How To Get Taller Naturally: Tips To Increase Your Height Fast

If you want to know how to get taller as a teenager or simply how to grow taller in general, then this evidence-based article is for you.

Using authoritative scientific research as our foundation, we’ll explain how to become taller as a kid and as a teenager so that you can maximize your full height potential and improve your body image.

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Is it possible to grow taller?

A man showing how to increase your height naturally

So, is it possible to grow taller or not? Yes, it’s definitely possible to grow taller and increase your height naturally. If you’re a developing teenager—especially if you’re male—then there’s a very good chance that you’ll get taller regardless of virtually anything that you do.

The reasons for this are simple: Boys generally reach their final height at a much later age than girls.

During puberty, your growth plates are open, and your body is primed for growth. And while there are some ways that you can enhance your height, simply letting nature take its course is enough to trigger significant height growth during puberty.

As for how to get taller as an adult or late teenager, this depends on whether your growth plates have fused, which may not happen as early as many people think.

Indeed, there are numerous case studies of men growing taller in their late teens and early 20s. Of course, examples here and there—although there are a fair few of them—don’t necessarily mean that you will get any taller.

Indeed, while many people will experience a height increase as they get older (i.e., late teens or early 20s), this may not be significant and certainly won’t be comparable to that experienced during the peak of puberty.

How to get taller naturally

This section will explain how to get taller naturally using proven strategies and scientific methods.

Maximize your pubertal development

If you’re going through puberty, then lucky you; this is your golden opportunity to maximize your height development and grow taller.

Most of your height growth comes down to not messing things up. In other words, if you avoid stunting your growth, then your genetics are going to take care of the vast majority of your height potential.

That said, there are environmental factors that you can manipulate in order to ensure that you’re not leaving any inches of height growth on the table.

Diet, exercise, and sleep are the three overarching categories that you need to consider when you’re learning how to grow taller naturally. But to get the best possible results, you need to pay attention to specific nutrients and lifestyle habits.

Get enough quality sleep

If you want to know how to grow taller as a teenager, then listen up: Sleep is absolutely critical for maximizing your height potential.

During sleep, growth hormone is produced by the pituitary glands in your brain, which helps your bones to grow longer and stronger.

Now, a night of poor sleep here and there won’t stunt your growth. However, if staying up late and neglecting your sleep becomes a habit, then you will likely suppress growth hormone production. ^[1]

And while I can’t prove that sleep deprivation will massively stunt your growth, a lack of sleep certainly isn’t going to help you to grow taller.

Missing out on sleep can also increase cortisol production (the stress hormone), which, in turn, can suppress growth hormone even more. More on this later.

Perform plenty of exercise

Unfortunately, many people—children, teenagers, and adults—fail to get enough exercise on a daily and weekly basis.

It’s important to perform at least 60 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity every day if you want to get taller. This is simply because exercise releases growth hormone, which is the critical hormone for maximizing your height growth during puberty.

Some people recommend intense forms of exercise, such as sprinting, for maximizing growth hormone production.

This is also what we recommend, although it might be beneficial to have 2-3 days per week where you perform moderate intensity exercise instead (or resistance training) so that you give your body enough time to recover.

You can do sprints outside on the grass (avoid sprinting on hard surfaces), or you can do them on an exercise bike if you’re at the gym or if you don’t fancy running outside for whatever reason.

Strength training three times per week is also important for building strong bones. Lifting weights doesn’t stunt your growth, and building muscle will help you to improve your physical appearance by filling out your growing frame.

Eat the right foods

Nutritious foods laid out on a table, including fish, meat, dairy, nuts, and beans

You exercise regularly and sleep well on a near-nightly basis. Everything is going according to plan. But then, you realize that your junk food and energy drink diet could be sabotaging your height development.

While a slice of cake here or there—especially if it’s homemade with healthy ingredients—won’t stunt your growth, the vast majority of your diet should consist of healthy whole foods that provide your body with nourishment.

Many people recommend a carb-heavy diet, and eating carbohydrates like oats and potatoes can certainly help to fuel your workout routine. However, it takes more than pure carbs to get taller fast and naturally.

Fats, which you can get from red meat, oily fish, dairy, avocados, and eggs, are necessary for optimizing testosterone production, which is a crucial hormone for growing taller. ^[2]

Additionally, getting enough protein from quality sources like pasture-raised meat and poultry will provide your body with growth-stimulating essential amino acids and an increased amount of omega-3 fatty acids. ^[3]

Eating a variety of fruit and vegetables on a daily basis is also important for nourishing your body. A good rule of thumb is to eat fruits and vegetables of different colors (carrots, cabbage, strawberries, blueberries, etc.) so that you can benefit from a wider variety of vitamins and minerals.

Finally, don’t forget to drink plenty of water. Not only do our bodies need water to survive, but it’s also important for digesting all those healthy foods that you’re hopefully eating—and you need it to get the most from your exercise routine.

Take supplements if necessary

People who search for things like “how to get taller in a week” or “how to grow taller overnight” are those who often waste their money on special height growth supplements.

It’s not that some of these products don’t contain valuable height-increasing nutrients; it’s that many people view these supplements as a magic pill.

As such, many believe that the supplement will do all of the work for them, which, as a result, causes them to neglect far more important areas like their exercise routine, their diet, and their sleep.

Instead, if you can’t get sufficient quantities of a particular nutrient in your diet, then, under the guidance of a doctor, take a good trace mineral supplement or a supplement that contains one specific vitamin or mineral.

Research shows that vitamin D deficiency is associated with more body fat and a shorter stature. ^[4]

Part of the reason for this could be that some people are less likely to go outside and exercise when it’s cold or dark, which could reduce their growth hormone production and thereby their rate of growth if they’re going through puberty. ^[5]

Similarly, zinc deficiency appears to be a contributing factor to short stature in children. ^[6] So if you don’t get much red meat or shellfish in your diet, then taking a zinc supplement could be very beneficial.

Avoid smoking and other bad habits

Most of the growing taller tips that you read tell you what to do in order to increase your height. But knowing what not to do is often just as important if you want to avoid stunting your growth.

If there’s one common height-related bad habit that you want to avoid completely, it’s smoking.

Not only is smoking terrible for your health; it can also decrease your height. ^[7]

Many people say that caffeine can stunt your growth, too, but there doesn’t appear to be much direct evidence that this is the case. ^[8]

However, we know that good sleep is critical for growing taller. And we also know that consuming caffeine too close to bedtime can negatively affect your sleep.

Therefore, if maximizing your height growth is a big priority, then you should mostly avoid caffeine during puberty. And besides, you shouldn’t rely on stimulants for energy like so many teenagers do; your energy should come from your healthy lifestyle.

Reduce your stress

So many people are concerned about their height, sometimes to the point where their insecurities can cause serious and debilitating stress.

But did you know that high cortisol levels can actually suppress growth hormone production? ^[9]

It’s true. Chronic stress during puberty can negatively affect your height development by limiting growth hormone production.

So if you’re worried about your height, my best advice is to be thankful for what you do have. You can’t alter your genetics, so you may as well optimize your diet, sleep, and exercise routine the best you can and then simply let nature take its course.

Improve your posture

You’re most likely reading this how to get taller article on a smartphone with terrible posture.

It’s ironic, I know.

Even if you have a desktop computer, it’s unlikely that your posture is anywhere close to perfect.

This is why performing stretches that involve the spine can seemingly make you “grow taller.” In reality, these stretches and exercises are simply improving your posture and helping you to achieve the maximum height that your skeleton is currently able to attain.

Stretching—even for long periods of time or with weights—isn’t going to lengthen your bones. So again, if you want to grow taller, don’t get distracted by height-boosting techniques that seem too good to be true.

See Also:

How to get taller fast

You can’t get taller fast by increasing the length of your bones because bone growth takes time and typically only takes place during puberty.

However, you can “become” taller fast by using a few of these height-increasing techniques.

Stretch every day

As mentioned, stretching doesn’t lengthen your bones, but it does help you to make the most of your skeleton’s potential height.

According to height expert Rob Paul, you want to compress and then decompress your spine in order to promote good posture and maintain your height as you age.

Paul, the creator of CelebHeights, recommends first standing under a doorway and then pushing up against the doorframe—as if you were trying to shoulder press it.

After that, he advises us to stand in front of the doorway and move our arms back until they make contact with the doorway. After that, you want to push up to really stretch your upper back, which is often the first area to round when your posture worsens.

Rob recommends performing each exercise 3-4 times to get the best effects. There are, of course, a multitude of other stretches that you can do, but the above 2 examples really target the areas that are seemingly most vulnerable to bad posture.

Wear insoles

If your height is a big cause for concern and you want to get an instant boost in stature, then wearing height-increasing insoles is your best bet.

Sure, there might be some stigma around these products, but nobody will be able to tell that you’re wearing them.

These insoles typically add 1-2 inches to your height, and you can increase your stature even further by wearing boots and other shoes with a substantial heel.

Stand tall

Slouching and rounding your neck or shoulders forward can decrease your perceived height.

On the other hand, if you stand tall and display confident body language, then people are more likely to perceive you as taller and more dominant than you really are.

After all, it’s not like people’s eyes contain a ruler or a stadiometer. In other words, the average person on your street can’t tell how tall you are, and, if you stand tall, they might well overestimate your height.

Standing tall with good posture and confident body language can also help you to achieve success in other areas of your life, and it doesn’t cost you a penny. Plus, you can start benefiting from it today!

Maintain good posture

A man demonstrating how to have good posture

Not the word maintain.

Although everyone will lose some height as the day progresses (you’ll regain it upon waking), you can offset some of this natural height loss by maintaining good posture while you’re working.

This is easier to do with jobs where you’re on your feet a lot, but getting a good ergonomic desk setup can also help you to maintain good posture if you have an office job.

Stretching a couple of times per day, such as during your lunch break, can help you to improve your posture, which, besides increasing your height, can reduce discomfort in your neck and back, which, in turn, will make your work more enjoyable.

Why am I not growing taller?

Why are you not growing taller? The most obvious answer is that you’re way past puberty and, as such, your growth plates have closed.

However, if you’re still in puberty, then you might just need to exercise your patience. So don’t measure yourself too often because substantial height growth can take months to achieve, even when you’re growing at your peak velocity during puberty.

Growing tall doesn’t require the perfect diet or exercise routine. However, if you’re constantly eating junk food and leading a sedentary lifestyle, then it’s unlikely that you’re maximizing your height growth potential.

Also, you simply might not have the genetics to get much taller than you currently are. If your parents are short, then it’s unlikely that you’ll be really tall.

There are, of course, exceptions to this, and you shouldn’t be put off these tips to grow taller just because your parents are short.

What makes you grow taller?

Two men showing that you can get taller and increase your height

As we’ve explained many times, height is largely genetic. But not everyone with tall parents ends up being tall themselves. And, likewise, not everyone with short parents ends up being short.

Consuming a nutritious diet and avoiding calorie restriction will go a long way to helping you maximize your height potential.

After that, you also want to exercise regularly so that you can promote growth hormone production, bone density, and cardiovascular health. A healthy body is more likely to grow tall than an unhealthy sedentary body that doesn’t see the light of day (so don’t forget vitamin D, either).

Finally, sleep. Avoid staring at screens like your laptop or smartphone directly before going to bed, and try to minimize stress during your everyday life. Practicing good sleep hygiene will help you to fall asleep faster and enjoy a higher quality, more restful sleep.

In conclusion: What are the best ways to grow taller naturally?

So, now you know how to get taller naturally. As mentioned, diet, exercise, and sleep are the 3 areas that you need to focus on if you want to maximize your height development and grow taller.

We also went into the details regarding diet—vitamins, minerals, food sources, macronutrients—so that you can do everything in your power to increase your height naturally.

Additionally, we explained that certain forms of exercise, like sprinting, can really boost growth hormone production, which, at the very least, certainly won’t hurt your height development.

References

Can Lack of Sleep Stunt Your Growth? (for Teens) – Nemours KidsHealth. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/sleep-growth.html
Whittaker, J., & Wu, K. (2021). Low-fat diets and testosterone in men: Systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies. The Journal of steroid biochemistry and molecular biology, 210, 105878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsbmb.2021.105878
Semba, R. D., Trehan, I., Gonzalez-Freire, M., Kraemer, K., Moaddel, R., Ordiz, M. I., Ferrucci, L., & Manary, M. J. (2016). Perspective: The Potential Role of Essential Amino Acids and the Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (mTORC1) Pathway in the Pathogenesis of Child Stunting. Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 7(5), 853–865. https://doi.org/10.3945/an.116.013276
Kremer, R., Campbell, P. P., Reinhardt, T., & Gilsanz, V. (2009). Vitamin D status and its relationship to body fat, final height, and peak bone mass in young women. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 94(1), 67–73. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2008-1575
Kuraoka, S., Oda, M., Mitsubuchi, H., Nakamura, K., Katoh, T., & Japan Environment And Children’s Study Jecs Group (2022). Impaired Height Growth Associated with Vitamin D Deficiency in Young Children from the Japan Environment and Children’s Study. Nutrients, 14(16), 3325. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14163325
Siklar, Z., Tuna, C., Dallar, Y., & Tanyer, G. (2003). Zinc deficiency: a contributing factor of short stature in growth hormone deficient children. Journal of tropical pediatrics, 49(3), 187–188. https://doi.org/10.1093/tropej/49.3.187
O’Loughlin, J., Karp, I., Henderson, M., & Gray-Donald, K. (2008). Does cigarette use influence adiposity or height in adolescence?. Annals of epidemiology, 18(5), 395–402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2007.12.010
Harvard Health. (2020, January 7). Can Coffee Really Stunt Your Growth? Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/can-coffee-really-stunt-your-growth
Mousikou, M., Kyriakou, A., & Skordis, N. (2021). Stress and Growth in children and adolescents. Hormone research in paediatrics, 10.1159/000521074. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1159/000521074
The 5-MINUTE Height Workout [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4Te3n2vg74