Welcome to part 4 of the Questions Tall People Get Asked series.

In this series I go over the most common questions tall people get asked, try to make sense of why these questions gets asked and offer some of my typical responses.

If you haven’t yet seen the previous parts, you can check them out here (Part 1), here (Part 2) and here (Part 3).

Without further ado, one of the most common questions tall people get asked is:

“How did you get so tall”?

I’ve been getting asked this questions a lot more frequently lately.

I’m not sure if it’s because people think they are being clever and asking me a question I haven’t been asked before or if they are secretly hoping I will tell them a secret, kept between tall people and guarded for centuries, that will magically help them grow a few extra inches.

There are many reasons people want to be tall, I’ve covered some of these reasons here and here so it makes sense why people ask.

Scientists have even tried to answer this question by studying the world’s tallest population, people from the Netherlands.

The main factors determining why some people grow taller than others are:

• Genetics (the height of your biological mother and father).
• Environmental factors, particularly nutrition (were you well fed as a child and did you eat high quality foods).
• Exercise (some studies suggest that exercise can facilitate growing taller).
• Testosterone (testosterone levels influence your height – testosterone deficiency can stunt growth).
• Human Growth Hormone (your pituitary gland produces and secretes growth hormone – this stimulates your liver and other tissues to release substances that subsequently stimulate cartilage production. Your body requires cartilage cells for bone growth that supports growing taller).

My Typical Responses

How I respond is almost always dictated by my mood at the time and how annoying the person asking me has been towards me.

Some of my go-to responses are:

• How did you get so small?
• I practiced every day.
• I just forgot to stop growing until it was too late.
• I’m not tall, you should see the rest of my family.

What are your thoughts about being asked this question and how do you typically respond?

Let me know in the comment section below, I’d love to hear from you.

Stand tall, be proud of your height and strive for greatness.