12 Big and Little Facts About Your Height Everyday Health MenuNewslettersSearch Healthy Living 12 Big and Little Facts About Your Height Tall people make $789 more each year per extra inch, shorter folks may have a lower cancer risk, and other fascinating truths about your stature. Medically ReviewedIf you’re super short or extra tall, you've probably been the butt of a few jokes or unfortunate nicknames — from “shrimpy” to “sasquatch.” (Author’s note: In fifth grade, I was the tallest in my class, earning me the moniker "tree.") Teasing aside, height can be serious business when it comes to your health — and that’s no tall tale. Research shows that your stature can influence everything from your risk of heart disease and cancer to your income and perceived attractiveness. Read on to learn more interesting tidbits about your height. You Grow Fastest In Your First Year Kids seem to sprout quickly — just ask any parent who has to keep buying new clothes month after month, year after year. But how exactly does growth happen? People grow at their fastest rate as babies in the first year of life, adding about 10 inches to their height from birth to age 1, after which height increases somewhat steadily (and nowhere near as rapidly) until adolescence, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Girls usually stop growing two to three years after they get their period, and while some boys reach their adult height in high school, others continue growing into their early twenties. Ever swear that your child has grown taller overnight? You may be right. Most growth hormone is released during sleep, so ensuring your kids get a good night’s rest may help them reach their full potential. Americans Are No Longer the World' s Tallest In the 18th and 19th centuries, America was home to the tallest people in the world, but today that honor goes to the Netherlands. Today, Dutch men and women average 6 feet and 5 feet 6.5 inches, respectively. U.S. men average 5 feet 9 inches and women average nearly 5 feet 4 inches tall. Why the slip in comparative stature? “Americans may be falling behind because of lack of access to health care and nutritional deficiencies from eating too much sugar and fat and not enough fruits and vegetables,” says Richard Steckel, PhD, professor of economics, anthropology, and history at Ohio State University in Columbus. The world’s shortest people, by the way, hail from Indonesia, Bolivia, India, and the Philippines. Your Height Changes All Day Long Just like your weight fluctuates throughout the day, your height can too. You’re tallest when you wake up and you may be as much as one centimeter shorter by the day’s end. “The discs in your spine get compressed from being upright all day,” says Todd Sinett, DC, a New York City-based chiropractor and author of The Truth About Back Pain. As you sleep, your spine decompresses, and you regain the lost length. Height Genes Aren' t Everything Roughly 60 to 80 percent of your height is determined by genetics, while the rest depends on environmental factors, namely childhood nutrition. “Nutrition is the most important environmental factor that contributes to height,” says Chao-Qiang Lai, PhD, research molecular biologist with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Curious how tall your kids will ultimately grow? Here’s the formula pediatricians use to predict adult height: For girls: Subtract 5 inches from dad’s height, average this number with mom’s height, and then add and subtract 2 inches to determine a possible range. For boys: Add 5 inches to mom’s height, average that number with dad’s height, and then add and subtract 2 inches to get a range. To make sure they don’t fall short, kids should chomp a well-rounded diet of fruits and veggies, whole grains, dairy, and lean protein, which supplies the vitamins and minerals that play a crucial role in growth. Mom Was Wrong About Caffeine It’s an old wives’ tale that caffeine stunts growth in children, says Tanya Remer Altmann, MD, a pediatrician in Westlake Village, Calif., and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. However, it does act as a stimulant and can cause irritability, sleep problems, and headaches, which is why doctors recommend that kids avoid it. What can stunt growth: cigarettes. One study in the Annals of Epidemiology found that boys who smoked frequently between ages 12 and 17 were about an inch shorter than their non-smoking peers, although a similar effect was not seen in girls. (Most boys are still growing during this period and girls are not, which could explain the difference). Certain medical issues, including food allergies, hormone imbalances, and heart, kidney, or liver issues, can also stunt children’s growth, as can certain medications, such as stimulant drugs for ADHD. With Height Comes Cancer Risk The taller you are, the greater your risk of cancer, according to a study in the journal Lancet Oncology. After examining medical records of more than one million British women whose height ranged from less than 5 feet 1 inch to 5 feet 8 inches and taller, researchers found that the tallest women had a 37 percent greater risk of developing cancer. “Tall people may have more cells in their bodies so there’s a greater chance that one might become cancerous, or the link might be related to levels of growth hormones,” says lead study author Jane Green, a clinical epidemiologist and research lecturer at the University of Oxford. Similar results may also apply to men. Of course you can’t change your height, but before you worry, know that the increased risk is still relatively small. Instead, focus on reducing the cancer risk factors you can do something about, like not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, and limiting alcohol intake. Being Tall Is Good for Your Ticker On the other hand, being shorter may spell a higher risk of heart disease, according to a study in European Heart Journal. Researchers found that the shortest adults (under 5 feet 3 inches) had a higher risk of having and dying from cardiovascular disease than taller people. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that genes linked to height can increase your risk of heart disease. The increase is, on average, 13.5 percent for every 2.5 inches shorter the person is. Other studies have found that low socioeconomic status — and its connection to poor nutrition and infections early in life — may be to blame for the heart disease-height link. Taller People Make More Money Numerous studies have found that, on average, taller people not only hold jobs of higher status (for instance, sales managers are taller than salespeople), they also earn more money. In fact, a classic study in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that people make $789 more per year for each inch above average height they are. Looking at it another way, a person who’s 6 feet tall would earn $166,000 more over a 30-year career than a person who’s 7 inches shorter. The findings help up even after researchers controlled for things like gender, weight, and age. “Height affects how individuals regard themselves, which is self esteem, and how individuals are regarded by others, called social esteem,” explains study co-author Daniel Cable, PhD, a professor of organizational behavior at London Business School. “Social and self esteem affect individuals’ job performance and how supervisors evaluate job performance, which in turn affects career success.” Height Confers Hotness In another blow to petite people, science shows that taller folks are also perceived as being more attractive. In addition to factors such as power and self esteem, leg length may be a surprising influence. People with shorter-than-average legs were viewed as being less attractive than people with slightly longer gams, a study in Evolution and Human Behavior found. Sorry, supermodels: The study also found that having excessively long legs decreased attractiveness. There may be an evolutionary explanation for the effect, note the researchers. Very short or long legs could indicate “genetic diseases, health problems, or weak immune responses to adverse environment factors acting during childhood and adolescence.” Genes Can Cause Height Extremes Very short or tall people may have conditions called dwarfism or gigantism, respectively. About one in 15,000 people have dwarfism, defined as an adult height of 4 feet 10 inches or less. Genetic mutations that cause bones to grow short are the main causes, according to Michael J. Goldberg, MD, chief of the Skeletal Dysplasia Clinic at Seattle Children's Hospital. At the other end of the spectrum is a more rare condition called gigantism, in which people grow very tall, usually due to an excess of growth hormones during childhood often caused by a benign tumor on the pituitary gland. You Start ' Shrinking' at Age 40 It’s no secret that adults grow shorter as they age, but it may start earlier than you think: Both men and woman may begin slipping in stature as early as age 40, decreasing by half an inch a decade, says John Whyte, MD, MPH, chief medical expert and vice president for health and medical education at The Discovery Channel and author of Is This Normal? Behind the shrinkage: the discs in your spine, which lose water and begin to compress over time. Osteoporosis, a bone-weakening disease that affects up to 10 million Americans, can exacerbate the problem. The good news is that working on your posture may help counter height loss. “One of the most important aspects of maintaining height is proper posture,” Sinett says. Stretching, strength exercises, yoga, and working with a chiropractor or physical therapist can help. Fashion Can Help You Fake Looking Taller In addition to perfecting your posture, consider your closet if you’re hoping to add the appearance of inches to your frame — and it’s not just about high heels. “Dressing to look taller is about appearing proportional,” says Sharon Haver, a New York City-based stylist and founder of FocusOnStyle.com. First, dress in monochromatic, tonal palettes. Avoid wearing sharp contrasts in color like white and black, which breaks up your body and makes you appear shorter. Keep heels and accessories like belts and purses in proportion, too (don’t sport super-wide belts or huge purses if you’re short). If you want to don monster heels, wear pants that cover your shoes to visually add length. Finally, choose tailored clothing to avoid looking boxy, which will make you look wider and shorter. 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