Ever been used as arm rest by all your friends?
Yeah.
Not fun.
But maybe a little human growth hormone could help with that.
Hey guys Julia here for DNews
I have always said I’m average height, but growing up I had oddly tall friends.
I wished there was some way to make myself taller.
I know I’m about average height for a woman, which is approximately 5’4.
But there are some vertically challenged people who aren’t so lucky.
Is there something they could do?
Well some people take human growth hormone, to build lean body mass or to add a few extra
inches to their height.
Human growth hormone is a hormone naturally produced in high amounts during childhood
and adolescence, but a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism
found that secretion decreases with age by around 14% per decade.
The hormone is produced in the pituitary gland, located at the base of the brain.
HGH tells the liver to produce a hormone called insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1).
The two hormones work together to tell the bones, muscles, and other tissues to grow.
But due to various genetic conditions, like Turner syndrome, SHOX deficiency and Noonan
syndrome, some people just don’t produce the hormone so they tend to be smaller than
average.
But according to one endocrinologist, if they take synthetic human growth hormone, they
could gain one to four inches.
HGH does more than add a few inches, it can even take away fat, according to a study published
in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study found that HGH deficient adults who take the synthetic hormone gain lean body
mass and lose some fat body mass, which is incidentally one of the reasons athletes dope
with it.
But some parents are giving the hormone to their perfectly healthy, but short children.
Because in our Western culture, we value tallness.
Studies show that taller people are generally more respected and have higher IQs and according
to several studies published in the Journal of Applied Psychology and another published
in the Journal of Human Capital, over the course of a lifetime taller folks tend to
earn more money.
A lot more.
According to lead authors of the Applied Psychology study, a tall person will “enjoy literally
hundreds of thousands of dollars of earnings advantage.”
But giving your perfectly healthy but short kid HGH might not be the best idea.
First of all, it’s pretty expensive; costing as much as 50,000 dollars.
For spending all that money, it might not even add height to those without a deficiency.
Plus, it can cause some very serious health issues.
Too much HGH can cause a condition called acromegaly, which basically causes hands and
feet swell, overly pronounced facial features, and excessive sweating.
HGH use can also trigger cardiomyopathy, osteoporosis, menstrual irregularities, and impotence according
to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
And one study published in the journal Acta medica Scandinavica found that condition can
increase the risk of premature death from heart problems.
But still knowing all these risks, people still take HGH for more superficial reasons.
So if your kid doesn’t have a hormone deficiency and are thinking of spending upwards of 50,000
dollars to try and boost their height, think of all the side-effects first.
Being short isn’t really a health condition and plenty of people wind up just fine looking
up at the world.
Plus they make good arm rests, apparently.
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And if you’re wondering more about that whole being short and living longer thing,
check out this episode right here
So are you short?
Did you get used as arm rest by all your friends?
Yeah story of my life.
Tell me your story down in the comments below.