Our body is in a rapid state of growth even before we are born. It stays in a state of growth, usually occurring in spurts, until puberty is complete. After puberty, one will naturally grow slightly more until about age 30. This growth is a result of Human Growth Hormone, or HGH.

The anterior pituitary gland in our brain is responsible for releasing human growth hormone which affects the growth rate and pattern of an individual and the height as well. HGH serves many functions. It helps our body turn fat into energy needed for growth, triggers regeneration and enlargement of organs and muscles and most importantly with relevance to height, HGH directs our bones to increase in size and strength. Though growth of a person is much dependent on the gene function but to some extent the growth and height can be stimulated by following a healthy diet and routine exercises.

Having a taller height can really be important for the overall appearance and self esteem. Certain jobs also have the specific requirement in terms of height and then the shorter people are automatically left out. That is why a lot of people, especially who were born short, really want to increase their current height. A lot of people, especially teenagers, are worried that they will not grow taller than their present height and in a ray of hope they try out a lot of things for increasing their height. Many of them try out different exercises, height increasing pills or even surgery just to get the additional height they desire.

One of the best tips to increase height is to learn how to get our body to make more HGH and how to prepare our body to use the HGH more effectively. Our brain controls when and how much HGH is released into our system so we need to trigger our brain to release more HGH.

Here are some healthy tips to increase your height naturally without the help of expensive medications and painful surgery.

1. Eating a Balanced Diet – Getting right nutrients in your diet will give a boost to your growth even if you do not have it in heredity. HGH is made up of amino acids and supplying amino acids through diet will enhance the production and release of HGH. Eating good quality protein like milk, eggs, lean meat, fish, pulses and legumes will provide good dose of amino acids. Even carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals are also important part of healthy balanced diet. Having 5-6 small meals each day and eating well in advance to sleeping will be helpful.

2. Try doing some grow taller stretching exercises daily without failure. An aerobic exercise routine will trigger the growth hormone for stimulating growth and not just repairing the body parts. Playing sports like basketball, tennis or swimming will stretch out your limbs to the fullest and hence may help in gaining height.

3. Getting good and peaceful sleep – Getting enough rest and good night sleep is another important aspect of increasing height. Sleep is essential for increasing your HGH as this is the peak time when your brain releases HGH and begins to use it within your body. More so getting enough sleep relaxes your brain making it more active to release growth hormones when you are awake. When your brain is tired, the pituitary gland will become inactive thus leading to lesser growth hormones released in your body. Thus one should get a sleep of 8 hrs or more.

4. Discipline is important - Discipline yourself and avoid skipping meals and having a heavy meal before sleeping. This will lessen the ability of the brain to release growth hormones as it will be busier with the process of digestion. Avoid drinking, smoking and taking drugs because this may adversely affect your growth.