# At what point does your height really start affecting your lifespan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2016, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006 "2016-03-24T04:39:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/1 "2016-03-24T04:39:18Z")
It’s (I believe) documented that being taller is correlated with having a shorter lifespan. How tall do you have to be before this effect really kicks in? [This talks about the effect generally](https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2013/08/the-cost-of-being-tall-is-a-shorter-life-expectancy.php)but doesn’t have any metric for height vs lifespan. Larry Byrd is apparently pretty mopey about this. [http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25479885/nba-great-larry-bird-doesnt-believe-hell-make-it-to-the-age-of-75](http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25479885/nba-great-larry-bird-doesnt-believe-hell-make-it-to-the-age-of-75) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/2 "2016-03-24T06:09:23Z")
Huh! And I thought dwarfs had shorter lifespans. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/3 "2016-03-24T07:43:57Z")
When you forget to duck, and hit your head repeatedly. Makes for a shorter lifespan. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/4 "2016-03-24T08:27:10Z")
Pole workers and arborists seem pretty well set on 30 feet assuming you land on something solid. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/5 "2016-03-24T11:55:53Z")
I’ve never seen a 30 foot pole in a strip club. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/6 "2016-03-24T12:16:07Z")
While I can’t specifically answer the GQ, [here’s a thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=532569) I asked a few years ago on the longevity of seven-footers. Since then, Richard Kiel died just short of his 74th birthday. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will be 69 next month. Outside of them, and maybe a few others, you’re lucky to get out of your 50s. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/7 "2016-03-24T13:31:45Z")
Acromegaly is one cause of extreme height; [Wikipedia says lifespan is normal with early treatment.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acromegaly#Prognosis) Gigantism has similar causes, and [this site likewise claims normal lifespan with treatment,](http://www.yourhormones.info/endocrine_conditions/gigantism.aspx) but notes that size may impact quality of life due to things like arthritis and muscle weakness. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/8 "2016-03-24T21:31:13Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Huh! And I thought dwarfs had shorter lifespans. Due to whatever particular disorder makes them short. [People](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_peoples) who are “just short” have normal lifespans and health. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/9 "2016-03-24T21:33:28Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > While I can’t specifically answer the GQ, [here’s a thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=532569) I asked a few years ago on the longevity of seven-footers. Since then, Richard Kiel died just short of his 74th birthday. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will be 69 next month. Outside of them, and maybe a few others, you’re lucky to get out of your 50s. It’s not so much a function of their height in itself as various pathological conditions that made some of them extremely tall - things like acromegaly or Marfan’s Syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/10 "2016-03-24T21:41:22Z")
I haven’t done a controlled statistical study on it, but men are taller than women, and have shorter lifespans (and are, in particular, more likely to have heart attacks). And there’s a direct relationship between height and the pressure the heart needs to produce, which would provide a plausible mechanism for such a link. So it may well be that the point at which height starts causing health problems is in the neighborhood of six feet, or even shorter. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/11 "2016-03-24T21:45:16Z")
Short people got no reason to live… ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/12 "2016-03-24T22:55:16Z")
While there are different causes of dwarfism, the wikipedia article on dwarfism states that in general they don’t have shorter lifespans. [QUOTE=wikipedia] Hypotonia, or low muscle tone, is common in dwarfs, but intelligence and lifespan are usually normal [/QUOTE] It’s not just conditions like Acromegaly that cause a shorter lifespan. Just being tall is apparently enough to shorten your lifespan. > [@](#): > > Men of height 175.3 cm or less lived an average of 4.95 years longer than those of height over 175.3 cm, while men of height 170.2 cm or less lived 7.46 years longer than those of at least 182.9 cm. > **[Impact of height and weight on life span - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1600586/)** > > The study was conducted to evaluate one aspect of the entropy theory of aging, which hypothesizes that aging is the result of increasing disorder within the body, and which predicts that increasing mass lowers life span. The first evaluation of the... In general, being tall is associated with being more healthy. I found several NIH articles that contradicted this (except of course when malnutrition causes a short height), and all of them expressed concern that our attempts to raise taller children, thinking that they are healthier, will actually have the opposite effect. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > Short people got no reason to live… Thanks. Now I’ve got that song stuck in my head. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/13 "2016-03-24T23:07:06Z")
When you find yourself at negative 6 feet. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/14 "2016-03-25T01:11:13Z")
How depressing. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/15 "2016-03-25T01:22:44Z")
When you walk into a ceiling fan. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/16 "2016-03-25T01:54:07Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Huh! And I thought dwarfs had shorter lifespans. Durin lived to like 500 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/17 "2016-03-25T02:40:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I haven’t done a controlled statistical study on it, but men are taller than women, and have shorter lifespans (and are, in particular, more likely to have heart attacks). And there’s a direct relationship between height and the pressure the heart needs to produce, which would provide a plausible mechanism for such a link. > > So it may well be that the point at which height starts causing health problems is in the neighborhood of six feet, or even shorter. Wasn’t there just a whole spate of articles about how being shorter raises your heart attack risk? Google [height+heart+attack](https://www.google.com/search?q=height+heart+attack&oq=height+heart+attack). ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/18 "2016-03-25T02:46:26Z")
Being firmly in the normal part of the curve is the best place to be. Most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/19 "2016-03-25T03:19:38Z")
There is no specific point but yes, in general [shortness](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3893695/) is associated with slower aging in general and lower cancer risk in particular, but as noted increased heart disease risk. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-what-point-does-your-height-really-start-affecting-your-lifespan/750006/20 "2016-03-25T13:02:34Z")
Huh, I wonder what the mechanism for that would be, then.