How to grow taller

How can I grow Taller?

Today,height growth is the very common problem among teens and adult. Everyone wish to grow bit taller than their actual height.But, it can be very challenging to grow anymore once your growth plate is fused or closed. You may wonder what  growth plates are, and how they can affect your height or growth? Let me explain you what growth plates are , and how they affect your growth.

What are growth plates?

The medical name is 'Epiphyseal Plates' but are more commonly known as growth plates. They exist within the long bones of the body, by that I mean bones that are generally longer than they are wide, such as the femur (upper leg), humerus (upper arms) and fibula (lower leg). These are the bones that are responsible for determining your height. Every animal has these plates within their long bones, without them they simply wouldn't grow. During your life, the way they function changes substantially and for that reason we eventually stop growing.

Growth plates function in height increase

As they are perfectly situated on the ends of your bone, they have the ability to lengthen the bone by creating new cartilage within the bone itself. This cartilage eventually transforms into bone. Throughout your adolesence, this process continues, constantly causing you to grow taller as your bones elongate.

See the image to the right, the new cartilage grows to the top of the growth plate and gradually turns into bone, as it does it gets pushed down below the growth plate allowing the bone to continue growing.

Obviously the longer these bones are, the taller you will be, in particular the leg bones (femur, tibia and fibula) as these make up as least half of your height.

What age do growth plates fuse?

Growth plates don't stay open all your life. They usually close (also known as fuse) in your teenage years, however it's different in males than females. The fusing process in males is usually complete within the ages of 16-18 in males, but 13-14 in females.

However, once your growth plate is fused, it is almost impossible to grow anymore taller. But, if your teenager and still growing taller, then follow the exercise than diet listed below to speed up your growth. And for adult, whose growth plate is already fused and still wanted to add some extra inches to your height, then you can still follow the same exercise and diet mentioned below. But, remember I can not guarantee that you will see the same progress as the teens. However, you can expect to see some differences within the couple of months. Remember that don't expect to grow overnight because growing is the most difficult process in our body. Be patient and stick to your diet and exercise,you will get some good result within couple of months.

Consume a balanced diet. A person will look a lot shorter when having a plump body. Not only that, being fit by eating right will make you taller and feel better!

• Eat plenty of lean protein. Lean protein, such as white poultry meat, fish, soy, and dairy, helps promote muscle growth and healthy bones. Simple carbohydrates such as pizza, cakes, sweets, and soda, are the stuff to stay away from.
• Eat plenty of calcium. Calcium, found in leafy green vegetables such as spinach and kale, and in dairy (yogurt and milk), helps promote healthy bones.
• Get enough zinc. Studies, although they have been inconclusive so far, point to a possible link between zinc deficiencies and stunted growth in boys. Good sources of zinc include oysters, wheat germ, pumpkin and squash seeds, lamb, peanuts, and crab.

Get enough vitamin D. Vitamin D promotes bone and muscle growth in children, and a deficiency has been shown to stunt growth and cause weight gain in teenage girls.Vitamin D can be found in fish, alfalfa, or mushrooms commonly.

(2) Exercise throughout the teen years and in puberty to improve your height modestly. Do jumping exercises frequently, such as skipping, dancing and even hanging . Be active. Get out and about and work your muscles for at least 30 minutes each day.

• Join a gym. Joining a gym will help give you access to a lot of great exercising and muscle-building machines. It will also keep you motivated to work out (you'll feel silly if you're not exercising in the gym).
• Join a sports team. People who join sports teams can use their natural competitiveness to burn extra calories and hopefully get their bodies taller. The great thing about team sports is that half the time, you don't even realize that you're exercising.
• If nothing else, walk around. If you can't find the time to do anything else, get up and walk around. Walk to the grocery store. Walk to the library. Walk to school.

Growing taller Exercises

COBRA 

     Lie on the floor face down with palms on the floor under your shoulders.  Begin to arch your spine up leading with your chin.  Arch as far back as possible. Each repetition should last between 5-30 seconds.

uper Cobra

     Start with your arms perpendicular to the floor, and the spine arched (the end position of the cobra). Now blend your hips and bring your body up into an inverted 'V' position.  While you are doing that, tuck your chin against your chest. Return to the original position. Each repetition should last between 10-20 seconds.

 Cat Stretch

Get on your hands and knees with your arms locked out. Inhale as you flex your spine down and bring your head up. Exhale as you bring your spine up into an arched position while bringing your head down. Each repetition should last between 3-8 seconds.

Basic Leg Stretch

While sitting down, spread your legs far apart. Reach for your toes. Try to keep your knees as straight as possible. Now move into reaching for the toes on the other leg. Be sure to keep your spine straight and move from your hips. Do not arch the upper spine. This stretch works both your spine and legs. Each repetition should last between 6-15 seconds.

The Bridge

Lying down with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor as close to your butt as possible, grab your ankles and hold onto them while you rise your hips up and arch your spine, lifting your abs towards the ceiling.
Lift your abs as high as possible. Go back down. If you can't hold onto your ankles, keep your arms to the side and use them to push yourself up. Each repetition should last between 3-10 seconds. This stretch may be hard to do at first, but be persistent even if you can't do it completely right at first.

The Table

     Sit down on the floor with your legs straight. With your torso straight, place the palms of your hands on the floor next to your butt. Then tuck your chin against your chest. Now bring your head back as far as it will go. 

While doing that, raise your body so that your knees bend while the arms stay straight. The torso and upper legs will be straight and horizontal to the floor. Your arms and lower legs will be perpendicular to the floor. You will be the shape of a table. This is another hard stretch for some. If you can't do it right away, just do the best you can, eventually you will be able to do it with ease. Each repetition should last between 8-20 seconds.

The Bow Down

     Stand with your hands on your hips. Keep your hands on your hips and bend forward as far as possible, leading with your head. Don't bend your knees and keep your chin off your chest. Each repetition should last between 4-8 seconds.

The Yawn

     Standing up with hands held together behind your neck, bend your head upwards and back as far as possible. Each repetition should last 5-15 seconds.

The Super Stretch

     Standing up, reach your hands up as high as you can as you lean slightly back. Feel the stretch in your lower spine. The super stretch can be done standing up or lying down. Each repetition should last between 4-7 seconds.

Hands on the Head Bow Down

     Standing with your hands together behind your neck, bend forward as far as possible. Lead with your head. Bring your chin into your chest. Don�t bend your knees. Each repetition should last between 4-8 seconds.

Wall Stretch

     Standing up against a wall, reach your hands up as high as possible while getting onto your tip toes. Keep your spine flat against the wall as much as possible. Each repetition should last between 4-6 seconds. This stretch is harder than it looks because your spine is flat against the wall.

Hanging 

     There is nothing complicated to hanging. You simply hang from a bar. This helps to lengthen and straighten your spine. It is recommended that you hang for at least 30 minutes a week. If you want your back and shoulders to get wider and have V-Taper, use wider grip. A wider grip is harder though.

Touch Toes

     Standing with your hands high above your head, bend over and touch your toes. Keep your legs as straight as possible. You can bend your knees a little if need to. Each repetition should last between 2-3 seconds.

Finally, sound sleep.  Sleeping is the time when your body grows, so having plenty of sleep is equivalent to giving your body more time for growth. Get between 9 and 11 hours of sleep per night if you're a preteen or still younger than 20.

The human growth hormone (HGH) is produced naturally in our bodies, especially during deep or slow wave sleep.[6] Getting good, sound sleep will encourage the production of HGH, which is created in the pituitary gland.