Why does human height have an upper limit?

Answer 1

Well, from an evolutionary perspective, it's because many abnormally tall people cannot survive. For example, with Marfan's syndrome, which causes some people to grow very tall, aortic anuerysms are common. There is a limit to human height because of bone and blood vessel strength. As a result, people who, for some reason or another, grew very tall and experienced difficulties died before they could pass their genes on and propagate the species. Because these genes were never passed on, human height has stabilized at a healthy, reasonable height over tens of thousands of years.

Answer 2

As we get taller, our height is increased in one dimension, our muscle strength, generally measured in cross sectional area, is increased in two dimensions, and our weight is increased in three dimensions. If I doubled in height, my muscle strength would be 4 times (2x2) as great, but my weight would be 8 times (2x2x2) as great. It wouldn't take too long before your muscles couldn't haul you around very effectively. That is why Shaq is not as athletic as Kobe. Elephants which are very large must have special adaptations to the limbs, feet, etc to move the very large loads.

Answer 3

There is only so much the body can sustain, especially the strain on the circulation system

Answer 4

Instead of dieing in our 70's, we'd be dieing in our 40's-50's.

Answer 5

If you grow too tall, then your heart will not be strong enough to pump blood to all of your organs and you'll die.

Answer 6

Because it's wrote it in our genetic code.

Answer 7

not sure what you mean by this...but mass grows faster then volume...so if you get tall enough your mass will crush you.

Answer 8

huh?