At the age of 17, some teens have already undergone puberty while others are still dealing with it. If you belong to the former group, you are unlikely to add inches to your height. Otherwise, for late bloomers, your growth plates might not be fused completely, and you might grow taller.
To take advantage of the little time left, you need to maximize important factors affecting your height growth. Are you curious about what they are? Down here to find the answer!
Get good and enough sleep
The human growth hormone (HGH) is produced naturally during slow or deep sleep. So, if you want to improve your height, getting good and enough sleep is a must. Teens at 17 years old are suggested to sleep between 8-11 hours to keep them healthy and grow to their full potential.
But if you have issues falling asleep, you should try a warm bath or drink a cup of herbal tea before bed. Also, always keep your sleeping environment as calm as possible by lowering unessential light sources and loud noises.
Ensure a balanced diet
Getting a proper number of calories from necessary nutrients will give your body enough energy to grow. Aside from eating healthy, it is fine to add supplements to ensure you are gaining key vitamins and minerals.
Below are the top nutrients that you need to look for, including:
- Vitamin D helps your bones and muscles grow. By eating fish, mushrooms, and spending sufficient time in the sun, your body can get enough vitamin D. In fact, we highly recommend you to spend more time outdoors because sunlight is the main source of this vitamin. Just expose your skin to the sun for 5 to 15 minutes, and then your body absorbs enough vitamin D.
- Calcium helps enhance bone growth and can hinder osteoporosis. You easily find this mineral in dairy products and green veggies.
- Zinc deficiency will stunt growth in adolescents. So, you need to supplement this vitamin by eating more eggs, peas, chocolate, and peanuts.
- Protein is a vital building block for your body. Make sure your meals contain an ideal source of protein, like eggs, tofu, meat, or beans.
Drink more milk
As mentioned above, milk is rich in calcium, which is an essential mineral for bone growth and health. Also, milk supports the overall development of your body because it is a great source of protein and vitamin A. At this age, you should drink at least 2 glasses of milk daily. And do not forget to consume dairy products such as yogurt and cheese for extra protein and nutrients.
Drink plenty of water
Drinking water is necessary to keep your body hydrated because it supports your metabolism, enhances your digestion, which boosts you to full growth potential.
So the question is how much water should you drink? Although some say that 8 glasses a day, there is no magic number. The amount teens need depends on their age, health, body size, activity level, and weather condition. For instance, if they are exercising, they will need more water.
Maintain ideal body weight
Gaining weight and obesity might cause many health issues. That is why you have to maintain your ideal body weight by eating healthy and exercising properly. If you have excess body weight, the gravity will press the intervertebral discs and give you a short frame. Besides, extremely much body weight puts pressure on your bones and joints, making you look shorter.
But how do you know your weight is healthy? Look at the table below [1]!
| Height (ft, in) | Maximum healthy weight (lbs) |
| 5’0” | 125 |
| 5’1” | 125 |
| 5’2” | 130 |
| 5’3” | 135 |
| 5’4” | 140 |
| 5’5” | 145 |
| 5’6” | 150 |
| 5’7” | 155 |
| 5’8” | 160 |
| 5’9” | 165 |
| 5’10” | 170 |
| 5’11” | 175 |
| 6’0” | 180 |
Engage in growth-boosting exercises
If you are still growing and indulging in swimming, cycling, yoga, or any aerobic exercises, they – along with proper sleep and good nutrition – can help you get taller. Also, doing stretching exercises such as the corba, toe touching, or pilates gives helpful effects, especially improving your posture and making you look taller.
Importantly, when you exercise, your pituitary gland releases HGH, which is important to boost your height growth.
Practice a good posture
Hunching over or rolling your shoulders might negatively affect the curve of your growing spine. Avoid slouching or slinking when you walk. And when you sit on a chair, make sure you are sitting up straight with your feet flat on the floor. The good thing is, practicing a good posture will make you appear taller, even if you are not tall.
Keep away from growth inhibitors
- Smoking: Whether you smoke actively or passively, less oxygen and blood flow to your body, making it more difficult to build muscles. Also, ingredients in cigarette smoke interrupt the natural cycle of bone health. As a result, your body is less able to create healthy new bone tissues, break down existing bone tissues, and make bones brittle and weak.
- Coffee: Although drinking coffee does not stunt growth, it might affect your height. That is because coffee includes caffeine which can hinder sleep, an indirect way of disrupting your growth process. At this age, proper sleep, diet, and exercising are contributing to helping you get taller.
- Alcohol: If you consume alcohol during puberty, it might change the levels of HGH in both male and female adolescents. Even it lowers bone density and limb growth development.
Manage stress
Stress might be good if it happens in a short term, but chronic stress is damaging to your body. The increased levels of cortisol resulting from stress lower the steroid supply. And this deliberates communication to the brain and the pituitary gland that is important to release growth hormone for height increase.
At 17, the main sources of stress might start at school, social relationships, and peers pressures around sex and substance use. Therefore, parental support and advice during this time are important to help them deal with stress and grow into healthy and happy adults.
Consider height growth supplements
These products have been around for years with the guarantee of increasing height naturally and effectively. Although each supplement has its formula, most contain common height-boosting components, such as Calcium, vitamin D3, zinc, and magnesium. It is easy and convenient to add these pills to the diet to maximize the absorption of vitamins and minerals.
Also, some are included with herbal ingredients to boost your immune health and enhance sleep quality, stimulating the production of HGH naturally. And you can consult the top height growth supplements here to know further.
In a word, it is advisable to perform all the methods above so that you do not miss out on the possibility of getting a little taller at the age of 17. Try it and remember to share with us your experience.
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