in Health / Fitness (submitted 2011-09-16)
For a human body standing erect, height is the length from the bottom of the heels to the crest of the head. For populations sharing genetic background and environmental factors, the term ‘average height’ is commonly typical within the group. Extraordinary height deviation (about 20% deviation from normal) within such type of a population is normally because of gigantism or dwarfism; that are regarded as medical conditions because of particular genes or because of endocrine irregularities that can have you asking how do I grow tall?
Where there is severe poverty or protracted warfare, environmental factors such as childhood malnutrition and adolescence malnutrition may be responsible for noticeable reductions in adult height despite the absence of any such medical conditions.
Average height around the world
The average height for both sexes within a certain population fluctuates drastically, with males being (on average) taller in stature than women. Females generally reach their maximum height at a lesser age than males, because puberty usually prevails faster in females than in males. Vertical growth comes to a halt when the lengthening of the long bones stops, which happens with the shutting down of epiphyseal plates which are the bone growth centers which vanish due to the hormonal changes occurring due to the completion of puberty. A grown-up’s height for a particular sex in a particular ethnic group mostly obeys a normal distribution. So this is why certain group of people may grow tall and another group may be short.
Adult stature between populations mostly differs considerably. For instance, the average height of Czech women is more than that of Malawi men. This often occurs due to genetic differences, differences in childhood ways of life such as nutritional differences, variation in sleep patterns and physical labor.
The tallest man in the contemporary world is a Turkish by the name of Sultan Kösen, at 8 ft 3 in. While the tallest person in history is stated to be Robert Pershing Wadlow of Illinois, United States, who was recorded to be 8 ft 11 in when he died. Chinese man Yao Defen is the tallest woman who lives in the world right now at 7 ft 7 1⁄2 in, according to the Guinness World Records, 2010. The tallest female to have ever lived was Zeng Jinlian from Hunan, China, who measured 8 ft 1 1⁄2 in at the time of her death at the tender age of only 17. The shortest man to have ever lived is Gul Mohammed from New Delhi at 1 ft 10 1⁄2 in.
Shrinkage of stature depends on genetic and environmental factors as well as sex and may start in middle age in a few people but is widespread in the elderly people. This lessening of height occurs because of reasons such as decreased inter-vertebral discs’ height occurring due to desiccation, atrophy of softer tissues and postural variations secondary to degenerative illnesses.
As with any statistical data, the accuracy of any data pertaining to the average adult heights by country/geographical region may be uncertain for several reasons:
- An exceedingly small portion of the population might have been considered, making it uncertain if this particular sample precisely represents the whole population.
- The measured sample could have been created by inviting volunteers, rather than randomly selecting people.
- A person’s height may change temporarily due to factors like the amount of exercise or the time onwards ever since lying down for a considerable span of time.