We all have been seeing huge basketball players and wondered how they achieved such huge heights. This must be something definitely because of Basketball. This is the exact perception we all have most of the time. And thus we tend to believe playing basketball helps with growing height. But we will uncover the science behind it and find out if should we start promoting teens to children to play basketball for a better height.
Factors that affects height
There are many factors that affect the height of an individual. But according to the scientist, 80% of height is determined by genetics or DNA. Genetics comes from the parents to children. Thus if your parent’s height is good enough you will probably have good height as well.
But there are other factors that can help in influencing height such as Diet, Physical activity, medical conditions etc.
Diet
Diet is the core of any development that could possibly happen in the body. If the diet is incorrect, the body will not get the required nutrients and thus due to a lack of essential nutrients, any new development will not take place.
Physical Activities
If an individual is engaged highly in physical activities such as sports, physical games etc from early age or in puberty. It creates a certain level of trigger for developing growth hormone in the body, thus developing the body more than usual.
So it is always suggested to be engaged in physical activities even though your genetics are not that great in terms of height.
Medical Conditions
Medical conditions can really cause a serious dent in the idea of a good height irrespective of the family genes.
Why NBA Players are so heightened?
When you see the former NBA player, Shaquille O’Neal commonly known as Shaq. At first instance, it may feel to be a rare case of huge height but that’s not actually true.
During the year 2021-2022 NBA Season, the average height of NBA Players was around 6’6 ft (198 cm) tall. Which is considered as 8 inches taller than normal US males. It means it would be fair to say that basketball players are usually taller. But does that also means they are taller because of playing basketball?
Basketball is a game that has a special advantage for heightened people as they can jump higher, and defend the ball of opposing players to shoot into their hoop. Heightened players can easily score points by putting the ball into the opposing team’s hoop. Thus it has been observed that most heightened players at an early age prefer Basketball over other sports.
So the perception that playing basketball helps with growing height and makes you taller is incorrect. In fact, an inverse is observed that good-height people prefer playing basketball.
Basketball Relation with Height
Scientifically there is no such evidence that playing basketball makes the height taller as no specific study has been done and published. But what is important to observe is that when you play basketball at an early age (puberty), you have a good engagement in physical exercises such as jumping, running, stretching etc. Which eventually may promote more growth development than usual in your body to some extent.
Hope you liked this article. Don’t forget to read Countries with Shortest Height and Countries with the longest height.
Also for more such interesting topics check out Life.
