Why we grow. What influences the growth of a person?
The growth of a person in each century changes in the direction of increase. Conditions and quality of a person's life, his well-being, nutrition improve, and mankind grows faster and becomes higher than its predecessors. Nowadays, in Russia, men have an average height of 176 cm, and women 164 cm. The higher the welfare of the country, the greater the average growth of its inhabitants: for example, the average population of Norway is considered to be 183 cm. People with low growth are also known -a tribe of pygmies, where the tallest man has a growth below 150 cm and tall - the African Tutsi tribe - an average height of 1.76 cm.
Every person is born with his height. With what length of body a person will be born, depends on its intrauterine development. If pregnancy proceeds unfavorably, nutrition and development of the fetus are disrupted, then a child with a smaller body length is born.
The average growth of a newborn baby is from 45 cm to 56 cm. In the first months of life, a person grows more intensively than in other periods of his life. Children's years of man are marked by a faster rate of growth. Periods from 11-13 years for girls and 12-14 for boys are marked by very rapid growth. Then, the body's growth rate gradually slows down and by 25 years the person stops growing, but many people grow up to 40 years old, and in some, the growth continues to increase throughout life - this growth is associated with disruption of the endocrine system, as well as stopping growth in childhood.
Why a man grows and when growth stops
The endocrine system( thyroid gland, thymus gland, sex glands and pituitary gland) is responsible for the growth of the human body.
The pituitary gland produces growth hormone( growth hormone), which is responsible for the growth of bones, if a person has large feet, long legs and arms, then his pituitary gland functions in a strengthened mode. If the function of the pituitary gland is weakened, or if the growth hormone is produced in insufficient quantity or completely absent, then the person grows slowly and is characterized by low growth or the growth stops altogether.
What is needed in order for the body to have more growth hormone? It is known that the most active somototropin( growth hormone) is produced in one to two hours, after falling asleep, so that the growth hormone was as much as possible, it is necessary to sleep well.
Thymus gland is directly connected to the human sex glands. At birth, a person has a large foramyl gland, which continues to increase throughout the childhood. And when a person has puberty - the thymus gland decreases in size. When the genitals are ripe, the thymus gland stops working, and the growth of the human body also stops.
If there is an excessive amount of sex hormones in the child's body, the growth zones are closed early and the child stops growing.
To the old age, the growth of the human body decreases - it comes from dehydration in the joints and in the spine.
What else affects the growth of a person?
Many factors influence the growth of a person: heredity and chronic diseases, nutrition and material well-being, lifestyle and habits, belonging to a particular race, ethnic group, gender( women have less growth than men), climatic conditions.
Heredity
The main factor affecting human growth is heredity( parents of small stature and children will be low).What will be the growth of a person, 90% depends on the hereditary factor.
Proper nutrition
The second factor that influences growth is proper nutrition, which contains enough proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals.
An important role is played by the mother's nutrition during pregnancy, if the mother was eating properly, did not use harmful food, then the child's growth is increased by about 10%.
The food of the expectant mother should be high in calories - not less than 1500 kcal per day and contain essential trace elements such as iodine, iron, vitamins K, A, D, folic acid, enough protein for fetal development.
In order for a child to grow better, it is necessary to teach him to eat right from an early age, eating quality foods, fresh fruits and vegetables rich in vitamins.
Low-fat dairy products, meat and eggs, poultry and fish, buckwheat porridge, beans, mushrooms, nuts, dried apricots and other foods rich in proteins affect growth hormone and increase body length. Foods rich in calcium, zinc, vitamins A, D also help to grow in height.
Healthy lifestyle
An important factor that influences the growth of a person is a healthy lifestyle. Physical education, sports games from childhood, positively affects the development and growth of a person, such sports as swimming, volleyball, basketball, help to become higher, as well as the visas on the crossbar, they seem to stretch the body.
The reason for the delay in growth can be such a harmful habit as smoking in childhood and adolescence, the more cigarettes a teenager smokes, the less he grows or the growth can stop altogether.
Nicotine has a detrimental effect on the absorption of vitamins from food, and the lack of vitamins A, B, C, E, D and other nutrients prevents the bones and spine from increasing in length.
Cigarette smoke narrows blood vessels and blood can not deliver enough oxygen to the bones, oxygen deficiency affects bone tissue and slows bone growth. Similarly, nicotine reduces the production of the somototropin hormone, which also leads to a slowdown in growth.
Harmful habits of the future mother - smoking, alcoholism affect the growth and development of the fetus, the child is born weakened and with a shorter body length, compared to a child born to a mother who leads a healthy lifestyle.
Diseases
Serious diseases of the internal organs - the heart, kidneys and adrenal glands, thyroid gland, respiratory system, bones and musculoskeletal system, gastrointestinal tract, chromosomal diseases, frequent viral and catarrhal diseases, which weaken the body, can cause serious growth.
Chronic diseases of the mother, such as anemia, diseases of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems affect the growth of the fetus, which means that the baby is born with a smaller body length and grows worse.
What if the child grows badly?
If you notice that your baby is growing poorly and lags far behind the growth of his peers, or looks a few years younger( the child is seven years old and looks like a five-year old child), a complete examination of the child in medical institutions is necessary. If there are any deviations from the norm or disease, they can easily be corrected in childhood.