When do men stop growing?
Why am I not hitting a growth spurt?
These are the common questions we’ll be answering in this article.
Children start growing from conception to adulthood.
The period from birth to 2years of age is the greatest growth period.
A child grows about 10_25cm in height, per year.
After 2years of age, the growth rate tends to slow down until puberty but heightens about 5_6cm per year.
Then a growth spurt will occur at the beginning of puberty, usually around the age of 11 for girls and about 13 for boys.
The second maximum growth period is between the ages of 11_13yrs for girls and 13_15yrs for boys.
This is the period when most of the growth occurs.
After that, the growth of the limbs gradually slows down with the development of the secondary sexual characteristics, then gradually all growth after the age of 16_18yrs will stop.
Puberty usually begins around the age of 13, the age of bone, and about 11 for girls.
At this time growth is accelerated and a child grows to about 16cm by the age of 15, the peak of growth and grows a little more by the age of 18.
After this period growth stops, however, men still develop in other ways well into their twenties.
Research shows that the brain doesn’t fully develop until the age of 25 and men achieve peak muscle mass at about the age of 20_30.
While the normal growth rate stops at the age of 18, there are some cases of people who hit puberty in their late teens and continues into their early twenties.
However, some factors influence growth, and they include:
Genetics — This is one of the factors that greatly determine your height.
If your parents are short then you’ll most likely be short or if your parents possess short genes, you’re likely to be short and if they’re tall you’ll also be tall.
Nutrition — Nutrition also influences growth greatly, children that are malnourished are bound to have stunted growth.
The body needs all the nutrients it can get to facilitate growth, nutrients like calcium, iron helps in the development of bones, deficiency of nutrients like proteins, vitamins, minerals, etc, reduces the rate of development of the body and limits growth.
Sleep — The body produces growth hormones when you are sleeping and these hormones are required for proper bone development.
Inadequate sleep limits the production of growth hormones and causes stunted growth.
Health conditions — Health conditions also affect growth, some of these conditions include:
- Down Syndrome
- Bone disease
- Thyroid disease
- Turner syndrome
- Achondroplasia
- Russell_silver syndrome
How do I grow taller?, can I influence my growth?
The answer is no, you cannot influence growth in any way but you may be able to make some gain in height by improving your posture.
Improving your posture will straighten your spine but will not make your bones longer, even regular exercise and diet will do nothing to increase your height.