PT Health Life – Hoping for their children to have the ideal height, many parents have arbitrarily given their children medicine, vitamins, height-increasing milk… according to online advertisements without knowing that this act is like a “double-edged sword”, necessary Very strict control from experts. In order for children to have optimal height, parents need to know the following 3 secrets.
1. Factors affecting children’s height
There are many factors that affect height, including:
- Genetics: Genetics is one of the factors that determine a person’s height. However, this factor only affects about 23%. Parents can completely improve their child’s height with other factors.
- Nutrition: This is a factor that affects 32% of a child’s future height. Therefore, during the golden period of puberty, parents should supplement foods that are good for children’s height development such as meat, fish, eggs, milk…
- Sleep: Getting enough sleep will help children develop comprehensively both mentally and physically. Therefore, parents can easily see that children with good sleep will be taller, healthier and happier than children with poor sleep .
- Exercise: Regular exercise helps improve the health of bones and muscle tissues. Therefore, experts encourage parents to let their children actively move and practice sports to improve health and height.
- Gender: At the same age, men tend to be taller than women. The reason scientists believe is that men’s puberty lasts longer than women’s.
2. Milestones in height development in children
The fetal stage is the premise for the child’s height development after birth and in the future. When the fetus is 4 months old, the skeletal system will begin to form and develop rapidly.
The period from birth to 3 years old is the period of fastest growth. Each year, depending on the care regimen, children can grow 25cm taller.
The period from 3 to 13 years old is the time when height growth is stable. The average height of a child increases by 5 – 6cm each year.
When children enter puberty , this is one of the golden times for their height development. If well cared for, children can grow 8 – 12 cm per year.
The final stage in a child’s height growth is after puberty. When children reach this stage, their height increases very slowly and insignificantly.
3. How to increase height for children
Because genetic factors cannot be changed, parents need to focus on other factors that help children develop height, including: Nutrition , exercise and lifestyle.
3.1. Balanced nutrition
Nutrition is the most important factor, affecting 32% of a child’s height growth. Therefore, during pregnancy and breastfeeding, the mother must be fully provided with important nutrients, especially protein, iron, iodine, calcium, phosphorus, folic acid, and vitamin D. , unsaturated fatty acids… After birth, babies need to be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life.
Children need to be given a scientific diet according to each age with appropriate diets so that they can best develop and increase their height. If children have nutritional deficiencies, it can lead to the risk of malnutrition, or excess energy can cause overweight or obesity.
Children’s meals need to be fully provided with 4 main food groups including carbohydrates (rice, bread, potatoes, corn…), proteins (meat, fish, eggs, tofu…), fats (oil and grease). , milk and dairy products…) and vitamins and minerals.
In particular, mothers also need to pay attention to adding calcium-rich foods (usually found in shrimp and crab, tofu, dark green vegetables, milk and dairy products…) into their children’s daily diet.
3.2. Pay attention to your child’s sleep
In addition to nutrition and exercise, daily habits also have a certain impact on the process of increasing height for children, especially sleep.
A child’s skeletal system develops strongly during sleep, especially during the hours of 10pm – 4am every day, reaching its peak at 00:00. This is when growth hormone (GH) is secreted the most, helping bones increase calcium absorption . Therefore, parents should train their children to sleep early, before 9:00 p.m. for children who have not yet gone to school and before 10:00 p.m. for children who have gone to school.
In order for children to sleep well and deeply, parents should also pay attention to the bedroom space, ensuring it is quiet, airy, and clean; soft, comfortable pillows and blankets; Children’s clothes need to be loose and comfortable…
3.3 Exercise regularly
You should maintain high jump, long jump, pull-up exercises, swimming… to stretch your body, stretch your muscles, and stimulate the spine and bones to develop.
Muscle movement will stimulate and promote energy metabolism, metabolism, promote body growth, increase the amount of calcium in bone tissue, helping bones become stronger and develop better.
High-intensity exercise lasting 1.5 – 2 hours/day can increase GH by 3 times.
Exercising during the day also helps increase GH at night. Exercise needs to be maintained in moderation and gradually increase in intensity over time. If you only exercise lightly for a short time or exercise heavily for too long, it will not promote height growth. For such benefits, parents need to guide and create a daily exercise routine for their children with moderate exercises appropriate to the child’s age.
Summary: Increasing children’s height is a concern of many parents. Many mothers do not know their children’s current height compared to general standards, but only follow information that they have heard that they should give their children foods to support height development… abuse, Applying these methods arbitrarily can be harmful to children. If parents are worried about their child’s height and weight, they need to take their child to a nutrition specialist at a medical facility to have a doctor or expert evaluate whether the child’s development level is normal or not. not and what needs to be supplemented for children.
Do not arbitrarily use functional foods without consulting a doctor or nutritionist to avoid negative effects on your child’s health and development. Besides, parents should also pay attention to children’s nutrition and sleep; Encourage children to exercise regularly to achieve their dream height.
