Can Hiking Make You Taller? (Truth Revealed)
Height is one of the most crucial factors that significantly impact humans’ appearance. Most times, it determines how confident and attractive you are.
For these reasons, people tend to struggle to become taller, which makes them continuously search for things they can engage in to increase their height.
And this leads us to this question; can hiking make you taller?
The logical truth is that hiking can’t make you taller. The main responsible thing for your height is your DNA. The only thing hiking can do to your height, if you maintain a good posture while doing it, is to help you remove the compactions on your bones that developed over time due to bad posture manners.
In this article, I will explain if you can have an increase in height through hiking. I will further reveal the activities you can engage in to appear taller.
Does Hiking Make You Taller?
No, hiking doesn’t make you taller. Proper hiking only helps you to reveal your full height. No scientific research has proven that hiking makes humans taller.
It’s important to note that the primary thing that influences a human’s height is their DNA, i.e., their genetic makeup.
And one fact is that once you pass puberty, your growth plates stop growing new bones. Instead, they fuse and, therefore, stops you from growing taller.
However, apart from DNA, other things influence your height, including regular exercise, medical conditions, balanced diet consumption, hormones, etc.
Hiking is a form of exercise and among the advantages of regular exercise is that it makes your bones healthier, stronger, more straightened, and not longer.
Surprisingly, hiking can shorten your height if you don’t maintain a good posture.
Keeping a good posture while hiking helps you eliminate the compressions on your bones and keeps your back and muscles straighter and stronger, which helps you reveal your full height.
Hence, when hiking, ensure that you’re not slouching or looking down, but instead, try to stand tall and keep your eyes forward.
Apart from revealing your actual height, hiking has some other advantages, and they are: helps in weight loss, aids in digestion, improves your sleep, improves skin health, and so on.
Is It Easier To Hike as a Short Person?
This particular question has yet to have a definitive answer, but the reality is that tall people find hiking easier than short people.
The reason is that short people’s legs aren’t as long as tall people’s own. Therefore, it takes short people a long time to cover the same distance as tall hikers.
More so, hiking on rough terrains, such as rocky areas, is much easier for tall people than for short ones.
Hence, tall people tend to be the fastest hikers. However, one thing is that having short legs doesn’t make a person a slow or bad hiker.
The significant factors determining how fast or slow a hiker is, include the hiker’s age, weight, health, and size of a backpack.
Meanwhile, research shows that short people have a lower center of gravity than tall people, which means that short people are less likely to lose balance, let alone fall.
For more clarity, check the table below to discover the difference between short and tall hikers.
| Short Hikers | Tall Hikers |
|---|---|
| They have shorter strides. | They have longer strides. |
| Lower center of gravity. | Higher center of gravity. |
| Most of them are slower than tall hikers. | They are fast hikers. |
| Choosing the perfect hiking gear sizes is quite challenging. | Choosing the perfect hiking gear is incredibly easy. |
Thus, the distance and topography of the hiking location are also determinants of how easy hiking could be.
How Do You Get Longer Legs?
Once you’re through puberty, you stop growing. However, there are some exercises you can engage yourself in to reveal the entire length of your legs.
The primary exercises that can make your legs longer are athletic activities such as swimming, walking, running, etc.
Other exercises include;
- Squats
- Bridges
- Downward dog
- Raised leg stretches, and so on.
#1. Squats
Squats are one of the exercises you can do to achieve longer legs. To do squats, follow the instructions below:
- First, stand straight on your feet and position your back straight.
- Then, bow your knees while you push your hips behind you, and ensure that your knees don’t go ahead of your toes.
- Keep moving down and behind until your thighs are on the same straight level as the ground, then maintain this position for some seconds.
- Therinseise and repeat the steps above for as much time as possible.
#2. Bridges
To do the bridges exercise, follow the instructions below:
- First, lie down on your back, ensure that you place your feet flat on the floor, then position your knees to bend at the front.
- Raise your hips into the air; your back will also raise into the air; maintain this position for some seconds.
- Then, put your hips back on the floor and repeat the steps above as much as possible.
#3. Downward Dog
Downward dog exercise is primarily common in Yoga training. To do this exercise, follow the instructions below:
- First, kneel on the floor and put your hands on the floor as well.
- Then, keep a push-up position by extending your legs towards your back.
- Keep your arms, legs, and torso upright, and then push your hips upward and backward. By now, your head should be between your shoulders.
- Maintain the above position for a few seconds, then return to the push-up position. While doing this, ensure that you keep your body straight.
#4. Raised Leg Stretch
Follow the below instructions to do the raised leg stretch exercise:
- Lie down on your back with your legs straight out.
- Grab one of your legs and lift it into the air.
- Then, pull the leg towards your chest and ensure that both legs are straight.
- If you don’t have the strength to pull the leg yourself, someone else can do it for you.
What Activities Make You Taller?
No activities can make you taller once you pass through your puberty stage.
The activities can only straighten you properly and help to reveal your entire length. Such activities are as follows:
- Adequate sleep: Enough sleep helps energize the brain, and this helps in properly releasing growth hormones.
- Balanced diet: Regular intake of foods rich in calcium, zinc, proteins, and even vitamin D makes your bones stronger and healthier.
- Toe-touching workout: This activity, if you’re consistent with it, helps to stretch your core muscles and bones, thereby making you appear taller.
- Swimming: Swimming is one of the best ways of stretching your body; if you’re consistent with it, it will eventually increase your height.
- Skipping: Jumping and skipping go hand in hand, and this practice greatly influences your height.
- Basketball: Basketball is another way of stretching your entire body and has excellent effects on your height.
- Cycling: Cycling helps to strengthen your bones and leg muscles, and if you practice it regularly, it will later increase your height.
- Stretching: Stretching is one of the major activities you should engage in if you want to appear taller.
- Hanging exercises: Hanging on a fixed rope is another activity that influences height.
Plus, regular Yoga practices such as trikonasana (triangle pose), tadasana (mountain pose), and Bhujangasana (cobra pose) help to make you taller.
Conclusion
The main factor determining human beings’ height is DNA, which means if your parents are tall, you are tall.
On the other hand, exercises, such as hiking, cannot make you taller; they can only make you healthier and stronger.
In addition, regular hiking helps to straighten your bones, eventually revealing your full height.
References:
- https://blog.decathlon.in/articles/
- https://www.healthline.com/
- https://thetrek.co/
- https://www.thetech.org/
- Hiking Trails in Ohio: All You Need To Know - December 16, 2023
- Best Hiking Trails in the World and USA! - October 9, 2023
- Hiking Tips for Beginners: Things You Should Know! - October 9, 2023
