Are height increasing exercises effective for adults?
Nowadays, on social networks, there are many exercises advertised that can help increase height in people over 21 years old. So are these exercises really effective? What should adults do to improve their height?
Can height be improved after adulthood?
According to Dr. Ngo Duc Nhuan, Sports Medicine, Vietnam Sports Hospital, the factors that determine a person's height include genetics, nutrition, exercise, and living environment. Genetics play an important role in determining height, but not all. Each person has up to 77% chance of increasing height depending on nutrition, sleep, and exercise.
However, even with a combination of healthy nutrition, proper sleep, and exercise, most people's height will stop increasing after the age of 18, or may only increase by a maximum of 1-2cm. The reason height stops increasing after adulthood is that the growth cartilage has ossified into bone.
As puberty approaches, growth hormones gradually decrease and eventually stop, causing the growth plates to completely ossify, fixing the bones and at this point height growth will almost stop. Although bones stop growing in length after the age of 18, they can continue to increase in thickness or diameter, in response to stress from increased muscle activity. The increase in bone diameter is called applied growth, so after the age of 18, each person's height can increase by 1-2cm.
Therefore, height increasing exercises will not be effective for people over 21 years old. There is no evidence or research to prove that chin-ups, mountain climbing, and swimming exercises... can affect height growth after adulthood. Height can change slightly during the day due to the increase or decrease of compression of the discs in the spine.
How can adults improve their height?
Height increasing exercises are not effective for people over 21 years old, however, adjusting your posture can also help improve your figure. Because bad posture and gait can make you look shorter, in the long run, it can affect the health of your spine.
To improve your posture, you can practice the following stretching exercises:
Pull ups
Pull-ups help stretch your spine, while also building muscle to feel stronger. This way, you can improve your posture, making your arms and back muscles stronger.
To do this exercise, you first need to choose a pull-up bar that is suitable for your height, according to the principle: The pull-up bar when installed needs to be 30 - 50cm higher than the height of the exerciser. Warm-up is a very important preparation step for all exercises, requiring a thorough warm-up of the wrists, ankles, neck, shoulders and waist...Jump up while holding the bar firmly with your hands shoulder-width apart.Hang from the bar and relax your body in a straight position.Hold your body like that for as long as possible and then release.Repeat 3 – 5 times after relaxing for 30 seconds between each set.
Yoga stretching
Stretching exercises help increase flexibility and reduce the risk of injury during physical activity. In addition, stretching can also reduce muscle soreness caused by high-intensity exercise. This is one of the effective measures to improve posture, especially suitable for people who often sit in one place for a long time.Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you, forming a V shape.Raise both arms straight out in front of you, shoulder-width apart, eyes looking straight ahead.Reach forward until your hands lightly touch your toes. Hold for 15-30 seconds and then return to the starting position.Repeat the movement 3-5 times, paying attention to breathing deeply.
Jumping in place
Jumping helps stretch the entire body and joints. Here's how to do it:Stand up straight, feet hip-width apart, arms straight overhead.Lower your hips until your thighs are parallel to the ground.Jump as high as you can, swinging your arms back and forth.Land on the balls of your feet, lowering your hips into step 2.Continue jumping, should do 5 sets, each set 10 times.
