Shorter people tend to live longer and have fewer diet-related chronic diseases, according to studies. The Methuselah gene, which makes people less sensitive to growth-enhancing hormones, may be a reason for some people’s long life. Japanese women have the longest lifespan, despite being one of the shortest groups. Taller people tend to earn more and have higher self-esteem.
While many cultures value height, there may be good reason to hope that you won’t grow tall. Studies based on millions of lifetimes seem to suggest that shorter people tend to outlive their taller counterparts. Not only do they have lower mortality rates, but they tend to have fewer diet-related chronic diseases. Animal studies and experiments show similar results.
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Some studies suggest that the extremely rare Methuselah gene may be the reason for the long life for some people. People with this gene are not as sensitive to IGF-1, a growth-enhancing hormone. Consequently, these people tend to be shorter. They also tend to live longer. Women are even more susceptible to the hormone, which may support why there are generally more centenarian women than men.
Japanese women have the longest lifespan of any group in the world: 86 years on average. Although Japanese women are not, on average, the shortest in the world (that distinction belongs to Bolivian women who average about 4 feet 2 inches (1.4 meters) tall), they are one of the shortest at about 5 feet 2 inches (1.6 meters), on average.
In general, people are getting taller and living longer: the average height of men today is a few centimeters taller than it was two hundred years ago, while their average lifespan has doubled. Much of this is likely attributable to improvements in public health, including access to health care and healthier diets.
Studies show that taller people earn more and have higher self-esteem than shorter people.
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