Height is Achievable

Along with facial features, height is one of the fundamental characteristics that determine a person’s image. Some consider height as an important element in choosing a spouse. Some people who are exceptionally tall, or short, often have complexes and experience difficulties engaging in numerous social activities. It was once easy to find a job ad, reading, “The applicant must be of neat appearance and be taller than five feet and XX.”

Although many people want to be tall, height is not an easy attribute to achieve as it is determined by a variety of factors, such as genetics and environment. Although many believe that one’s height is closely linked to that of his/her parents, this is not always the case.

Historically, tall people have been considered to be more desirable than short people. Mankind has also attempted a great many ways to make people taller.

Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm, who is well known for establishing the “Giant Guard” by selecting only tall soldiers, tried to make tall, slender girls tie the knot with the soldiers of his Giant Guard. Through this he expected to produce an augmented species of human by repeating this process over many generations.

Gavriil Ilizarov, a Russian physician, invented a surgical procedure to lengthen bones in 1951. Ilizarov discovered that by carefully severing a bone and slightly separating two halves in a fixed position, the bone would grow to fill the gap. The limbs can grow 1mm a day by loosening the screw attached to the bone-holding apparatus at an interval of 0.25mm four times a day. However, though this procedure allowed one to extend his/her height by up to 10cm per year, it involved the endurance of extreme pain and a complex operation to attach the metal apparatus.

The development of biotechnology, however, suggests that it will not be long before mankind’s long-cherished dream of controlling height will be realized, with the help of growth hormones and genetic modification.

However, being tall is not necessarily better. Research into the correlation between the height and life-span of people around the world showed that shorter people tend to live longer.

According to research, in which one million men who died in California between 1985 and 1990 were studied, Asians and South American immigrants lived four years longer than Caucasians. Moreover, even among people of the same races, shorter people are shown to have lived longer. In Okinawa, Japan, which is known for the longevity of its people, the average heights of men and women who lived 100 years or more were 148.3cm and 138.6cm, respectively.

One researcher pointed out that taller people are at greater risk of developing cancer and, in addition, the research of a team of U.S. physicians found that people who are taller than 183 cm had a 36 percent greater chance of developing non-cigarette-related cancer than those shorter than 170cm.

Although it is true that height is significantly influenced by genetics, experts say that if an individual makes the effort, he or she can become around a hand-span taller than those who do not.

Height is directly related to the growth of bones. People become taller when tissues, called growth plates, located at the end of joints, grow. Under the influence of growth hormones, the growth plates grow and eventually changes into ossein to become bones

The amount of growth hormone secretion during a period of growth is a critical factor in achieving the maximum potential height. The secretion of growth hormones is affected by nutrition, weight, exercise, sleep and stress. However, the said secretion decreases when children become obsessive or suffer continued stress over a long period, and increases with healthy sleeping patterns and regular exercise.

Park Mi-jeong, author of “Height Equivalent to Your Efforts”, and also a professor of pediatrics at Inje University, says that parents go to great lengths to make their children grow taller. She recommends that every day children should eat at least three different foods, exercise for half an hour and talk to others for half an hour to relieve stress. Although it would make only a small difference each year, unless parents make such efforts, their children will eventually end up considerably shorter than others once they reach adulthood.

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