Can Stress Impact My Height?

Stress is something that is not simple to measure. It is a psychological phenomenon that manifests a physical body reaction. When something is upsetting your emotional sense of self in a negative way, the body treats this as a danger. Thus, many automatic body defenses get activated to create a “fight-or-flight” response. Previously, this was a positive benefit for our ancestors, as many of the stresses they were faced with required them to engage in battle or run for survival. These days, stress is not triggered in connection to survival but to everyday activities. More commonly things like, work-life, relationship dynamics, health issues and various other responsibilities cause this same reaction. Of course, it is not healthy for this stress response to be continually triggered. In fact, it very much can be a contributing factor for decreased height. Normal growth development cannot occur in a stressful environment.

Scientific research has diagnosed the relationship between extreme stress and height as “psychosocial short stature” (PSS), or otherwise known as “Kasper Hauser Syndrome.” Researchers have observed increased levels of stress, associated with low Growth Hormone (GH) levels in the body. Without the proper release of GH, the body is not able to get taller and the skeletal structure remains immature in relation to the age. Documented cases of this condition are rare and usually only found in situations of extreme childhood abuse. What is not yet fully known is the impact of everyday stress over long periods of time on height. In most cases, once the individual has been removed from the source of stress normal growth does resume.

How do I know if stress is impacting my height?

Stress is individual by its nature, but there are common traits that can be linked to stress. Physical responses are the easiest to diagnose for stress. Many people suffer body pains, stomach disruption, nausea, rapid heart beat, changes in their normal sleep schedule, illness, and the picking up of nervous habits when they are stressed. The most important step in growing tall is to diagnose your emotional health. If stress is a factor in your life, the best way to overcome that is to diagnose the true origins. Many individuals come to these conclusions by keeping a tracker of exactly when they feel the listed physical responses and in associate with what. Over time, patterns can emerge and changing your habits will remove the stress trigger. This will automatically increase your growth hormone (GH) level, especially if sleep disruption was a symptom. Full sleeping cycles will increase growth hormone to be released during the fourth stage of sleep. Exercise also works together to reduce lifestyle stress and increase growth hormone production in the body.