some examples to prove my point:

NBA Players Who Outgrew Their Parents (By Up to 10 Inches)

Here’s a picture of a few NBA players who became much taller than their parents.

Let’s start off with the player you already know.

Here is Michael Jordan (6’6″), who grew 9 inches (23 cm) taller than his dad (5’9″), and 13 inches taller than his mom (5’5″):

Next, we have Jeremy Lin (6’3″), who also grew 9 inches (23 cm) taller than both of his parents (5’6″):

Let’s look at Gordon Hayward (6’8″), who became 10 inches (25.4 cm) taller than his parents (5’10”):

Think they got their genes from their grandparents?

Well, maybe they did.

So let’s look at some evidences that you CANNOT argue against.

How South Korea Became 3.1 Inches Taller Than Their Northern Siblings

Here’s a diagram that compares the height of North Koreans vs South Koreans:

As you can see, South Koreans are up to 3.1 inches taller than North Koreans on average [1].

Now let me ask you:

Do you think South Koreans have different genes than North Koreans?

Not at all.

In fact, the two countries were separated less than 100 years ago (right after World War II).

So as Professor Daniel Schwekendiek puts it:

It’s NOT genetics, but food shortages that likely caused North Koreans to become shorter than South Koreans over the years [1].

Let’s hammer the last nail in the coffin with our most extreme example:

How the Dutch Became 7.5 Inches Taller (WITHOUT Changing Their Genes)

Here’s a height vs income graph of Dutch males in the past few decades:

Now, we can’t verify that their increased income actually made them get taller.

But as Dr. Randal Olson predicts, the increase in their income gave them access to more and healthier foods, which meant they were better nourished to become taller [2].

So let me ask you once again:

Did the Dutch change their genes to become 7.5 inches taller as a nation?

Probably not.

And when you look at how:

NBA players outgrew their parents by up to 10 inches,

South Koreans outgrew their Northern siblings by 3.1 inches on average, and

The Dutch grew 7.5 inches in several decades…

…ALL without changing their genes…

It should convince you that you CAN become much taller by doing the right things (without changing a SINGLE gene).

And this guide is going to show you how to do just that.

Height Essentials

Know That It IS Possible to Grow Taller At Any Age

At this point, you may be thinking:

Can I increase my height by 7.5 inches if I’m 25 years old?

Unfortunately, you can’t.

BUT, it’s still possible for you to increase your height by a few cm or inches.

In fact, by implementing the strategies you’re about to learn in this guide, I was able to grow 3.0 cm when I was 23 years old.

And later in this guide, I’m going to reveal exactly what I did to grow taller when I was 23 years old.

Height Essentials

Know The Most Important Factors for Growing Taller

Now that you know how:

Non-genetic (environmental) factors can affect your final height by several inches, and

It IS possible to grow at least 1 to 2 inches taller at any age,

You’re ready to learn the most important factors that will maximize your height.

Now, depending on how old you are, some of these factors will matter much more to you than others.

(That’s why I’m not going to cover all of these factors in every single chapter)

With that, here is an overview of the most important height growth factors to be aware of:

A Quick Glance at Each Chapter

Now that you know the most important height growth factors, it’s time to preview the upcoming chapters.

Each chapter is going to contain 3 main components:

1. What to Expect

While it’s possible to grow taller at any age, you probably know that children can grow much taller than adults.

So at the start of each chapter, I’m going to give you an idea of how much you can expect to grow at your age.

2. Most Important Height Growth Factors

Depending on how old you are, certain height growth factors will be much more important than the others.

For example, if you’re a parent raising a kid, taking care of her diet is more important than anything else.

And if you’re a 29-year-old looking to stretch out your height to the last inch, you need to focus on your posture more than anything else.

Bottom line: In each chapter, you’re only going to learn the height growth factors that actually matter at your age.

3. Key Takeaways

After you learn about the height growth factors that are the most important to you, I’m going to give you a summary section for your chapter.

In these summary sections, you’ll get to review the most important points, and actionable tips you can start doing right away to get taller.

How to Manage Your Baby’s Growth Spurts

If your child is 0 to 2 years old, he’ll likely go through several growth spurts.

Here are some things to keep in mind about your child’s growth spurts:

Your baby will likely go through a growth spurt at these points in his toddler period [4]:

7~10 days,

2~3 weeks,

4~6 weeks,

3 months,

4 months,

6 months, and

9 months

Each growth spurt lasts about 2 days to a week [4]

Signs of growth spurts include [5]:

Wanting more food,

Napping or sleeping longer hours, or

Being crankier and clingier (even when she’s not sick)

When your baby shows these signs, pay attention to what he wants, and don’t change anything forcefully [5]

For example, if he wants more food, feed him more food, but don’t forcefully feed him more if he doesn’t want it first)

Growth Tracking

Track Your Baby’s Growth Using The Growth Chart

Now that you know what kind of growth patterns you can expect, let’s talk about how you can track her growth accurately.

By far, the best way to track your child’s growth is using the growth chart.

But before I show you how you can use Growth Charts, it’s important to pick the correct growth chart for your child’s gender.

Pick the Right Growth Chart for Your Child

Here are 2 growth charts for toddlers (one for boys and one for girls):

Boys Growth Chart (Ages 0 to 2 Years)

Girls Growth Chart (Ages 0 to 2 Years)

After you pick the right growth chart for your child, it’s time to use it to track your child’s growth.

How to Use the Growth Chart (3 Simple Steps)

For this example, we’re going to use Marie who is 9 months old, and measures to be 27.5 inches tall.

Here is Dr. Iannelli’s step-by-step process to using the chart accurately:

➊

At the bottom of the chart, find your child’s age, and draw a vertical line to the top of the graph.

➋

Find your child’s height on the left, and draw a horizontal line until you reach the vertical line.

➌

Find the curve that’s closest to this intersection, and follow the curve until you get to 2 numbers.

For Marie, you’ll find that she gets to the numbers: 50 and 34

After following these 3 steps, you’ll gather 2 pieces of information:

1. Marie’s Growth Percentile (which equals 50%), and

2. Marie’s Predicted Height by 2 Years of Age (which equals 34 Inches or 86.5 cm).

What is Your Child’s Growth Percentile?

Simply put:

Your child’s growth percentile is the percentage of children who are shorter than your child (who are the same age).

Since Marie’s Growth Percentile equals 50%, it means that she is taller than 50% of other toddler’s who are her age.

Now, the point of this procedure ISN’T to see how tall your child is compared to other children.

Rather, your child’s growth percentile will help you know if she’s growing properly or not.

Use The Growth Percentile to Gauge Your Child’s Rate of Growth

Here are 2 steps you can use your child’s growth percentile to ensure she’s growing at the right pace:

1. Go through all of your child’s existing measurements, and label them with a growth percentile (using the Growth Chart).

2. If her growth percentile stays relatively consistent, it’s an indication that she’s growing at a healthy pace.

For example, if your child’s growth percentile is 45% when she’s 6 months, 50% when she’s 9 months, and 50% when she’s 12 months old, it shows that your child is growing normally.

Be Assured: Your Child’s Height Can Fluctuate Quite a Bit

Remember what I said earlier in the chapter:

Your child will go through several episodes of growth spurts at random times.

In other words, there will likely be times when she outgrows or undergrows her predicted growth percentile on the chart.

So if you find that she is at 60% growth percentile at 18 months, but up to 75% growth percentile at 21 months, that is completely normal.

However, if you find that your child is way faster or slower than what’s expected of her, you should check with a pediatrician. immediately.

Nutrition

How to Feed Your Baby for Proper Growth

Although nutrition is the biggest factor when it comes to your child’s height, you DON’T need to stress over what foods to feed your child right now.

Instead, you want to focus on making his transition to solid foods as smooth as possible.

If you want to find out if he’s ready to eat solid foods, make sure to ask you doctor.

Along with your visit, here is a checklist you can use to know whether or not your child is ready to eat solid foods [6]:

Is your baby 4 to 6 months old?

Can your baby hold his head in a steady, upright position?

Can your baby sit with support?

Does your baby mouth his hands or toys?

Does your baby show interest to what you’re eating?

If you’ve answer yes to all of these questions, and you’ve gotten a confirmation from your doctor, he’s ready to eat solid foods.

For a more in-depth guide on how to get your baby started on solid foods, check out the following guide:

Mayo Clinic: How to Get Your Baby Started on Solid Foods

Sleep

How to Optimize Your Baby’s Sleep for Proper Growth

Optimizing your child’s sleep is super important if you want her to grow properly.

Why?

Your child needs enough hours of deep sleep every night to produce lots of HGH, which is essential for growing taller, and safeguarding her overall health and development.

(We’re going to tackle HGH more deeply in the next few chapters)

So how much sleep should she get every night?

As much as she needs!

Since every baby is different, I can’t tell you exactly how many hours she needs to sleep.

That said, here are some general ranges that are recommended for your child [7]:

If she’s 4 to 12 months old: 12 ~ 16 hours

If she’s 1 to 2 years old: 11 ~ 14 hours

Steps to Help Your Baby Sleep at Night

With the durations out of the way, here are a few steps you can take to make sure she gets deep, quality sleep every night [8]:

Allow your baby to nap (an overtired baby has a harder time sleeping, ironically)

Avoid stimulation before bedtime (no loud noise or bright lights)

Keep a consistent bedtime routine. Remember the 3 Bs: bath, book, bed

Help your child sleep on her back

Make sure the room is at a comfortable temperature, and is free of any noise or lights

Growth Tracking

Track Your Kid’s Growth With 2 Simple Steps

In order to keep a more precise track of your child’s growth, we’re going to do 2 things:

Measure His Height Accurately (by Following 5 Simple Rules)

This may seem like an easy step (and it’s quite easy to be honest).

But most people either wing this process, or get it completely wrong.

So here are some rules to follow in order to measure your child’s height accurately:

Measure your child once every one to three months

Measure around the same time of day (preferably in the morning)

Make sure your child gets the enough sleep the day before

Measure using the same tool (preferably a tape ruler, NOT a ruler you stick on walls)

Keep your measurements consistent

Steps to Measuring His Height With Maximum Accuracy

To elaborate on the last rule, here are steps you can take to measure her height accurately:

1. Grab a light and hard book

2. Get your child to stand against the wall, with the back of her heels and head touching the wall

3. Place the book on top of her head, and keep the book parallel to the floor as much as possible

4. Get her to lower her chin, and adjust her head position until she is at her tallest height

5. Mark her height with a pencil

6. Grab your ruler (that you picked from the previous step), stick it to the bottom of the wall, and extend it up to the mark.

7. Right down her height, date, and time in a notebook (or Excel spreadsheet)

Use The Growth Chart to Track Your Child’s Growth

After you measure your child, it’s time to find out if he’s growing at the right pace.

In order to do this, you’ll need to know how to use the Growth Chart

Pick the Right Growth Chart for Your Kid

Here are 2 growth charts for kids over 2 years old (one for each gender):

Boys Growth Chart (Ages 2 Years or Older)

Girls Growth Chart (Ages 2 Years or Older)

How to Use the Growth Chart (3 Simple Steps)

After you’ve:

Measured your child at least once, and

Picked the right growth chart for your kid

You’re now ready to use the Growth Chart.

Now if you’ve read the last chapter, you probably already know how to use the Growth Chart.

But since your kid’s growth chart looks slightly different from a toddler’s, I’ll walk you through the chart reading process with a chart that’s made for your kid.

For this example, we’re going to use David who is 6 years old, and is 3′ 7″ tall.

Here is Dr. Iannelli’s step-by-step process to using the chart accurately:

➊

At the bottom of the chart, find your child’s age, and draw a vertical line to the top of the graph.

➋

Find your child’s height on the left, and draw a horizontal line until you reach the vertical line.

(David’s height in inches is: 3 feet x 12 + 7 inches = 43 inches)

➌

Find the curve that’s closest to this intersection, and follow the curve until you get to 2 numbers.

For David, you’ll find that he gets to the numbers: 10th, 167.5 cm, and 66 inches

So what are these two numbers?

10th = David’s Growth Percentile

167.5 cm or 66 inches = David’s Predicted Adult Height

To recap, your child’s growth percentile shows what percentage of children (his age) he is taller than.

And since David has a Growth Percentile of 10%, it means that he is taller than around 10% of children who are his age.

Your Child’s Growth Can Fluctuate (But Not Too Much)

Since these growth charts and curves are based on estimations, it’s normal for your child’s to grow out of his Growth Percentile throughout his years.

For example, if he’s growth percentile is 70% when he’s 7 years old, 75% when he’s 8, and 80% when he’s 9, it shows that your child is growing normally.

But since he’s likely not going to go through any major growth spurt, his height should stay relatively close to the line (compared to when he was a toddler or when he becomes a teenager) [9].

If you notice any weird patterns in your child’s growth, mare sure to see your doctor or pediatrician.

Now that you know how to track your child’s growth, let’s move onto the juicier topic:

HGH

The Ultimate Height Maximizing Factor

In the introductory chapter, we covered why HGH is essential for maximizing your child’s height.

Therefore, the strategies I’m about to teach you will help your child increase her HGH levels naturally.

But before we go any further, I want to answer a common objection people ask about HGH:

ISN’T HGH DANGEROUS?????

To answer this question, let’s look at 2 different types of HGH:

In other words: Natural HGH is completely safe, while synthetic HGH can be risky if not injected properly.

And the bulk of this guide will focus on increasing your child’s natural HGH levels.

5 Ways to Boost Your Kid’s HGH (for Maximum Growth)

There are 5 areas of your kid’s lifestyle you want to optimize to maximize his natural HGH levels:

Nutrition

Sleep

Exercises

Avoiding Bad Habits, and

Avoiding Certain Conditions

Let’s quickly dive into each area.

Nutrition

Optimize Your Child’s Diet to Maximize Her Height

Keep in mind: your child’s diet can make or break her height.

Just remember how South Koreans became 3.1 inches taller than their North Korean siblings from having access to more and healthier foods [1].

So the better foods your child eats, the more she’ll grow.

And in this section, I’ll show you the BEST foods your child can eat to maximize her height

5 Height Maximizing Nutrients (for Bone Growth)

For a food to help your child grow taller, it needs to contain at least one of the 5 Height Maximizing nutrients.

Here are the 5 Height Maximizing Nutrients, and a brief overview of their roles in making your child taller:

➊ Amino Acids – Increases HGH, which signals your bones to grow longer [10]

➋ Protein – Contains Amino Acids, and builds Collagen (1 of 2 main building blocks of your bones) [11, 12]

➌ Vitamin C – Also builds Collagen [11, 12]

➍ Calcium – The other building block of your bones (alongside Collagen) [11]

➎ Vitamin D3 – Helps your bones absorb Calcium [13]

Now you know which nutrients your child needs, I’m going to show you a COMPLETE list of foods that are high in all of these nutrients:

The BEST Height Maximizing Foods (Complete Chart)

Here is a complete chart of foods that are rich in each of the 5 nutrients.

(You’ll notice that many of these foods overlap)

Amino Acids	Protein	Vitamin C	Calcium	Vitamin D3
Grassfed Meats	Tuna	Strawberries	Seeds	Milk
Eggs	Chicken Breast	Pineapple	Cheese	Cereal
Flava Beans	Fish	Kiwi	Yogurt	Orange Juice
Golgi Berries	Steak	Mango	Salmon	Mushrooms
Pineapple	Tofu	Papaya	Beans	Eggs
Watermelon	Pumpkin Seeds	Red Pepper	Almonds	Salmon
Coconut Oil	Cottage Cheese	Kale	Leafy Greens	Tuna
Nuts	Yogurt	Broccoli	Cereal	Oysters
Raw Chocolate	Almonds	Cauliflower	Tofu	Shrimps
Yogurt	Quinoa	Brussel Sprouts	Milk	☀️ Sunlight ☀️

Amino Acids
Grassfed Meats
Eggs
Flava Beans
Golgi Berries
Pineapple
Watermelon
Coconut Oil
Nuts
Raw Chocolate
Yogurt

Protein
Tuna
Chicken Breast
Fish
Steak
Tofu
Pumpkin Seeds
Cottage Cheese
Yogurt
Almonds
Quinoa

Vitamin C
Strawberries
Pineapple
Kiwi
Mango
Papaya
Red Pepper
Kale
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Brussel Sprouts

Calcium
Seeds
Cheese
Yogurt
Salmon
Beans
Almonds
Leafy Greens
Cereal
Tofu
Milk

Vitamin D3
Milk
Cereal
Orange Juice
Mushrooms
Eggs
Salmon
Tuna
Oysters
Shrimps
☀️ Sunlight ☀️

Now, your child doesn’t need to eat all the foods in this chart.

Just ask her which foods he likes from each column, and make sure that she consumes each nutrient sufficiently.

Which brings us to the next part:

How Much of Each Nutrient Should Your Child Consume?

Here is an overview of the daily recommended intake for each nutrient.

Optimal Daily Intake of Amino Acids and Protein

Since many protein-rich foods contain lots of amino acids that will boost your child’s HGH, all your child needs to focus on is eating enough proteins each day [14].

Here is a calculator you can use to track how much Protein (and fats, carbs, and calories) your child needs every day.

Optimal Daily Intake of Vitamin C and Calcium

Here is how much Calcium and Vitamin C your child needs to consume each day [15, 16]:

Age	Vitamin C	Calcium
3 Years	15 mg	700 mg
4~8 Years	25 mg	1,000 mg
9 Years	45 mg	1,300 mg

Age	Vitamin C
3 Years	15 mg
4~8 Years	25 mg
9 Years	45 mg

Age	Calcium
3 Years	700 mg
4~8 Years	1,000 mg
9 Years	1,300 mg

Optimal Daily Intake of Vitamin D3

Your child needs to get at least 400 IU of Vitamin D3 per day [17].

Remember: A Balance Diet = Height Maximizing Diet

I gave you a complete list of all the Height Maximizing foods.

I even showed you how much your child needs to consume daily.

But remember, even if your child doesn’t nail the daily intake of each nutrition, her body will be conditioned for maximum growth as long as she consumes each nutrient every day.

And more importantly, this guide is NOT an invitation for you to ignore all the other nutrients that are important for helping your child become healthy (such as other vitamins, iron, zinc, and many more).

Bottom line: a balanced diet is key.

Sleep

Optimize Your Child’s Sleep for Maximum Growth

If you want to maximize your child’s HGH levels for maximum growth, getting a good night’s sleep is a must.

But it’s not enough for your kid to sleep 8 hours every night…

Your child needs to sleep deeply and peacefully every night.

And in this short section, we’re going to look at a few strategies to optimize your child’s sleep.

Sleep Tip #1: Take Care of Her Daily Activities Before Bed

If you want your child to sleep well, it’s important to optimize her activities when she’s awake.

Here are some things your child can do during the day to sleep better:

Get enough sunlight

Get active (to make her more tired at night)

Here are some things she can AVOID near bedtime:

Avoid sodas that contain caffeine

Heavy meals

Drinking too much water

Stimulations such as bright lights from phone or loud noises from listening to music

Stressful activities

Sleep Tip #2: Optimize Her Sleeping Environment

If your child wants to sleep deeply, her environment must promote deep sleep.

Here’s how you can create a sleep-optimized bedroom:

Keep your child’s room at optimal temperature. 60 to 70 °F (16 to 21 °C) is a good rule of thumb, but make sure your child feels comfortable

Keep her room completely free from lights and background noise. You can do this by: getting rid of all night lights and closing her room door

Unplug all electrical wires from the wall

Get your child to sleep with her socks on (warm feet improves sleep quality)

Encourage your child to keep her phone on airplane mode before going to bed (wifi & phone signals can lower the quality of her sleep)

Sleep Tip #3: Sleep Before 10pm

By implementing the 2 previous tips, your child should be well on her way to sleeping for maximum HGH production.

But if she wants to maximize HGH she produces during sleep, you’ll want to put her in bed before 10pm.

Studies have shown that HGH peaks between 10pm and 2am [18, 19].

Now that you know when your child should sleep, let’s talk about when your child should wake up:

Sleep Tip #4: Turn Off All Alarm Clocks

As I mentioned in the beginning of this section, it’s far more important for your child to get deep and restful sleep, than simply getting lots of sleep.

That said, you’re going to want your child to get enough sleep every night.

So how can you make sure that she gets enough sleep?

By letting her wake up naturally (without any alarms).

Since every child is different, she will likely need more or less sleep than other children.

And the best way to know how much sleep she needs is to let her wake up without any external stimulus.

How Much Sleep Does Your Child Need?

If you’re still curious about how much sleep she needs, here’s a general guideline to follow [7]:

If she’s 3 to 5 years old: 10 ~ 13 hours

If she’s 6 to 9 years old: 9 ~ 12 hours

But remember at the end of the day: let your child sleep as much as she wants!

Exercises

Stay Active to Maximize Your Child’s Height

Optimizing your child’s nutrition and sleep is by far the most important ways you can increase his natural HGH levels.

That said, getting your child to be active on a regular basis will help him boost his HGH even further.

Now, if your child is 3 to 9 years old, I have some good news:

ANY exercise or sport will elevate your child’s natural HGH levels.

So instead of focusing too much on doing the BEST exercise, your child just needs to stay active on a regular basis to keep his HGH levels high.

In the next chapter for teenagers, I’ll show you a specific type of exercise your child can do further boost his HGH.

But if your child is 9 years or younger, just being active alone is enough.

Bad Habits

Avoid Habits that Can Decrease Your Child’s Height

The first 3 tips in this chapter were all about strategies that an increase your child’s height.

But in this section, we’re going to look at 2 habits your child needs to avoid.

These habits all have one thing in common: they can lower your child’s HGH.

With that, here is the first habit your child should avoid:

Height Hindering Habit #1: Caffeine

You’ve probably heard that coffee or soda can stunt your growth.

And while that’s not true, caffeinated drinks can decrease your HGH [20].

How?

By disrupting your sleep.

As you know, caffeine can disrupt your sleep, EVEN if you drink it early in the morning.

So make sure that your kid minimizes soda intake.

Which brings us to the next habit:

Height Hindering Habit #2: Too Much Sugar

You’ve probably also heard that junk foods can stunt your growth.

And same as caffeine, it can’t stunt your growth, but it can also lowers your HGH.

Junk foods contain lots of sugar, and too much sugar can lower your HGH, since the insulin spike that sugar causes can disrupt proper HGH production [21].

So make sure that your child controls his sugar intake.

Conditions

Watch Out for Conditions that Can Disrupt Your Child’s Growth

In this section, we’re also going to touch up on something that your child needs to avoid:

Conditions and diseases

But unlike simple habits, these conditions are much more severe, and may be harder to avoid.

6 Types of Conditions That Can Hinder Your Child’s Growth

Conditions can disrupt your child’s growth in several different ways.

Specifically, height hindering conditions fall under one 1 of 6 categories:

➊ Lower HGH levels: Growth Hormone Deficiency, Hypothyroidism, Cushing’s Syndrome

➋ Hinder bones from absorbing proper nutrients: Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Celiac Disease, Congenital Heart Disease, Anemia, Chronic Kidney Disease

➌ Damage growth plates: Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

➍ Weaken bones: Osteoporosis, Osteopenia, Osteomalacia

➎ Cause bone misalignment: Spine curvature (Kyphosis, Lordosis, Scoliosis), Bowlegs, Knock Knees

➏ Genetic conditions that hinder growth: Down Syndrome, Noonan Syndrome, Turner Syndrome

Now, if you want your child to avoid these conditions, you DON’T need to memorize these!

Instead, here are steps you can take to prevent these conditions from making your child shorter:

Now, if you’re interested in learning more about these conditions, check out my comprehensive guide on these conditions in my other guide:

The Ultimate Guide to Helping Your Child Grow Taller (Chapter 9)

Crazy Growth Spurt Stories

Let’s go back to the tall NBA players who outgrew their parents.

But this time, we’re going to look at their crazy growth spurts instead [23, 24]:

Anthony Davis: At age 15 to 19, grew 8 inches (6’2″ to 6’10”)

Russell Westbrook: At age 17 to 18, grew 5 inches (5’10” to 6’3″)

Tim Duncan: At age 17 to 18, grew 8 inches (6’3″ to 6’11”)

Scottie Pippen: After high school, grew 7 inches (6’1″ to 6’8″)

David Robinson: At age 22 to 24, grew 5 inches (6’8″ to 7’1″)

Now, I’m not saying that your child can grow 8 inches when he turns 17 (although it’s possible).

The main point of me showing you these numbers is to show you that your child can grow rapidly at a very late age.

Growth Chart: To Use or Not to Use?

In short, Growth Charts help you make sure that your child is growing at a normal rate.

All you do is plot your child’s height and age, and the chart will help you predict how tall he’s going to become at each upcoming age.

Now, this is a good tool to use when your child is in his toddler and kid phase…

…but NOT when he’s approaching his teenage years.

Why?

Because your child is likely to fall out of his predicted patterns of growth during this time [22].

I mean, just imagine if these NBA players used these growth charts!

They would’ve spent all of their early teenage years panicking for no reason.

And even though these players ended up spurting their growth very late, they’re healthy after all.

Bottom line: If your child is approaching (or already is in) his teenage years, I’d throw out the growth chart altogether.

How to Maximize Your Child’s Growth Spurts

By default, your child will become much taller after she goes through a growth spurt.

However, there are certain things she can do to make herself even taller during this phase.

On the flipside, if there is something off about her body or overall health, her growth spurt won’t help her grow as tall as she’s capable of becoming.

So in this section, I’m going to show you exactly how your child can condition her body for maximum growth during her growth spurt.

6 Ways to Maximize Your Child’s Growth During a Growth Spurt

Here are 6 different ways you can prepare your child for a crazy growth spurt:

HIITs (a.k.a. High-Intensity Interval Training)

Protecting against growth plate injuries

Nutrition

Sleep

Avoiding bad habits

Watching out for height stunting conditions

So without further ado, let’s get into the first height maximizing strategy:

Exercises

Do HIITs to Maximize HGH for Growth

WTF are HIITs??

HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) is a specific type of exercise that boost your HGH levels by up to 450% [25].

As we went over in the intro chapter, HGH is the hormone that is at the heart of lengthening your bones.

So the more high-intensity exercises your child does, the more he’ll grow.

With that, here is what a HIIT looks like [26, 27, 28]:

Here’s the best part about HIITs:

They can be done with ANY exercise, sport, or activity.

So get your child to pick his favorite sport or exercise, and follow the above guidelines to turn it into a HIIT.

Here are some exercises your child can consider for doing HIITs [27, 29]:

Best Exercises for HIIT (for Maximum Growth)

100 m sprints

Stationary bikes (pedal as hard as possible)

Rapid squat jumps

Burpees

Pushups

Jumping ropes

Rope exercises

Can Your Child Lift Weights?

If you’re worried that lifting weights will stunt your child’s growth, you don’t have to.

Studies have proven that weight-lifting has NO negative impact on your child’s growth [30, 31, 32, 33].

So instead of being concerned about lifting heavy weights, make sure that your child protects himself from growth plate injuries.

Which brings us to the next section:

Bone Protection

Protect Your Child Against Growth Plate Injuries

In short: your growth plate is the part of your bone that makes itself longer [34].

So if your child injuries this part of her bones, it can interfere with her growth [35].

On top of that: your child is more likely to injure her growth plates during a growth spurt, since her bones are less dense when they grow rapidly [35, 36].

(That’s why I saved this section for teenagers)

Steps to Prevent Growth Plate Injuries

Here are ways your child can prevent growth plate injuries [30, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40]:

Most Important: Get proper supervision from a qualified adult trainer

Wear equipment and gears that fit properly (footwear, protective gears, etc)

Warm up joints and muscles before the activity (by stretching and moving the body in the required range of motion)

Get your child to focus on whatever she is doing

Prioritize skill development (over competition)

Train muscle groups evenly

Get enough rest in-between sets, training sessions, games, and competitions

Avoid burnouts

Don’t EVER force your child to get active when she doesn’t feel like it

Don’t EVER preach “no pain, no gain” (if your child feels pain, she should stop the activity altogether)

How to Check If Your Child Has a Growth Plate Injury

Here are the most common signs of growth plate injuries [39]:

Tenderness near the area

Swelling and warm around the joint

Limited range of motion

Pain when lifting or applying pressure

To learn more about how your child can prevent growth plate injuries, check out the following resources:

Healthline: Salter-Harris Fracture

Pubmed: Fracture, Salter-Harris

Nutrition

Optimize Your Child’s Diet for Maximum Bone Growth

When your child goes through a growth spurt, her body needs more nutrients to support that growth.

That’s why it’s important to feed her with not only the right nutrients, but enough nutrients every single day.

And in this section, I’ll show you how your child can do both.

5 Height Maximizing Nutrients for Your Child

There are 5 key nutrients your child needs in order to maximize her bone growth:

➊ Amino Acids – Increases HGH, which signals your bones to grow longer [10]

➋ Protein – Contains Amino Acids, and builds Collagen (1 of 2 main building blocks of your bones) [11, 12]

➌ Vitamin C – Also builds Collagen [11, 12]

➍ Calcium – The other building block of your bones (alongside Collagen) [11]

➎ Vitamin D3 – Helps your bones absorb Calcium [13]

With that, here’s a COMPLETE list of foods that are high in all of these nutrients:

The BEST Height Maximizing Foods (Complete Chart)

(You’ll notice that many of these foods overlap)

Amino Acids	Protein	Vitamin C	Calcium	Vitamin D3
Grassfed Meats	Tuna	Strawberries	Seeds	Milk
Eggs	Chicken Breast	Pineapple	Cheese	Cereal
Flava Beans	Fish	Kiwi	Yogurt	Orange Juice
Golgi Berries	Steak	Mango	Salmon	Mushrooms
Pineapple	Tofu	Papaya	Beans	Eggs
Watermelon	Pumpkin Seeds	Red Pepper	Almonds	Salmon
Coconut Oil	Cottage Cheese	Kale	Leafy Greens	Tuna
Nuts	Yogurt	Broccoli	Cereal	Oysters
Raw Chocolate	Almonds	Cauliflower	Tofu	Shrimps
Yogurt	Quinoa	Brussel Sprouts	Milk	☀️ Sunlight ☀️

Amino Acids
Grassfed Meats
Eggs
Flava Beans
Golgi Berries
Pineapple
Watermelon
Coconut Oil
Nuts
Raw Chocolate
Yogurt

Protein
Tuna
Chicken Breast
Fish
Steak
Tofu
Pumpkin Seeds
Cottage Cheese
Yogurt
Almonds
Quinoa

Vitamin C
Strawberries
Pineapple
Kiwi
Mango
Papaya
Red Pepper
Kale
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Brussel Sprouts

Calcium
Seeds
Cheese
Yogurt
Salmon
Beans
Almonds
Leafy Greens
Cereal
Tofu
Milk

Vitamin D3
Milk
Cereal
Orange Juice
Mushrooms
Eggs
Salmon
Tuna
Oysters
Shrimps
☀️ Sunlight ☀️

Remember: your child doesn’t need to eat all the foods in this chart.

Just ask her to pick her favorite foods from each column, and make sure she eats them sufficiently.

Which brings us to the next part:

How Much of Each Nutrient Should Your Child Consume?

Now that we went over what your child needs to eat, let’s talk about how much of each nutrient she needs.

In the last chapter, I said that your child doesn’t need to stress over her daily intake.

However, if your child is approaching her growth spurt, she needs to pay more attention to her daily intake, since her bones will require more nutrients to support their rapid growth.

So here are some daily requirements your child should be aware of:

Optimal Daily Intake of Amino Acids and Protein

Since many protein-rich foods contain lots of amino acids that will boost your child’s HGH, all your child needs to focus on is eating enough proteins each day [14].

Here is a calculator you can use to track how much Protein (and fats, carbs, and calories) your child needs every day.

Optimal Daily Intake of Vitamin C and Calcium

Here is how much Calcium and Vitamin C your child needs to consume each day [15, 16]:

Age	Vitamin C	Calcium
10~13 Years	45 mg	1,300 mg
14~17 Years	65 mg for girls 75 mg for boys	1,300 mg

Age	Vitamin C
10~13 Years	45 mg
14~17 Years	65 mg for girls 75 mg for boys

Age	Calcium
10~13 Years	1,300 mg
14~17 Years	1,300 mg

Optimal Daily Intake of Vitamin D3

Your child needs to get at least 400 IU of Vitamin D3 per day [17].

Should Your Child Do Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting has shown to significantly boost your HGH levels [41].

Having said that, it may not be safe for children or teenagers to fast [42, 43].

Remember: a teenager will need to eat sufficiently every day to fuel her bones for maximum growth, especially during her growth spurts.

On the flipside, there is no need to force your child to eat when she doesn’t want to.

Just make sure that she doesn’t skip any meals when she is actually hungry.

Bonus Nutrition Tip: Take Supplements

There is a lot of misconception about height growth pills and supplements.

But in reality: height supplements are no different than bodybuilding supplements.

While taking protein supplements can help a bodybuilding gain more muscles, they won’t help him if he doesn’t have a good diet to begin with.

Same goes for your child: if your child doesn’t eat the foods I showed you in this section, supplements won’t make her grow much taller.

But once she has a good diet in place, she can use supplements to grow even taller.

Which Height Growth Pills Will Actually Work?

To put simply: supplements that are rich in any of the 5 Height Maximizing Nutrients will help your child grow taller.

One supplement that contains many of these nutrients is Peak Height pills.

If you check the ingredients, you’ll notice that it contains 5 Height Maximizing Nutrients:

So if you want to help your child boost her height, I recommend you give this supplement a try.

But remember: a good diet is more important than ANY supplement in the world.

Sleep

Optimize Your Child’s Sleep for Maximum Growth

Up to 75% of your HGH is produced during deep sleep [45].

So if your want your child to maximize her HGH levels for maximum growth, she needs to optimize her sleep.

Here are 4 things he can do to optimize her sleep:

How Can You Convince Your Teenage Child to Go to Bed Early?!

This might be one of the hardest part of your child’s life that he can optimize.

As you probably know, teenagers like to stay up later at night, go partying, and take part in all sorts of entertaining activities.

So how can you convince your child to follow all of these tips to the tee?

Simple: explain to him that by sleeping well every night, he can grow taller.

And if he doesn’t, he won’t.

But if that isn’t enough to convince him, just make sure that he gets enough sleep every night, and that should be good enough to produce enough HGH at night.

Bad Habits

Height Hindering Habits to Watch Out For

Now that you know how important HGH can be for your child’s growth, let’s go over activities that can decrease your child’s HGH levels.

We already went over 2 of these habits in the last chapter, but here, I’ll introduce 2 more habits to watch out for.

Here are 4 height hindering habits your child should minimize (to maximize her height):

Once again, a teenager is a teenager, and there’s a good chance your child will take part in all of these 4 activities some time in her teenage years.

However, as a wise man once said: “You are your habits.”

So as long as your child doesn’t take part in these activities too often, her HGH levels will stay elevated for proper growth.

Just remind her that all of these activities can make her grow less tall, and that will be a big enough nudge if she truly cares about growing taller.

Conditions

Conditions That Can Hinder Your Child’s Growth

There is one more enemy to your child’s growth:

Conditions and diseases

Unfortunately, conditions are much harder (if not impossible) to avoid compared to simple habits we just discussed.

But often times, your child can still reach his desired height with the proper treatment, as long as he spots them early on.

So it’s important that you know how to spot this kind of condition if your child has one, and get treated as fast as possible.

6 Types of Conditions That Can Hinder Your Child’s Growth

Conditions can do 1 of the 6 following things to disrupt your child’s growth:

➊ Lower HGH levels: Growth Hormone Deficiency, Hypothyroidism, Cushing’s Syndrome

➋ Hinder bones from absorbing proper nutrients: Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Celiac Disease, Congenital Heart Disease, Anemia, Chronic Kidney Disease

➌ Damage growth plates: Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

➍ Weaken bones: Osteoporosis, Osteopenia, Osteomalacia

➎ Cause bone misalignment: Spine curvature (Kyphosis, Lordosis, Scoliosis), Bowlegs, Knock Knees

➏ Genetic conditions that hinder growth: Down Syndrome, Noonan Syndrome, Turner Syndrome

If you want to help your child prevent these conditions as much as possible, here are concrete steps you can take:

If you’re interested in learning more about these conditions, check out my comprehensive guide on these conditions in my other guide:

The Ultimate Guide to Helping Your Child Grow Taller (Chapter 9)

3 Steps to Increasing Your Height As An Adult

Here are 3 simple steps you can take to grow taller as an adult:

➊ Becoming taller

➋ Staying taller, and

➌ Growing taller

So what the heck’s the difference between these 3 steps?

Here’s a brief overview of what the differences are:

1. Becoming taller = This step helps you appear taller, but not actually grow physically taller

2. Staying taller = This step helps you maintain the taller look you achieved from the previous step

3. Growing taller = This step helps you actually grow physically taller

In this chapter, we’re going to focus on the step you’re most interested in: growing taller

But for step #3 to work, you need to first master steps 1 and 2.

So without further ado, let’s dive into step 1.

Step #1

Become Taller

This is an exciting step, because it allows you to literally become taller instantly.

So how do you become taller instantly?

By fixing your posture.

I know that’s not a ground-breaking answer you were looking for.

But let me show you how game-changing this strategy is:

As you can see in this picture, fixing your posture can instantly make you an inch taller.

With that, here are steps you can take to become taller, right now:

Ways to Become Taller (Instantly)

Optimize your standing posture by:

Standing against the wall (with the back of your feet, buttocks, shoulder blades, and head all touching the wall)

Tucking in your chin while looking straight (this will align your head properly while putting your spine in its neutral position)

Get a cheap posture corrector on Amazon (these will FORCE you to maintain a good posture)

Aim to sit less by:

Taking frequent breaks

Using standing desks, or

Lying down on your stomach when using your laptop or phone for a long time

Sleep on your back without a pillow (this is my favorite technique)

Install a medium-firm mattress to keep your spine in its neutral alignment

Become more confident; this makes you pop out your chest naturally, bringing your spine into a proper alignment

What a Correct Standing Posture Looks Like

Here is what a correct posture looks like:

As you can see, you have to align your head, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles

For a more in-depth guide on how you can optimize your standing posture, check out the following resource:

Art of Manliness: The Ultimate Guide to Posture (by Brett and Kate McKay)

Step #2

Stay Taller

You’ve probably found the last step pretty easy to pull off.

I mean, fixing your posture shouldn’t be rocket science.

But maintaining a tall posture is a whole different game.

And in this section, I’ll show you exercises to help you maintain your taller posture, much more easily.

These exercises will either:

Strengthen the muscles that are too weak, or

Stretch the muscles that are too tight

9 Exercises to Maintain a Taller Posture

(Click on each exercise to see the video demonstration)

Doorway Stretch

Wall Angels

Standing Rows

Shoulder Rotations

Thoracic Stretch

Hip Flexor Stretch

Glute Bridge

Plank

Superman

3 Bonus Resources for the Best Postural Exercises

Here are 3 bonus resources you can use to further improve and maintain your posture:

Brett (from Art of Manliness): 6 Exercises to Counteract Slouching

Jeff Cavaliere (from ATHLEAN-X): Perfect Posture in 5 Steps

Dr. Alan Mandell: 13 Best Postural Exercises for Forward Head Posture

Step #3

Grow Taller

This is the step you’ve been waiting for.

As you probably know, your bones stop growing after you reach a certain age (around late teens or early 20s).

If so… how in the world can you grow taller as an adult??

By lengthening a part of your body that CAN still grow: your spine

I’ll explain.

Your Spine: The Hero That Can Help You Grow Taller By 1 to 2 Inches

Here is a diagram of how your spine looks like:

As you can see, your spine contains 24 bones (white), separated by 23  cartilage discs (red).

The coolest part?

Unlike your bones, the cartilage discs in your spine can grow longer, no matter HOW old you are [49].

How Much Can Your Spine Discs Grow?

The question then becomes:

How much can your spine grow in total?

More than you think.

To give you concrete numbers:

If all you do is increase each disc length by 0.05, you would grow 0.05 inches x 23, which equals 1.15 inches in total.

In fact, that’s exactly how I grew taller when I was 23.

But I’m not the only one who grew taller as an adult…

A group of patients (whose average age was 65 years old) were able to lengthen their disc length by (in order to reduce their back pain) [50].

So if a group of 65-year-old patients can become taller, you certainly can too.

How to Maximize Spine Growth as an Adult

At this point, you’re probably wondering:

How do you actually increase your disc length?

By implementing what I call the “3 Spine Maximizers” into your lifestyle:

Spine Maximizer #1: Minimize Pressure on Your Spine

If you want your maximize the length of your spine discs, you need to minimize the pressure on your spine.

And the easiest way to minimize the pressure on your spine is to stop lifting weights over your shoulders.

Now, as I mentioned in the previous chapter, lifting weights will NOT stunt your growth.

That’s because your bones can keep growing no matter what pressure you place on them.

But your spine discs are different: if you place too much weight on them, they won’t be able to expand in length.

So here are exercises and activities you want to avoid (for the next few months):

Overhead shoulder presses

Handstand pushups

Squats

Lifting heavy backpacks

Carrying anything that’s too heavy off the floor

On the flipside, you CAN still do some weight-lifting exercises that won’t compress your spine, such as:

Flat bench presses

Normal pushups

Cable exercises

Can You Start Lifting Over Your Shoulders Again?

Now here’s the good news:

Once you’ve fully maximized your spine length, you can go back to lifting height weights over your shoulders.

Because no matter how much pressure you put on your spine, you’ll still be able to maintain your taller height [51, 52].

But until you reach that plateau, do your best to minimize these spine-compressing activities.

Spine Maximizer #2: Maintain a Straight Posture (Already Done)

Maintaining a straight posture isn’t just important for simply appearing taller, but actually increasing the length of your spine discs.

How?

By maintaining a proper posture, you can decrease the pressure on your spine by up to 60lbs (which is around 23 kg)…

But luckily for you, if you’ve already completed steps 1 and 2, you already have a straight posture.

So you’re ready to move on to the last Spine Maximizer.

Spine Maximizer #3: Maximize Your Natural HGH

In the intro chapter, I explained how HGH is important for increasing your bone length.

But what you may not know is that HGH also lengthens your cartilage discs as well [53, 54].

So the more HGH you produce in your body, the longer your spine discs can become.

With that, here are 5 ways you can boost your HGH naturally:

Will These Strategies Work For You 100%?

In this chapter, I showed you the gist of what I did to become 3.0 cm taller when I was 23 years old.

Now, does this mean that you can get the same result?

It depends.

Before I implemented these strategies, my posture was flatout terrible!

That’s why as soon as I fixed my posture, not only did I appear taller instantly, but my discs expanded drastically.

However, if your posture is already perfect, the chances are, these tips won’t help you grow much taller.

On the flipside, if you have a bad posture like I did, there’s a good chance you CAN become noticeably taller.

But however much you end up growing, just know that these tips and strategies go beyond growing taller:

Following this guide will help you become stronger and healthier as you age.

How Does Height Loss Occur?

There are 3 main factors that can cause you to lose height as you age:

➊ Weakening of the postural muscles

➋ Shrinkage in disc height, and

➌ Loss of bone strength

In chapter 4, I explain how you can fix your posture AND maximize your disc height.

So in this chapter, we’re going to focus mainly on how to prevent your bones from becoming weaker.

What Causes Your Bones to Weaken As You Age?

When most adults become older, they develop a condition called Osteoporosis.

To put simply: Osteoporosis describes bones that are less dense than what’s considered to be healthy.

Osteoporosis is also called a “silent disease”, since it doesn’t show any symptoms.

That’s why about 10.3% of American adults (over 50 years of age) were estimated to have Osteoporosis, while 43.9% of them suffered from low bone mass [56]!

Osteoporosis Should Be Taken Seriously

Osteoporosis can not only decrease your height as you get older, but it can also cause fractures [57, 58, 59].

But here’s the good news:

By taking the right prevention steps, you can decrease your chances of developing Osteoporosis.

Ways to Prevent Osteoporosis and Height Loss

Here are a list of things you can do (and avoid) to prevent Osteoporosis, and ultimately, preserve your height as you age [60, 61]:

Optimize your diet around the following nutrients:

Amino Acids and Proteins to maintain higher levels of HGH, and

Calcium and Vitamin D3 to increase your bone density

Stay active by taking part in your favorite activity every day (don’t worry about doing high-intensity exercises!)

Maintain healthy levels of testosterone and estrogen

Avoid drinking or smoking cigarettes

Beware of using certain drugs or medications (such as glucocorticoids or anticonvulsants)

How to Check for Osteoporosis

If you’re worried that you may have some kind of low bone density right now, here are tests that will help you check your bones [60]:

Bone Mineral Density Test (on your hips or spine)

Screen Tests (x-rays, central DXA test)

For more information about Osteoporosis, check out the following resources:

National Institutes of Health: Osteoporosis Overview

National Osteoporosis Foundation: What is Osteoporosis and What Causes It?

Conditions That Are Similar to Osteoporosis

While Osteoporosis is the main bone condition that you need to watch out for, there are 2 similar bone disorders you may want to to be aware of [62]:

1. Osteopenia – “Milder” version of Osteoporosis

2. Osteomalacia – Mainly caused by a lack of Vitamin D

If you want to learn more about these conditions (or other conditions that can cause problems for your bones), check out the following resource:

National Institutes of Health: Muscle and Bone Diseases

In view of the significant role of height in an individual’s personality as well as their personal and professional success, a large number of people, especially teenagers, have been seeking effective ways to increase their height fast. While some people reap the benefits of growth spurts, HGH do not work efficiently for others.

In addition, it is widely believed that under the control of genetics, a person stops growing taller once they reach 18 years of age. Contrary to popular belief, there are various factors influencing human height growth, and a person can grow taller even after puberty by leading a healthy lifestyle and incorporating healthy foods coupled with stretching exercises into their daily routine.

This article will show you different ways in which you can successfully increase height in 1 week.

Important Factors That Can Influence Height Growth

Genetics

Height is largely determined by genetics, with children inheriting genes from both parents. While it is difficult to change one’s genetic makeup, understanding the role of genetics can help one manage their expectations. In general, taller parents are more likely to have taller children, but there are exceptions to this rule. Genetic conditions such as achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, can also affect height.

Nutrition

Nutrition is a crucial factor that can affect height. Adequate nutrition is necessary for bone growth, and a lack of nutrients can stunt growth. Children who do not receive sufficient nutrition during early childhood are more likely to be shorter. Nutrients that are important for growth include calcium, vitamin D, protein, and zinc. A balanced diet that includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein can help promote growth.

Sleep

Sleep is essential for overall health and can also affect height. During sleep, the body releases growth hormones that stimulate bone growth. Children who do not get enough sleep are more likely to be shorter. On average, children and teenagers need 8-10 hours of sleep per night, while adults need 7-9 hours.

Physical activity

Physical activity is another important factor that can influence height. Exercise and sports can help stretch and elongate the spine, which can lead to an increase in height. Weight-bearing exercises such as running, jumping, and weightlifting can also help stimulate bone growth. However, it is important to engage in physical activity in moderation and to avoid overtraining, which can lead to injury and potentially stunt growth.

Hormones

Hormones play a crucial role in growth and development. The pituitary gland produces growth hormone, which stimulates bone growth. In some cases, an imbalance of hormones can affect growth. For example, a deficiency in growth hormone can lead to short stature, while an excess of growth hormone can cause gigantism. Other hormones that can affect growth include thyroid hormone and sex hormones.

Environmental factors

Environmental factors can also play a role in height. Exposure to toxins such as lead and mercury can affect growth and development. Smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy can also lead to low birth weight and shorter stature in children. Additionally, stress and other psychological factors can affect growth.

Exercise regularly

The simplest way to increase height in one week is by exercising. On the one hand, exercising boosts the production of growth hormones naturally and is therefore strongly recommended for teenagers when their growth hormone levels peak. Such activities as jogging, jumping, cycling, swimming, and running are all excellent choices for height growth.

On the other hand, once puberty is over, the only way to increase height in a week is by working on your spine and body posture. Of the exercises to strengthen your back and foster better posture, stretching exercise stands out as the most effective as it increases the flexibility of the spine and optimizes your chances of growing taller.

With a flexible spine and good posture, your vertebrae do not have to bear too much pressure, thereby avoiding compressing the cartilage between your vertebrae and allowing fluids to easily soak within them. When the cartilage soaks sufficient fluids, it involuntarily lengthens the spine and makes you taller by 2-3 inches.

Some exercises to grow taller in a week include:

• Pilates rollover
• Bar hanging
• Forward spine stretch
• Pelvic shift
• Cobra stretch
• Side stretch

Yoga and meditation

Both of these methods are useful in helping you increase height in a week. Not only does yoga facilitate the normal functioning of your hormones but it also stretches your muscles and bones. Besides, yoga and meditation free your mind from stress and worry, thus allowing your body to function well.

To increase height in a week, you can practice Tadasana and Sarvangasana, both of which aim at stretching all your body muscles, triggering the production of growth hormones, and eventually making you visibly taller. Despite their notable impact on your height, yoga and meditation require regular practice so as to achieve the expected result.

Consuming a balanced diet

Legend has it that you are what you eat. Indeed, aside from your general health, your nutritional intake also plays a substantial role in your height growth as it directly influences the growth hormone production in the body. Therefore, it is one of the natural ways to increase height in 1 week fast.

Your dietary intake should include:

• Proteins: Proteins can be found in such delicious foods as milk, eggs, whole grains, and chicken.
• Vitamins and minerals: Consumption of leafy green vegetables and nuts will provide your body with essential vitamins and minerals to maximize your chances of height increase.

Ensuring a balanced diet also means cutting down on carbohydrates and fatty foods such as soft drinks and fast foods.

Drinking more water

Instead of constantly searching for “how to increase height in 1 week”, drinking a glass of water might be better for you and your height growth. In fact, water prevents a number of toxins from accumulating in your body, consequently facilitating the proper function of your digestive system and regularizing all of your hormones, including human growth hormone which makes you grow taller. In other words, if you do not drink adequate water, your growth hormone cannot unleash its true power and you will ultimately fail to achieve your height potential.

With that in mind, try to drink from 8 to 10 glasses of water on a daily basis to increase height in 1 week naturally. It should be noted that the more you exercise, the more water your body needs.

Getting enough sleep

Sleep is another critical factor that helps you increase your height naturally. It is during sleep that your body produces growth hormone at peak levels. As a result, for this hormone to be produced more and your height to be increased, you need a good night’s sleep every day.

An 8-hour sleep is recommended and if you can, try to sleep with extended arms and legs to lengthen your spine naturally. For this reason, getting enough sleep should be added to your list of natural ways to increase height in a week.

Spend time in the sun

Getting too much sun is dangerous, but if you soak up some rays at moderate levels, it will help your body.

Spending time in the sun regularly will keep your bones healthy. It is because your body produces vitamin D when your skin is exposed to the sun. This vitamin helps your body absorb more calcium for improving bone health. So, aim to get 10 to 15 minutes between 10 am and 3 pm of unprotected sun exposure to your body, mainly your arms, legs, back, and abdomen. After that, make sure to follow up with sun protection.

Keep a relaxed mind

When you are suffering from stress for a long time and lacking adequate support from your family members, your brain architecture will be changed and your organ system will become weakened. And this negatively affects the pituitary gland that is an important factor in releasing growth hormone for height growth.

Maintain a healthy weight

Attaining and keeping an ideal body weight is crucial for overall health and can prevent you from many diseases and conditions. If you are gaining weight or overweight, you are at higher risk of getting serious health problems and weakened bone structure. Hence, you need to maintain a healthy weight to reduce the risk of developing these issues, give you more energy to enjoy life, and help you feel good about yourself.

Practice good posture

When it comes to reaching your “true height” in 1 week, learning good posture techniques is a crucial factor.

To stand correctly, you should:

• Keep your shoulders back and your head in line with the body
• Put your feet shoulder-width apart
• Let your arms hang at the sides
• Do not lock your knees
• Maintain the weight on the balls of your feet.

For a correct sitting position, you should:

• Adjust the chair height until your thighs stay parallel to the floor
• Ensure your feet are flat on the floor
• Avoid crossing your legs or ankles
• Let your shoulders relax
• Put a small pillow behind your back

Trying to maintain good posture keeps the suitable space between the vertebrae and might make you appear longer and taller.

Taking supplements

By adding height growth pills to your diet, you easily stimulate the production of the growth hormone that is necessary for height gain. Normally, these supplements deliver a rich range of essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and precious herbs that are good for both height growth and overall health. The only issue is how to find the best one today.  And to help you, we’ve listed top 9 height growth supplements that help you increase height naturally and effectively. Check this link for further information.

Top 9 height growth supplements that help you increase height

Avoiding factors that stunt growth

Following the above-discussed methods will ensure your height growth naturally. However, to acquire the best result, it is advisable that you avoid factors that can hinder your height growth.

Specifically, unhealthy habits such as smoking and drinking should be gotten rid of as they directly stunt your growth. People with smoking habits are often shorter than non-smokers. Besides, excess consumption of tea or coffee should be avoided as well for its negative effects on height growth are similar to those of drinking and smoking. You can either reduce your regular consumption or switch to healthier alternatives to foster maximum height growth.

These are some of the most effective ways that you can adopt and practice immediately to increase height naturally. By combining all of these methods and getting rid of unhealthy habits that can stunt growth, you will undoubtedly see the result within a short period of time. Try these tips to grow taller and boost your self-confidence.



Things to avoid in order to increase height

If you want to increase your height, there are certain things you should avoid, as they can negatively impact your growth. It’s important to remember that while some factors are under your control, others, like genetics, are not. However, by avoiding the following habits and practices, you can support your growth potential:

• Poor nutrition: A balanced diet rich in vitamins, minerals, and proteins is crucial for growth. Avoid junk food, excessive sugar, and unhealthy fats that can stunt your growth.
• Insufficient sleep: Proper sleep is essential for growth, as it is during sleep that the growth hormone is released. Aim for 8-10 hours of sleep per night and maintain a consistent sleep schedule.
• Alcohol and smoking: Both alcohol and smoking can negatively impact your growth potential. Avoid these substances to maximize your height.
• Caffeine: Excessive caffeine consumption may interfere with your sleep patterns and hinder growth. Limit your intake of caffeinated beverages.
• Lack of exercise: Regular exercise is crucial for promoting growth. Engage in activities like swimming, cycling, and playing sports to improve your flexibility, strength, and posture.
• Poor posture: Slouching and hunching can lead to spinal curvature, which may prevent you from reaching your full height. Practice good posture by standing straight and sitting upright.
• Overexertion: While exercise is important, pushing your body too hard can cause injuries and stunt your growth. Balance your workouts with rest and recovery.
• Stress: High levels of stress can impact your overall health and well-being, including your growth. Develop healthy coping mechanisms for stress, such as meditation, deep breathing, and spending time with loved ones.
• Steroids: Anabolic steroids can interfere with your growth plates and stunt your height. Avoid these substances and opt for natural ways to boost your growth potential.
• Skipping meals: Regularly skipping meals can lead to nutrient deficiencies, negatively impacting your growth. Ensure you eat balanced meals throughout the day.

While you can’t control all factors that influence height, adopting a healthy lifestyle and avoiding these harmful habits can help you reach your full growth potential.

References

• Juan F Sotos, July 2014; Growth hormone significantly increases the adult height of children with idiopathic short stature: comparison of subgroups and benefit – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4114101/
• Jessica M. Perkins, S.V. Subramanian, February 2016; Adult height, nutrition, and population health – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4892290/
• Janna Zaretsky, Shelley Griess-Fishheimer, Adi Carmi, February 2021; Ultra-processed food targets bone quality via endochondral ossification – https://www.nature.com/articles/s41413-020-00127-9
• Syed Arif Kamal, September 2013; Increasing Height through Diet, Exercise and Lifestyle Adjustment – https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282012258_Increasing_Height_through_Diet_Exercise_and_Lifestyle_Adjustment
• Katherine Gunter, Adam DG Baxter-Jones, December 2007; Impact Exercise Increases BMC During Growth: An 8-Year Longitudinal Study – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2679385/

Related post: How to increase height of child from a baby to a preschooler?

Updated: 07/09/2019

People with a short or average height always wish they were taller. Read this article below to know how to grow taller. Because being tall can change how a person thinks about herself or himself. People with short stature, especially men, can be self-conscious about this and feel less confident. Although the height of a person is determined to an extent by genetics^[1a], it is not the only determinant. In fact, in the body, there is a hormone called human growth hormone which can regulate height. Produced by the hypophysis (or pituitary gland), human growth hormone is very necessary for the growth of cartilage and long bones.

Besides, several other factors such as poor post-natal care, smoking during pregnancy, poor health during childhood, chronic malnutrition, and low birth weight also play an important role in determining height.

People often think that when entering adulthood, they will stop growing. However, a person may continue growing a few inches of height even after 18 years old^[1b] until the ends of their long bones fuse. Then it is not normally possible to increase height any further. Even people who produce more growth hormone (for example due to a pituitary tumour) in later life will not grow taller, although parts of the body such as the tongue and feet may enlarge (a condition known as acromegaly).

You can however, support healthy growth before the ends of the long bones fuse by adding some healthy habits to your lifestyle.

HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR FINAL HEIGHT

A child’s potential adult height can be calculated as follows (assuming both parents are of normal stature):

Add father’s height (in centimeters) plus mother’s height (cm)

For a boy: ADD 13cm then divide the total by 2

For a girl: DEDUCT 13cm then divide the total by 2

Most children will have a final adult height within 10 cm of this estimate.

Although short or average height is not a health problem, it will make you feel unconfident & self-conscious about your appearance. Fortunately, in this article, you will know top 13 tips how to support normal growth at home without any side effects. Continue reading to understand more!

While we are listing the scientific evidence, the recipes we’ve focused on are traditional home remedies so proceed with caution depending on your status. Always consult your doctor to know if a remedy is working for you.

1. Drink Milk

Milk is very rich in calcium, which is an important mineral for growing bones. According to some studies, the presence of calcium in milk is a vital element for the development of bone and increasing height. In fact, studies show that milk consumption is a significant predictor of the height of 12-18 year olds^{[4] [5]}. In addition to calcium, milk has protein and vitamin A, all of which are necessary for overall body development, including your height.

If you want to increase a few inches of your height, drink at least 2 or 3 glasses of milk per day on a daily basis. Furthermore, consuming dairy foods such as cottage cheese, cheese, cream, and yogurt can have a positive effect on your height.

2. Eat A Balanced Diet

A balanced diet is essential for proper nutrition^[6] as you need to obtain sufficient amounts of all vitamins and minerals to achieve your full height. For optimal growth as well as general health and wellness (quality of life and standard of living), it is important to avoid eating junk foods and those that provide excess saturated fats or sugar, and to avoid carbonated drinks, because they can have a negative effect on your height.

Some nutritionists suggest eating six balanced meals a day rather than the traditional three, as smaller portions are useful in increasing the rate of the metabolism and reducing fat stored inside your body.

Meals need to supply key nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals such as magnesium and phosphorus which contribute to the proper growth and height of your body.

Calcium is necessary for the growth and development of bones^[7] and you can find it in any dairy products and green vegetables.

Your intake of zinc is also crucial because deficiency of zinc can lead to stunted growth in children^{[8] [9]}. Hence, consume zinc rich foods such as oysters, seafood, dark chocolate, asparagus, peanuts, and eggs.

Protein and vitamin D are also needed for proper growth, including of bones, and foods which are rich in those nutrients include lean meat, tofu, legumes, cheese, dairy, fish, and egg white.

3. Enjoy Sunlight

Sunlight is the best source of vitamin D, which is an important nutrient required for overall growth including your height^{[11] [9]}. When your body doesn’t get enough vitamin D or lacks vitamin D, you are unable to absorb calcium from your food, which will result in weak bones and less height. In later life, it can also lead to thinning bones and vertebral fractures so you lose height. To obtain good amounts of vitamin D, you should spend 20 or 30 minutes per day on a daily basis in sunlight.

You can go out under the sun during evening hours or early morning so that your body can get enough vitamin D without exposing to harmful ultraviolet rays. During the cold months of the year it is important to take a vitamin D supplement in northern climates.

You can also get vitamin D from cheese, eggs, oily fish, milk, and fortified foods.

4. Do Sprint Exercises

A study showed that doing physical exercises can help to strengthen and stretch out the muscles to aid in growing taller naturally^[10a]. Sprinting fast can help to produce a huge amount of growth hormones in your body^[10b]. When you sprint quickly, the stress produces tiny ‘micro fractures’ in the bones, which heal quickly, within a week, and which stimulate your bones to undergo remodeling and growth during adolescence. Sprinting may also help to extend the bone length of legs.

High-intensity exercises can help to yield growth hormones and this can aid in increasing the human height during adolescence. For stretching exercises at your own home, you can use a good exercise bar. This will assist you in lengthening the bones, and thereby making you taller.

Or you can try swimming, skipping, jumping, or playing some sports such as basketball and volleyball.

5. Get Proper Sleep

When you rest, your body will grow and regenerate tissues. Human growth hormone (hGH), which is responsible for growing height during adolescence is produced in the human body naturally when you have a deep and sound sleep^{[12a] [13]}. According to a study, a deep sleep will enhance the pituitary gland to secrete growth hormone^[12b] and improve weight and height of your body.

During sound sleep, your brain produces more growth hormone. As a general rule, during the growth phase of adolescence, you should have at least 8 to 11 hours per night to achieve maximum height. You should also consider taking a nap from around 15 to 30 minutes every noon. A recent study indicated that if you want to improve your height, a nap is a fundamental principle of punctual and adequate sleep^[15].

6. Protein

Protein can aid in increasing your height by building several tissues^[16]. Protein contains building blocks known as amino acids which are essential for maintaining teeth, skin, tissues, muscles, healthy bones, and organs that are involved in your body’s biochemical reactions; for example, respiration, digestion, and excretion. A deficiency of protein can lead to many health problems for human, such as the loss of muscles, weakening bones and poor growth.

Therefore, you should select foods which are high in protein; for example, milk, eggs, fish, and legumes.

7. Minerals

Foods rich in minerals, such as fluoride, manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, and iodine play an important role in body development and height increasing.

Calcium is a necessary mineral required for maintaining strong bones and their growth. Carbonated drinks, fat, sugar, caffeine, and excessive salt foods should be limited because they can prevent your body from absorbing calcium, thereby negatively affecting your height and growth. Excessive smoking and drugs can also inhibit and slow down the growth of your body and leave some other negative impacts on your overall health^[17].

8. Swimming

Swimming is an excellent way to increase height naturally and quickly. Swimming two hours per day can help you to achieve your optimal height. If you don’t know how to swim, you should find a coach so that she or he can teach you how to do it. For maintaining the energy that is consumed by regular exercise, you should consume healthy and balanced meals.

9. Improve Immune System

There are some kinds of disease during adolescence that can prevent your body from developing its full height. Most of these diseases can be avoided if you have a healthy immune system^[18].

You should keep your immune system strengthened and stabilized by eating fresh foods and whole grain on a regular basis. You should also avoid consuming processed foods and other foods with unhealthy fats and poor quality.

Along with that, you should eat plenty of fruits, brown rice, all types of vegetables, protein from milk, nuts, fish, cheese, and other food sources which contain omega-3 and antioxidants to get a healthier immune system.

10. Consume Spinach

Spinach is a source of iron and other minerals that help to support growth and you may have watched or heard the tale of the sailor Popeye, who claimed he was strong thanks to eating spinach. Spinach is rich in iron, fiber, calcium, and vitamins^[19], which are useful for growth.

11. Soybeans

Soybean is one of the richest sources of protein compared for vegetarians. The protein in soybean can help to improve your bone and tissue system. To support your height, you should eat about 50 grams of soybeans daily. Vegetarians can fulfill the requirement for their protein by including soybeans into their daily diet.

12. Drink Plenty Of Water

It is best to drink enough amounts of liquid throughout the day. Water will help to flush out harmful toxins from the body and improve digestion.

You should drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water per day for overall health. Along with drinking water, you should also eat water-based vegetables and fruits such as watermelon and cucumbers.

13. Ashwagandha

According to Ayurveda, using ashwagandha^{[2] [3]} also called Indian ginseng or Withania somnifera (in science), can help to support healthy growth. It provides various minerals which can assist you in broadening the skeleton and its density to increase your height. Ashwagandha has also bene used to stimulate puberty by supporting the production of testosterone and oestrogen hormones.

You will need:

• Ashwagandha powder – 2 tablespoons
• Warm cow’s milk – 1 glass
• A little sugar or jaggery to taste

Directions:

• Add the ashwagandha powder to the warm cow’s milk.
• Add some jaggery or sugar to it and mix well.
• Drink this solution before going to sleep every night for at least 45 days to improve your height.

Note: You need to avoid fast food completely if you want this remedy works for you.

NB do not give Ashwagandha to children under the age of 12 years except under medical supervision.

Plus, ashwagandha is also effective at treating hyperthyroidism disease.

If you want to know more about natural, simple ways for treating other diseases or skin conditions go to our main How To page.

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What is another word for taller?

What is it called when you are really tall?

hulk. noun. someone who is very tall and heavy.

higher	loftier
wider	broader
princelier	airier
huskier	splendider
stronger	auguster

How do you describe being tall?

tall

• big.
• great.
• lanky.
• rangy.
• soaring.
• towering.
• elevated.
• giant.

How do you describe tall and short?

For example, short is when something measures a small distance from end to end and tall is when something has a greater height. Display two items side by side, where one is tall and the other is short.

How do you describe a girl’s height?

Here are some adjectives for tall woman: youngish, big, fragile, stout, fine, lean, attractive, strange, beautiful, great, pale, thin, fierce, large, same.

What do you call a tall woman?

Upriser – for a tall and powerful looking female figure. Miss Magnificent – a female with a tall & firm looking body. Miss Gallant – for a female with a stiff and solid figure. Large Shrimp – a female with slender legs and a large abdomen, like a Shrimp’s.

Is height an appearance?

The first thing you see when you look at someone could be their hair, clothes, nose, or figure. These are all examples of physical characteristics. To get good examples of physical characteristics you should look at a person’s face, how tall they are, and what they are wearing.

What height do guys like for a girl?

Men tend to want a woman no taller than 6 feet, while women want a man no shorter than 5 feet 4 inches. New YouGov research into the subject of height finds that men and women both tend to think it’s ideal to be slightly above average – but people are fairly open-minded.

Does height matter attractiveness?

Study after study has found that taller men and women are generally considered more attractive. But although they may be prized as supermodels, tall women do not seem to enjoy the same advantages in the dating game, however – an average height generally seems to be preferred.

Is 5/8 an attractive height for a woman?

The average women is 5ft 4 and above average is 5ft 6. 5ft 8 for women is seen as tall and anything above that is very tall. Now for guys height is more of a factor then for women. A woman could be 5ft 2 but still be attractive more cute then pretty usually.

How tall is considered attractive?

A study by dating app Badoo has revealed the height as being the most right-swiped among their users who range between the ages of 18-30. After surveying 20,000 Brits, Badoo concluded that 5ft 8in was the most popular height for men, while 5ft 10in and 5ft 6in followed closely.

Is 6ft tall attractive?

6′0″/184 is viewed as the smallest height in the satisfactory range, and most females will be completely fine with a person who is six feet tall and most men won’t think of him short or little. What is the most attractive height for a male? Subsequently, making all males under 6ft feel reluctant about their height.

Is 6ft 2 tall for a 13 year old?

Yes that’s extremely tall for a 13 year old boy in the USA. The average height for 13 year old boys in the USA is like 5′2. I was 5′5 when I was going into 8th grade as a 13 year old boy and I live in the USA. You’re 12 inches or 1 foot taller than the average height for a 13 year old male.

Is 6ft 2 considered tall?

6′2″/188cm is legitimately tall for men. The ideal height range for men though is 6′1″ to 6′5″. 6′0″/183 is seen as the shortest height in the acceptable range, and most women will be completely fine with a guy who is six feet tall and most men won’t consider him short or small.

Is 6ft short?

No, it is not necessarily short; however, it is definitely not tall, either. Most men in The Netherlands, northern Europe, and east Europe are that height, so it’s nothing special.

What is too tall for a guy?

But for men’s clothing, cars, airplane seats, golf and tennis, etc, the ideal height range for men is to be short, between 5′8″/171 cm to 5′11″/180 cm. But for the most simple generic answer to your question, it’d probably be at least 6′6″/198 cm and above. That’s “too tall” for everyday living.

Is being 5’6 tall for a girl?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a woman being 5’6″. I’m surprised that that’s even considered tall. I would consider 5’6″ average or even short, 5’10″+ is probably the rage for a tall girl. Being tall is great, you have a lot more jokes you can do as a tall person.

How do you describe tall height?

Here are some adjectives for height: full, towering, full impressive, full and still impressive, moderate and pretty equal, full, unimpressive, full towering, full slender, fair but formidable, smallest vertical, apparently break-neck, full, aggressive, full meager, rocky, angular, inconsiderable full, sometimes giddy.

How do you describe someone’s height?

To describe someone’s height, you can say they are tall or short. Tall people are higher than short people. Someone who is thin and tall can be called lanky. To say someone is short and also small, you can say they are petite.

How can I grow 5 inches in 2 weeks?

Draw your arms towards to toes or to the knee flexor and grab your foot or shoe. Pull behind your body and touch your back. This easy and effective exercise will stretch the knee joints and give you additional height. Read more on stretching to grow taller.

How can I grow 2 inches in a month?

For this do a lot of exercises. You may do skipping, swimming, cycling, jumping, stretching and yoga. These are some of the highly recommended exercises which help to decrease weight and increase height as well. You should Have weight according to your height.

Can I grow 3 inches after 16?

It’s possible, but by the age of 18, most women have attained their full height. Three inches is possible, but not probable. If you are male, you will probably grow into your early twenties. You may gain the desired three inches over the next five years.

Can I increase 2 inches after 18?

Summary: For most people, height will not increase after age 18 to 20 due to the closure of the growth plates in bones.

How can I grow 4 inches in a week?

4. Exercising and Stretching: Exercises or workout sessions should be a part of everyone’s daily routine since it helps stretch your muscles that help you increase height and maintain your health naturally. In addition, you will grow at least an inch of height when you improve your posture through exercises.

How can I get taller fast?

You should continue these as an adult to promote overall well-being and retain your height.

1. Eat a balanced diet.
2. Use supplements with caution.
3. Get the right amount of sleep.
4. Stay active.
5. Practice good posture.
6. Use yoga to maximize your height.

What food makes you shorter?

Here is a list of foods you should watch out for if you want your child’s height to reach its full potential.

• Junk food. There are so many reasons to cut junk food out of your children’s diet, and here’s one more.
• Soda.
• Rice.
• Soy.
• Alcohol.
• Sugar.

Can milk make you taller?

As best as the current science can answer it, no, milk doesn’t make you grow taller, simply because, well, nothing can make you grow taller. But milk can be a useful tool to help kids grow to their potential height.

Which exercise makes you taller?

Jumping exercises, like jump squats,are one of the best ways to increase the height. It supports the conditioning of the muscles and joints of the lower body and improves the height of the body.

How can I grow 6 inches in 2 weeks?

How to Grow 6 Inches Taller?

1. Eat A Healthy Breakfast.
2. Avoid Growth-stunting Factors.
3. Get Plenty Of Sleep.
4. Eat Right Foods.
5. Increase Your Immunity.
6. Exercise Your Body.
7. Practice Good Posture.
8. Small and Frequent Meals.

How can I get taller in 1 week?

While bending, try to keep your legs straight and touch your fingers to your toes. Start off gently, and gradually increase the number and depth of the bends. You can jump rope, play basketball, or just jump on the spot. The exercise helps strengthen the bones and muscles, and, in time, you’ll become a little taller.

Can you make yourself taller?

No, an adult cannot increase their height after the growth plates close. However, there are plenty of ways a person can improve their posture to look taller. Also, a person can take preventative measures against height loss as they age.

How can a teenager get taller?

What can I do to become taller? Taking good care of yourself — eating well, exercising regularly, and getting plenty of rest — is the best way to stay healthy and help your body reach its natural potential. There’s no magic pill for increasing height. In fact, your genes are the major determinant of how tall you’ll be.

How can I grow 3 inches in a week?

Grow 3 Inches Taller Exercise #8 – Calf Stretch

1. Gradually and incrementally increase the duration of the stretch, holding for 20 seconds or more.
2. Keep your feet parallel, with your toes pointing forward at all times throughout the stretch.

Does lying down make you taller?

There is less gravity pushing down on the vertebrae, so they can stretch out – up to 7.6 centimeters (3 inches). To some degree, a similar stretching of the spine happens to you every night. When you lie down, gravity isn’t pushing down on your vertebrae. You will find that you’re about a centimeter or two taller.

Is it possible to grow 3 inches in a year?

Children during the first year of life should grow 7-10 inches. During the second year growth slows to an average of 5 inches /year. During the third year growth averages 3 inches/year. However, boys experience both puberty and this growth spurt later – usually starting by 12 years and averaging 3 to 5 inches per year.

Do Late Bloomers grow taller?

On the other hand, teens who are “late bloomers” can have minimal height changes until they have a larger growth spurt around the time of their relatively late puberty.

Can you grow 3 inches after 18?

No, you can’t grow taller when your growth plates are closed whether you are 14, 18, or 22. Your chronological (actual) age is not as important as your bone age. When your bone age is 17 – 18, that means that the growth plates in the bones of the leg are closed and you can’t get any taller.

Do boys grow after 16?

Boys tend to show the first physical changes of puberty between the ages of 10 and 16. They tend to grow most quickly between ages 12 and 15. The growth spurt of boys is, on average, about 2 years later than that of girls. By age 16, most boys have stopped growing, but their muscles will continue to develop.

Your height defines your personality and a good height can enhance it many folds therefore everybody wishes to have a good height. Your parents try to guide you from the early stages of your life to eat and live properly in order to achieve overall growth but sometimes it is not possible due to nutritional deficiency, diseases, hormonal imbalance or genetics etc. and then you look out for other grow taller methods.

Our height is controlled by various factors such as genetics, diet, environment, physical activities etc. but with systematic and planned effort, we can overcome these physiological barriers of vertical growth and gain 2-3 inches.

But before opting for any natural or artificial treatment to grow taller, you should be well aware about the benefits and drawbacks of these height increasing methods.

Here we will discuss the need of height gain and techniques used for grow taller.

A good height is the indicator of well developed body and studies have concluded that tall persons are more preferred over short heighted people as they can easily gain attention with the opposite sex. Tall people are more successful professionally and well recognized in their social circle.

Still you shouldn’t refrain yourself in anything due to short stature complex only, precisely there are so many successful short people in the world and are doing incredible jobs in cricket; entertainment and in every respective fields.

Growth pattern in boys and girls

The growth pattern is slightly different in both sexes. For example the puberty period starts a year earlier in girls. The growth rate is not very different till the age of 10 in both sexes but it accelerate after onset of puberty due to hormonal changes and this sudden height growth is known as growth spurt.

In case of girls this growth spurt occurs between 10-14 years of age which is quite earlier as compared with the growth case in boys. This is the reason that the girls of this age seem much taller than the boys of their same age group.

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The growth spurt period is shorter in girls than boys and they achieve their maximum height before they start menstruating and the sudden increase in a girl’s height occurs 6 – 12 months before her menstruation starts. The height growth in girls is generally accompanied with the increase in hip width as well.

The growth spurts occurs in boys around the age of 12 and it can be quite dramatic. Boys can grow 4 inches per year but the growth becomes intense at the peak of puberty period which happens after two years of onset of puberty. The muscles of boys also develop during this period.

Grow Taller Exercises

To grow taller, males and females however can follow the list of exercises appended below for the purpose which are easy to follow in daily life situations without bothering about visiting a gym.

• Hanging on a bar: This is a basic instrument meant for height increase and to do this effectively one would require strong arms. As such girls might find this exercise a bit typical and complex to take up.
• Swimming: This is one of the most common exercises that boys and girls take up for boosting their physical endurance and strength. None can deny the fact that swimming ushers to proper stretching of spines and helps to grow the biceps and triceps muscles together with the corresponding bones.
  
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• Skipping: Skipping is good for shaping your cup and thigh muscles. It also strengthens the joints such as ankles etc. for the proper growth of the human body.

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• Sprint: Sprints are especially helpful for stretching your spine and the corresponding bones for growing taller.
• Yoga: There are several asanas (postures) that can effectively complement your growth rate; namely hanurasana and bhujangasana to name few.Recommended Post – Yoga poses to increase height

You can also take up cycling and other convenient exercises dedicated for boosting your growth rate. The one that suits you best and serves your purpose should be construed as the best solution for increasing your height.

Ways & Means of Growing Taller:

The methods to grow tall can be categorized into three categories on the basis of mode of their action. These ways are:

1) Natural methods
2) Surgery
3) The Medicinal Therapy

Each process has its own limitations like natural method like yoga or other stretching exercises takes long time to show their effect. If you wish to grow taller then you must be ready to consider one of following methods as per your age and current body requirements.

1) Natural Way:

The essence of growing taller in natural way hovers around the habit of exercising regularly from an early age that summarily stimulates the secretion of growth hormones inside your body alongside helping your bones and muscles to grow in sync. The crux is you have to take a systematic approach here that will virtually complement your growth rate. Though genetics play a pivotal role here in determining your growth naturally you will still be benefited to a great extent by following simple yet powerful exercises dedicated for increasing your height.

But, all these exercises you must do under an expert’s advice. This will work as a stitching in nine for saving nine. How? The reason is only an expert can understand your requirement better vis-à-vis your body type, features and BMI (Body Mass Index). You must remember that the ultimate goal of gaining height is to complement your personality and style as social person.

Exercises alone however cannot yield the desired effect in the matters of increasing your height. You have to follow a few healthy habits such as the following that will expedite the process of height gains and show positive results on your endeavor for attaining good height.

• Start early

  According to studies the best growth period is up to 18 years for women and 24 years for men. So, if you start your exercises early there remains fair amount of possibilities to attain height despite of your genetics going against it. This is perhaps the reason that validates the fact that we do not necessarily get to see the son and daughter of a dwarf couple as dwarfs only; though none can deny the significance of genes playing pivotal role here.

But, you know what neither you nor we can assure which gene will be dominant on the other at the time of birth of the offspring. This peculiar phenomenon visibly comes to our notice when we see a fair complexion offspring out of a dark complexion couple. The gist is: begin your exercise schedule early for reaping the maximum output for sure. Daily practice the exercises which are given above.

• Avoid smoking and drinking: The habit of smoking and drinking takes heavy toll on your general wellbeing and health. At times the effect surfaces late; but with surety. We have even seen people to suffer from massive cardiac arrest after quitting smoking almost 20 years back. Drinking habit summarily takes away hydration of your body and mainly affects the intestines and kidney followed by the urinary system in your body. If you are suffering from some problems or the other how can your growth rate remain unfazed?
• Avoid stress: High stress level is known for taking away happiness of one’s life. It is diagnosed as the root cause of high blood pressure and losing your calm and cool. When you are stressed your entire metabolism summarily gets stressed too for the worst thereby impacts your growth in the negative.
• Good sleep: You should at least have 8 hours of sleep every day failing which you internal organs will start retarding fast. In the process your growth will be affected. You know what the highest percentage of growth in human body takes place as a foetus and during the early years of birth. Look at the sleeping pattern of a baby you will see that the baby sleeps in most part of the day and night that complements the baby’s growth. Babies, that don’t, generally suffer from multiple complexities in the matters of their nutrition and growth.

• Healthy diet: Whatever you eat forms the base of your health. Because, food particles are converted into glucose while passing through the intestines leading to stomach. The glucose is then absorbed into your body and gets assimilated into blood. Your blood delivers the glucose molecules to the every cell of your body. This is how your body gets the energy for normal functioning and / or produces energy on demand for body.Recommended Posts
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On the flip side just imagine that one fine morning you took diet enriched with unsaturated fats (fats that your body can’t digest naturally). As a matter of fact your metabolic rate will be low producing less energy for the body. You will then start feeling lazy and sleepy facilitating those unsaturated fats to pile up here and there in the open spaces of your body.

Moral: Avoid taking unhealthy foods; always insist for healthy diets.

2) Surgical procedure:

This method is suggested for medical reasons to treat patients with limb deformities or injuries and not for height gain therefore you must not consider this surgery as a cosmetic one. This surgical procedure is known as limb lengthening surgery and it was first done in 1972 by Prof. G. A Ilizarov and his work was based on principal of compression and distraction ontogenesis.

In this procedure, the surgeon breaks your shin bone into two and inserts a telescoping rod which will pull your bones apart approximately 1 mm per day. New bone, nerves, muscle, skin, and blood vessels grow will grow eventually and fill the gap. The mechanical pull will be slow enough to let the new bone continue to grow and fast enough to not let it heal completely so that the bone distraction process can continue until desired length is achieved.

This whole lengthening process continues for 3 months and it is followed by 3 – 6 months recovery period which involves physical therapy. Since the whole procedure is quite painful therefore effective pain management is very important. Since the anti-inflammatory drugs can slow down the bone growth therefore their consumption is also limited means you have to live under minimum pain medication during the recovery period therefore you should not take surgical method very lightly and consult a good surgeon who can guide you better regarding this option.

Read more about height surgery

3) The Medicinal Therapy:

The market is flooded with height increasing medications and supplements which claims to increase your height to several inches within a certain period of time but it is a difficult job to find out if they are effective or not. Besides that there may be side effects of these products. Here are some medicinal options available for height gain in market

Homeopathy pills

These pills are claimed to have no side effects and also available in market at an affordable price.

Height supplements

These comes in form of pills and capsules which claims to be made of herbal extracts which helps in increasing the production of growth hormone in the body. Buy supplements from Amazon India or go here for Amazon US

Ashwagandha powder

This herb Ashwagandha which is also known as Withania sominifera is found to be effective in height gain. Buy from Amazon India or go here for Amazon US.

Somatropinne HGH

This product is generally used by bodybuilders and claimed to elongate the bones as it produces amino acids which helps in increasing your height. Note: Doctor supervision is advised for this.

Growth Maximizer Pro

This product comes in monthly pack of amino acids which helps in height gain and also energizes your body. Read the review of grow taller pills.

References:

• Feeling Too Tall or Too Short

  When will I grow taller (or stop growing)?; How tall will I be? Your genes, which you inherited from your parents, largely determine how tall you will end up being  …

This post was last modified on January 14, 2023 3:02 am

Society tends to view taller people as more superior and attractive than it does short people. As a result, teenagers and other people that see a tall stature as an advantage would try everything thing to add to their height.

A few factors play a role in height growth and among them are genes. Yes, parents have everything to do with your current stature, and we can’t blame them, or can we? Science tells us that our bones fuse, and stop growing after the passing of puberty, and there’s nothing you can do after that to be taller.

But don’t be too quick to throw in the towel – there’s some ray of hope.

There are a couple of things you can do about that height, and be the kind of person you want – the adage, ‘we chart our own path’ may, after all, apply to your height.

Increasing Your Height Naturally

Eating Right

Eating an unhealthy diet, without the critical nutrients is among the surest ways of becoming shorter. See, when you consume all the junk food you can lay your hands on, your body becomes fat and heavy. The result is a compressed spine and a shorter stature.

There are many times that you may have come across some of your friends that have added weight and wondered why they appear shorter. Well, now you know.

The right diet for adding some inches to your height include foods with lean protein such as soy, beans, and nuts to strengthen your bones and add muscle mass. A proper and strong structure is necessary to keep you standing tall.

Avoid simple carbohydrates like soda, cakes, and French fries.

Eat plenty of calcium-rich foods such as kales, and other leafy green veggies, and of course, milk. Typically, our bones are partly calcium, and it is necessary to replenish it, time and time again for healthy bones and growth.

Some studies suggest a possible relationship between zinc deficiency and stunted growth among boys. Even though the studies are inconclusive, it is best always to include zinc in your diet – it’s wise not to confirm with your body, don’t you think so?

Zinc-rich foods include wheat germ, squash seeds, and peanut – talk of peanuts, don’t we all love peanut butter?

Vitamin D is critical in bone and muscle growth, especially in young children. It helps in calcium absorption and formation. As a result, it is always ideal to include the nutrient in your everyday diet to ensure nothing stands in the way of a taller you.

You will get Vitamin D from such foods as mushrooms, eggs, fish, tofu, and alfalfa. Alternatively, you can make it a habit of basking in warm morning sunlight for a decent dose of vitamin D.

There is a tendency for most teens to diet to look lean and attractive – it is the new trend. However, this habit is retrogressive and deprives your body of critical nutrients, necessary for growing bigger and taller.

No evidence exists suggesting a link between caffeine and stunted growth. However, caffeine can act as an appetite suppressant and can lead to a loss of sleep. Remember that sleep is critical to the release of growth hormone. For more information on foods that help you grow taller, we recommend you check out this article.

Exercise

Well, apart from sleeping like a baby, exercising is the next easiest way of promoting growth hormone within your body. Essentially, exercising stimulates nerve endings that link directly with the part of the brain associated with growth hormone secretion, which helps your bone tissues form. There are various ways that you can ensure you exercise frequently – it doesn’t have to be complicated.

Become a member of a sports team or gym to access activities and equipment to exercise and burn calories. Alternatively, you can incorporate walking into your lifestyle, and make the necessary savings, while keeping healthy by burning those extra body fats that add weight and lead to bone compression.

Exercising is necessary for your overall body health. It strengthens your muscles to support your body structure and weight, appearing taller in the process. However, it is not all the exercises that you can come up with that are right for growing tall. Some will achieve the opposite.

Some of the ideal grow tall exercises you can use to grow taller include hanging on a monkey bar, and playing basketball. Others like cycling and swimming help with muscle growth and stretch your bones to express your height better.

They help stretch, and decompress the spine, allowing space between your spinal bones for cartilage growth. Stretching and yoga decompress your spinal discs, thereby helping you appear taller.

Cobra pose: is another useful exercise that will decompress the spine and help you look taller than average. To strike the pose, you get down on the floor with your stomach to the floor. And with palms under your shoulder and on the floor, lift yourself up, arching the spine as much as possible. Repeat the exercise several times with each pose lasting a few seconds.

Stretching Exercises

There are numerous claims and counterclaims regarding the connection between stretching and growing taller that it’s almost impossible to sift through the spoils of the argument. However, there are a few things that may finally underscore some ray of hope for those looking to park up a few inches into their height.

Specifically, science tells us that chances of growing taller diminish as we reach puberty and your bones fuse. However, there’s one study that shows a possible height growth attained by a group of seniors following some spine decompression procedures.

In an attempt to determine the impact of non-intrusive spinal decompression on lower back pain relief, researchers found that the procedure not only relieved pain but also led to height increase.

The non-surgical spinal decompression is comparable to the stretching exercises in our case. You see, your spine is a series of bones interconnected by intervertebral disks, the same disk that researchers decompressed to reduce lower back pain.

Therefore, if the seniors that are way past the puberty stage can add some inches to their height, then there’s a possibility of growing taller through stretching and other ways. Trying can never hurt. However, you will need to be persistent to see the fruits of your labor.

The following are some of the stretches you can easily do at the comfort of your home. Try them out; you may love the results.

Rotating the Spine

Most of the time, the most effective exercise is the one that you find simple. Rotating the spine is simple and effective. You see, the majority of people are a few inches short as a result of years of bad posture. That is why it is possible to add something like three inches to your height.

For the exercise, you extend your arms as far as possible and then rotate as far as possible on every side. The rotation will enhance the spine’s flexibility, and decompression leads to a few inches of height gain.

The Cat Stretch

For the cat stretch, your knees and hands should be on the ground, and arms locked out. Stretch your spine down, inhale deeply, and bring your head up. Then as you exhale, arch the spine, and bring the head down.

Do the stretch a few more times, and you should feel some relaxation.

Leg Stretch

For the basic leg stretch, you sit down, and spread your legs far apart. Bend down and try to grab your toes with your hands. And while you are at it, don’t bend your knees, and keep your spine straight.

If you can hack it successfully, the stretch should work miracles on your spine and legs – a good thing. Repeat the exercise a few more times with each lasting around 15 seconds.

Sleeping

Life is becoming a lot busier, and it seems that the only way to get ahead is to put in more hours, and less sleep. However, sufficient sleep is an important pillar in growing stronger, healthier and taller.

In some cultures, parents tell their children to get enough sleep if they want to become taller, and healthier. The good news is that there is some truth in these claims.

Our body produces the Human Growth Hormone when we are asleep, and the longer, the better. You must enter into deep sleep mode to enhance the production of the growth hormone, and allow your spine to decompress, your muscles to relax and your whole body to recuperate.

See, the naturally synthesized hormone is at the center of anabolic activities within your body. In simpler terms, the human growth hormone is critical in the building and repair of various bodily tissues such as bone, tendon, and skin. The result is an improved muscle tone, and increased height, as well as, the healing of wounds.

The role of the growth hormone is to make your bones thicker, and stronger. It is also responsible for making them longer and thus making you taller.

Alternatively, you can look at it this way. For most of the day, your body is in a vertical position, and that places some pressure on the squishy intervertebral disks. As you go down the spine, the total weight the succeeding disks bear, increases.

Having a snooze allows these flexible parts of the spine to decompress, and slightly expand. The total effect is a feeling of tallness in the morning. Another good thing about the resulting intervertebral decompression is that it offers a slight chance of cartilage growth and thus bone growth.

But does it mean that lack of sleep leads to no growth? Well, it’s not exactly that. The thing is that the rate of growth is faster when asleep than when awake. As a teenager, slowing down the growth process is not a smart thing to do, with puberty and locking of the bones fast approaching.

But how much sleep is sufficient for growth?

Well, simply, all of it. The recommended length is around eight hours of uninterrupted sleep to give your bodily functions a much-needed rest, and time to recuperate. You have to admit that your body works so hard to keep up with your indulgences, but don’t overdo it.

As they say, ‘too much of anything is not good.’ You cannot over-rely on sleep to grow taller. In other words, don’t be the ‘lazy bones’ in an attempt to be taller. In any case, and if it were possible to add to it this way, your height is not everything.

Which is the right way to sleep to grow taller?

Yes, there is a right way and the wrong way to sleep. Choose the mattress depending on the sleeping style. For example, stomach sleepers need a firmer mattress than the back sleepers. You spend up to thirty percent of your life sleeping, and you should consider it a good investment.

The ideal sleeping position for your spine is back sleeping, as it exerts the least pressure on your back. If it is impossible to sleep on your back, try side sleeping. Stomach sleeping is for those that can’t find sleep in any other way.

Side sleepers should typically use two pillows: one for your head and the other between the legs to ensure the spine is in perfect alignment. Find the pillow that aligns the curve of your neck with the spine. All these factors will help achieve a better spine decompression, and if your bone plates are still open – it happens – then chances of height growth are high.

A Good Posture

Maintaining a good posture helps avoid spine decompressing habits that constrain your spinal bones leading to short stature. You see, your bones need space to grow and when not available, they stop to grow.

Among the easiest ways that you adopt a bad posture is by sitting. We easily slouch towards our work desk when concentrating on some project and that decompresses the spine. The ideal sitting posture is with your shoulders back, spine straight, and your buttocks at the end of the seat.

Constant slouching can render your muscles weak, and your spine can adopt an unnatural shape – not a good thing really. You become shorter, and feel shorter in the end – never worth it!

The good habits for long sitters include standing up, and walking around every thirty minutes or so to relax your back and decompress a bit. And while seated, ensure your feet are firmly on the ground, and your knees are at a right angle – 90 degrees. If necessary, you can utilize a stool or footrest to maintain this angle.

Strengthening the Core Muscles helps achieve the right posture for longer. But which are these core muscles, and how do they help maintain the right posture?

The core muscles include the abdominal muscles and lower back muscles. Essentially, the stronger your core muscles are, the better the posture, and the better the chances of feeling and appearing taller. The muscles must be strong to support your spine, and overall body.

The ideal exercises include those that work on your abdominal muscles and lower back. Good examples include planks and standing abdominal exercises.

However, if you experience any back pain, stop the exercise and consult a doctor.

Strengthened core muscles may not increase your height overnight but will enhance your posture, and in the end, appear taller.

Avoid Growth Stunting Habits

Genetics may have a hand in a short stature, but environmental influences can, as well be the main cause, or even make it worse. Ingesting alcohol, and drugs, as well as, malnutrition at a younger age stunts growth – that’s according to several studies. And even though the studies are inconclusive, research indicates a possible relationship between children smokers and stunted growth.

Anabolic steroids will hurt bone growth in teens and children. Other health risks of using steroids include hypertension and heart attack.

Using Supplements

The five essential amino acids, critical to the production of Human Growth Hormone include L-Ornithine, L-Glutamine, L-Lysine, L-Glycine, and L-Arginine. While it is possible to source these supplements from various particular foods, it is not an easy task to keep track.

The easy way that you can do it is by taking supplements. Typically, there are different forms of supplements you can purchase. Some of which you take several pills in a day, and others which you only take one pill. Well, the one pill per day supplements, like the Growth Factor Plus are effective and easier than others to keep track.

You only need to take one pill in a day to provide your body with the growth hormone enhancing proteins. However, you may not see any results for a couple of months. You will need to be persistent, and of course, patient. Rome was not built in a day.

However, no clinical trials supporting the effectiveness of such supplements as Growth Factor Plus, but that does not always mean that you are shooting in the dark.

Many users swear by their effectiveness – both those that are below puberty and those that are beyond.

Hormone Treatment

Some children and individuals may have stunted growth as a result of insufficient production of the growth hormone. They may be eating right; exercising right, and sleeping adequately but nothing seems to change. In such a case, hormone treatment may be necessary.

However, you will need a qualified medical professional to conduct some tests and determine whether all the hormones are working as they should, and are in the right amount. Don’t be too quick to self-diagnose.

It is always best not to mess with the endocrine system. A lot of things can go wrong, among them the inability of hormonal glands to function well thereafter.

Surgery

There’s also surgery for people that want to grow taller faster. However, the procedure is highly intrusive and risky.

Typically in this procedure, the surgeon breaks your tibia and fibula and inserts a device to keep them apart. Thereafter, you can place any weight on the bones, and you will need physical therapy every few hours to keep them from becoming stiff.

The whole treatment can take months for the new bone to form fully. You will then need an additional six months for the bones to strengthen on their own. In most cases, the bone lengthening procedure and healing can take as much as two years.

Unfortunately, surgery may be awash with a variety of complications.

For example, the bones may fail to form adequately, and chances of breaking are high. The bines may also not form in the right angle, thereby leading to unsightly formations.

The length growth may not be even subsequently. It can grow disproportionally and cause walking and gait problems. Furthermore, an infection can prove tragic, given the fact you are dealing with the bone.

There are also nerve damage risks that can cause you to lose your leg entirely.

The distraction osteogenesis surgery is a common procedure for people that have one leg taller than the other. In the majority of cases, the patient will undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine if their capability to handle the demanding healing process.

Looking Taller

But you don’t have to undergo an expensive, risky and intrusive procedure to look taller in the eyes of your peers. There are simple things you can do and achieve the look of being taller than usual, especially when meeting an acquaintance for the first time and who you want to impress.

Among the simple things, you can do to seem taller include having risers to make your shoes higher. And if you blend risers with high heels, then you will seem taller than usual.

Avoid baggy clothes and instead, go with fitting clothing. Skinny shirts and jeans will not only make you appear leaner, but also taller than your average. Science also shows that you will look taller by wearing clothing with horizontal stripes.

What are affirmations?


Affirmations are positive statements you choose to impress upon your subconscious mind in order to create
a desired change. The best affirmations are stated in the positive (what you want to experience, not what you don’t want to experience) and are stated as if you already «are» or «have» the desired experience. You can also add your name to the affirmation.

Examples of good affirmations:
I, [name], am 185 cm tall now. I, [name], am growing taller now and I will keep on growing until I am 185 cm tall.

You can also add 2nd and 3rd person affirmations (as if someone else was making the statement to you, or about you to another person.

Examples:
You, [name], are 185 cm tall. (2nd person — someone talking to you) [name] is 185 cm tall. (3rd
person — someone talking about you)

Mechanical repetition of an affirmation just won’t do. To have greatest success with affirmation, you need to get into a state of power. You can get into this state by PRETENDING and IMAGINING yourself as a being of power (if it helps you, you can imagine yourself as a wizard, or a magician). Imagine that EVERY WORD you say is a COMMAND, backed with power. Speak your words with CONVICTION and EXPECTATION that every word of your affirmation will come back to you FULFILLED.

There are many different ways in which you can use affirmations, and I’ll mention some other ways later. You will greatly increase the effectiveness of your affirmations and the power of your word, if you practice saying what you really mean, if you keep your promises, and if you speak only when you really have something meaningful to say instead of engaging in mindless chatter.

To build confidence using affirmations, you can first experiment with issues that are not life-and-death situations, situations that you’d enjoy if they happened, but if they don’t it’s not big deal. This will allow you to «let go» and «let it happen» without feeling tense about the situation.

For example, you can state an affirmation in the morning that you are going to experience some wonderful surprise this week (or today) and watch for wonderful surprises coming your way with a sense of joyful anticipation.
Or, you can think of some dear friend you haven’t heard from some time and you’d enjoy meeting with this friend or talking with this friend and you can create an affirmation stating that a friend is going to call you now or that you’re going to meet with him (or her). In the beginning, you may meet with more success if you create affirmations for general situations, rather than specifics that are tied to specific people or events. As you meet with success and build confidence you can move on to more specific people or events.