Some individuals tend to hunch over when they stand up and walk. Aside from the fact that this is not good form for correct posture, it can also cause long term damage for the back and neck.
The longer you carry on like this, the harder it will be to stand up straight because you have conditioned your body to form like this.
Of course, before doing anything else to fix this situation, it is important to know and understand whether the issue requires medical treatment, or if it is simply a bad habit.
We are also aware that as individuals age, they tend to get shorter. This can be a result of several factors including low bone density, weaker cartilage, and eventual osteoporosis.
Depending on the cause of becoming shorter, however, there are remedies for the condition, as it is not necessarily a normal outcome of growing old. In fact, both diet and activity can help maintain proper height and prevent height loss.
Most people know that poor nutrition affects many areas of the body, and is detrimental to good health. Eating proper foods that provide vitamins, minerals, protein and other necessities is vital to our existence.
But what many do not know is activity does not have to be strenuous to be healthy. They hear commercials and ads that say “get moving”, and they assume they need to run a marathon or lift a couple hundred pounds.
The truth is as long as the activity is consistent and kept up over time, then lots of activities benefit a person’s well-being.
And, when we speak about activity and tallness, we are referring to stretching exercises to increase height.
Can I Increase My Height by Stretching?
This is a question we get asked all the time from many users. And in many circumstances, the answer is yes. For example, as we said earlier, if you hunch over, you are forcing your body into an unnatural position.
It can even cause compressions on the vertebrae. Stretching can help alleviate this condition and shape your curvature back into place. You will then be taller because you are standing up straight.
Which is the Best Exercise for Increasing Height?
Ideally, you want to be able to stretch your whole body, as this will make you feel much better, and allow you to move with greater ease when completing everyday tasks such as walking, bending and lifting.
Also, you want to target those routines that stretch the legs and spine explicitly. These are excellent ways to get the whole body fitter and more flexible, thereby increasing actual tallness.
A good way to work on the shoulders, back, chest and lungs is the cobra stretch. Many yoga stretches zero-in on these areas, as well.
How Can I Look Taller?
One of the first things you can do is lose weight, and work on tightening the muscles, and removing fat on the tops of the legs, and on the abdomen. When these two areas are smaller in berth, your silhouette seems much smaller or skinnier, and consequently, you look taller.
Not only does the lost weight make you look taller, but it will help you to stand up properly. You won’t have the excess dragging down parts of your body.
Stretching is an excellent way to accomplish your weight loss goals, as different exercises target various body parts. They also can be as rigorous as you can tolerate, or lighter depending on your health and body condition.
What Kind of Stretches Make You Taller?
Many people do not think about their rib cage or intercostal muscles when starting an exercise regimen. In fact, this area is hugely important to basic living, as the muscles must expand and contract to allow you to breathe properly.
During optimum performance, they expand to provide the chest wall the necessary space for you to take deep breaths.
Side stretches work perfectly here, since they are really easy to do, and can be done anywhere. They make the muscles longer which in turn over time makes you taller.
Like with other types of stretches, those that zoom-in on the intercostal muscles will not only help you increase your height, but they will enable you to sing better!
Remember that in most circumstances your body is shorter because of bad habits. Sitting too long, not adhering to proper posture, allowing areas to become saggy, poor diet and nutrition, and excessive wear and tear on the body all contribute to lost height.
But, all of these negatives can be changed, and stretching is an important part of the process to grow taller. Everyone needs to know about stretching exercises to increase height.
How To Stretch Your Spine to Grow Taller?
Something to clarify if you are using stretching exercises to increase height when talking about the spine is that you are not necessarily growing.
Your spine just doesn’t start to get longer through the natural body growing process like when you move from a baby to child to adult size.
Instead, you remove those issues that caused it to be shorter. In other words, you bring your spine back to its original height before it was forced to be shorter.
We spoke about sitting too long as one of those things that cause a spine to become much shorter. If you have a job, for example, that requires long hours at a desk, or you sit watching television most of the day, then probably your spine will reflect the curvature of being compressed all the time.
One way to turn this pattern around is by doing the pelvic shift exercise for height. It works on both the spine and upper back getting everything back to the proper shape and making you taller again.
Another super activity is swimming stretching exercises to increase height. If you have a backyard pool or access to a public pool in your neighborhood, start using it right away. The water makes stretching much easier and you can elongate the muscles quite nicely.
How To Stretch Your Legs To Get Taller?
Slimming down your legs can really help to increase your body height. This can be done with a combination of diet and muscle tightening.
By eating the proper foods, and finding an activity you like such as aerobics, you can reduce the flab on your legs, especially the upper legs which some call the thighs.
But also, stretching exercises to increase height include low lunge arches, jogging, jumping rope, jumping in place, skipping, and walking on the floor of a pool using the water as resistance.
All of these target the legs and make the muscles grow longer which means you are taller.
If you think about the exercises you do to warm up your body for certain workouts, the warm-ups are used to stretch out your muscles. They need to be longer to avoid damage by just jumping into a particular motion.
Likewise, different activities require cool down exercises to avoid leg cramps and other problems.
Which is the Best Exercise for Increasing Height?
Now, having given you examples for many muscles in the body, we still get users asking what is the number one best exercise to increase your height.
This is a hard one because if you work on different parts of the body, such as the spine, legs, rib cage, upper back, neck and abdomen, you will achieve the most optimum height and performance.
On the other hand, if you target one part or area, you will still see success, just not as much as working on the whole.
But to answer that question, we will mention two more exercises that are definitely excellent stretching exercises to increase height.
Those two are called wall stretches and bar hanging. The best way to perform one or both of these is to watch a video first so that you complete the task productively and without hurting yourself.
Although wall stretches are much harder to do than they look, bar hanging can be dangerous if you stretch enough to sprain or hurt specific areas of the body. That’s why we think you should study a good video first.
Final Thoughts on Stretching Exercises to Increase Height
Lastly, when using stretching exercises to increase height, set yourself a goal.
Then, make a plan of action that includes the exercises that you want to try, create a schedule for completing them, and of course, measure yourself before you begin. It is also important to measure at regular intervals to monitor and follow your progress.
