Shorts boys and girls are usually bullied in campus and peer groups. Most of us and especially boys tend to exaggerate our height, adding a centimetre or two when we think we can get away with it. This is understandable: ours is a culture that valorises the tall and belittles, as it were, the short. But those tall folks haven't realized the real benefits of being short. So, I just felt that it will be good to share some of the advantages of being short and a few research reports about them.
Shorter people of the same proportions as taller people have many physical advantages based on the laws of physics, and these advantages are supported by many researchers. Shorter people have faster reaction times, greater ability to accelerate body movements, stronger muscles in proportion to body weight, greater endurance, and the ability to rotate the body faster. They are also less likely to break bones in falling. As a consequence of these physical attributes, shorter people can excel as gymnasts, divers, skiers, martial artists, rock climbers, figure skaters, rodeo riders, soccer players and long distance runners. Within their weight classes they are excellent wrestlers, boxers, and weight lifters.
Shorter people are also less likely to require surgery for herniated spinal disks. In addition, shorter people are less likely to break a hip from falling. Another advantage of smaller people is that they are less likely to die in auto crashes. One study found that people weighing less than 63 kg had the lowest risk of dying or suffering serious injuries compared to bigger people. Although height data weren't provided, it is known that height and weight tend to be correlated. Thus, lighter weight people are more likely to be shorter than heavier people.
Short men will live longer than taller people because they are more likely to carry a gene that protects them from the effects of ageing, researches have revealed. Short stature is related to a gene that is linked to longevity. A protective form of the gene, called FOXO3, leads to smaller body size during early development but is also likely to mean a longer life span.
Among Sardinian soldiers who reach the age of 70, for example, those below approximately 5-foot-4 live two years longer than their taller brothers-in-arms. A study of more than 2,600 elite Finnish athletes showed that cross-country skiers were 6 inches shorter and lived nearly seven years longer than basketball players. Average height in European countries closely correlates to the rate of death from heart disease. Swedes and Norwegians, who average about 5-foot-10, have more than twice as many cardiac deaths per 100,000 as the Spaniards and Portuguese, who have an average height just north of 5-foot-5. Tall people rarely live exceptionally long lives. Japanese people who reach 100 are 4 inches shorter, on average, than those who are 75. The countries in the taller half of Europe have 48 centenarians per million, compared to 77 per million in the shorter half of the continent.
Setting aside simple mortality, individual diseases are also more common among tall people. American women above 5-foot-6 suffer recurrent blood clots at a higher rate. Among civil servants in London, taller people have been shown to suffer from more respiratory and cardiovascular illness. And then there’s cancer. Height is associated with greater risk for most kinds of cancer, except for smoking-induced malignancies.
Researchers have found that the lungs of taller people don’t function as efficiently, relative to their bodies’ demands, as those of short people. Explanations for the link between height and other disorders are slightly more speculative, but largely credible. Tall people have more cells, which may increase the chances that some of them will mutate and lead to cancer. The hormones involved in rapid growth may also play a role in cancer development. It’s even possible that the foods that lead to fast growth during childhood may increase the likelihood that a person will eventually develop cancer. The link between height and clots probably has to do with the length and weight of the columns of blood that travel between the heart and the body’s extremities.
Geoffrey Kabat of Albert Einstein College of Medicine published a study showing that each additional 4 inches of height increases the risk of all types of cancer by 13 percent among post-menopausal women.A number of scientists have observed that within a species, the smaller individual tends to live longer than the bigger one. This is illustrated by smaller dogs who live longer than medium and large size dogs. Smaller mice, rats, ponies and monkeys generally live longer as well. The Asian elephant also lives longer than the larger African elephant.
The study also provides a number of biological mechanisms that explain why smaller bodies tend to live longer. These include lower DNA damage, greater cell replacement potential, higher heart pumping efficiency, decreased C-reactive protein and higher sex hormone binding globulin.
In youth-obsessed mallu- culture, looking younger than your years is often considered a positive attribute . And being short is associated with youth (i.e, we get taller as we get older), people think that you are younger than you really are. I can say with utter smugness that people think I am much younger than my real age and find me cute. :)
Being short means you never have to worry about bumping your head on stuffs unlike that unfortunate Stormtroopers.
Being physically smaller, especially during adolescence, when social hierarchies are established, "makes you incredibly astute socially," says Stephen Hall, author of Size Matters. Short people become a good listener and a better analytical thinker.
Another interesting aspect of being short is that neurologically taller people take about one-tenth of a second longer to perceive sensory information, when compared to shorter ones.
People of short stature, says psychologist David Sandberg of the University of Michigan, "make all sorts of adaptations to the physical and social environment, they tends to win over people of tall stature. Unless the person's height is a consequence of a medical condition, which carries its own burdens on development, or the person is so short that height constitutes a physical disability, short people are as creative, industrious, assertive, passive ... Short people do not live up to their negative stereotypes."
Even though anecdotal it is true that short boys and girls are generally quicker in their cognitive capacity and generally more intelligent and smarter than their tall colleagues. :)
Reference :
Shorter people of the same proportions as taller people have many physical advantages based on the laws of physics, and these advantages are supported by many researchers. Shorter people have faster reaction times, greater ability to accelerate body movements, stronger muscles in proportion to body weight, greater endurance, and the ability to rotate the body faster. They are also less likely to break bones in falling. As a consequence of these physical attributes, shorter people can excel as gymnasts, divers, skiers, martial artists, rock climbers, figure skaters, rodeo riders, soccer players and long distance runners. Within their weight classes they are excellent wrestlers, boxers, and weight lifters.
Shorter people are also less likely to require surgery for herniated spinal disks. In addition, shorter people are less likely to break a hip from falling. Another advantage of smaller people is that they are less likely to die in auto crashes. One study found that people weighing less than 63 kg had the lowest risk of dying or suffering serious injuries compared to bigger people. Although height data weren't provided, it is known that height and weight tend to be correlated. Thus, lighter weight people are more likely to be shorter than heavier people.
Short men will live longer than taller people because they are more likely to carry a gene that protects them from the effects of ageing, researches have revealed. Short stature is related to a gene that is linked to longevity. A protective form of the gene, called FOXO3, leads to smaller body size during early development but is also likely to mean a longer life span.
Among Sardinian soldiers who reach the age of 70, for example, those below approximately 5-foot-4 live two years longer than their taller brothers-in-arms. A study of more than 2,600 elite Finnish athletes showed that cross-country skiers were 6 inches shorter and lived nearly seven years longer than basketball players. Average height in European countries closely correlates to the rate of death from heart disease. Swedes and Norwegians, who average about 5-foot-10, have more than twice as many cardiac deaths per 100,000 as the Spaniards and Portuguese, who have an average height just north of 5-foot-5. Tall people rarely live exceptionally long lives. Japanese people who reach 100 are 4 inches shorter, on average, than those who are 75. The countries in the taller half of Europe have 48 centenarians per million, compared to 77 per million in the shorter half of the continent.
Setting aside simple mortality, individual diseases are also more common among tall people. American women above 5-foot-6 suffer recurrent blood clots at a higher rate. Among civil servants in London, taller people have been shown to suffer from more respiratory and cardiovascular illness. And then there’s cancer. Height is associated with greater risk for most kinds of cancer, except for smoking-induced malignancies.
Researchers have found that the lungs of taller people don’t function as efficiently, relative to their bodies’ demands, as those of short people. Explanations for the link between height and other disorders are slightly more speculative, but largely credible. Tall people have more cells, which may increase the chances that some of them will mutate and lead to cancer. The hormones involved in rapid growth may also play a role in cancer development. It’s even possible that the foods that lead to fast growth during childhood may increase the likelihood that a person will eventually develop cancer. The link between height and clots probably has to do with the length and weight of the columns of blood that travel between the heart and the body’s extremities.
Geoffrey Kabat of Albert Einstein College of Medicine published a study showing that each additional 4 inches of height increases the risk of all types of cancer by 13 percent among post-menopausal women.A number of scientists have observed that within a species, the smaller individual tends to live longer than the bigger one. This is illustrated by smaller dogs who live longer than medium and large size dogs. Smaller mice, rats, ponies and monkeys generally live longer as well. The Asian elephant also lives longer than the larger African elephant.
The study also provides a number of biological mechanisms that explain why smaller bodies tend to live longer. These include lower DNA damage, greater cell replacement potential, higher heart pumping efficiency, decreased C-reactive protein and higher sex hormone binding globulin.
In youth-obsessed mallu- culture, looking younger than your years is often considered a positive attribute . And being short is associated with youth (i.e, we get taller as we get older), people think that you are younger than you really are. I can say with utter smugness that people think I am much younger than my real age and find me cute. :)
Being short means you never have to worry about bumping your head on stuffs unlike that unfortunate Stormtroopers.
Being physically smaller, especially during adolescence, when social hierarchies are established, "makes you incredibly astute socially," says Stephen Hall, author of Size Matters. Short people become a good listener and a better analytical thinker.
Another interesting aspect of being short is that neurologically taller people take about one-tenth of a second longer to perceive sensory information, when compared to shorter ones.
People of short stature, says psychologist David Sandberg of the University of Michigan, "make all sorts of adaptations to the physical and social environment, they tends to win over people of tall stature. Unless the person's height is a consequence of a medical condition, which carries its own burdens on development, or the person is so short that height constitutes a physical disability, short people are as creative, industrious, assertive, passive ... Short people do not live up to their negative stereotypes."
Even though anecdotal it is true that short boys and girls are generally quicker in their cognitive capacity and generally more intelligent and smarter than their tall colleagues. :)
Reference :
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22582890
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8450727
- http://www.shortsupport.org/Research/Papers/Should%20we%20be%20concerned%2012_12_09.pdf
- http://www.shortsupport.org/Research/Papers/Role_of_height_cancer_CVD%20.pdf
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12586217
- http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2009/05/18/104183551/the-secret-advantage-of-being-short
- http://www.shortsupport.org/Research/Papers/Samaras%20Ramifications%20of%20increasing%209_20_10.pdf
- http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2013/07/25/1055-9965.EPI-13-0305.abstract
