why are we as humans, getting BIGGER??

Question

Why are we as humans growing BIGGER?

Question Details:for example... I live in Utah and there are many different old pioneer houses and artifacts you can look at... given that this was barely over 100 years ago...WHY are their shoes and beds so tiny? even the doorways are smaller. It is a confirmed fact that they were smaller- my question is WHY and will we as humans continue to grow bigger? I am 5'8" and I would have towered over other women, had I been a pioneer.

Answer 1

Humans are just now recovering from from the sharp decrease in size that incurred after the development of agriculture. From physical remains, anthropologists have found that stature dropped from 5'9 (which is about your height now) to 5'3 after the neolithic revolution.

Answer 2

We aren't getting a lot taller. Rooms were made smaller then because in addition to building supples being expensive, tall ceilings ment that all the hot air in the room went above everyone's heads. Many Victorian era homes follow this pattern. Smaller means more warmth.

Nutrition plays a factor too. Sickly children don't grow as tall as healthy kids, and vaccinations mean less sick kids. As a species though, there isn't much difference. Evolution is a process that takes millions of years. If everyone below a certain height was sterilized, it would still take several generations for the species to grow.

Answer 3

I'm thinking that it's due to genetics. If both parents have the heterozygous tall genes their children, would come out 75% tall. Even though that could be held as true, the different genes would affect the outcome. Depending on which parent has the heterozygous or homozygous allele of tall would affect their children. Their children having homozygous or heterozygous mating with someone else would affect the their children, as well.

It could also be due to the environment. For example, natural selection. Certain areas need to be 'bigger' in order to survive or whatever. Therefore, passing on to their children, they also evolve to be 'bigger', surviving....

Sorry, the answers are not that explicit.

Answer 4

Food is more available and in bigger quantity. Not to mention all the extra fats and calories. Back then, people had to work more for less food. So, as a result, they were smaller and their size became part of their genes. As man has gotten bigger, so has his children.

Answer 5

There is an interesting progression of heights in human history-Prior to the advent of carbohydrate agriculture, humans were both larger and healthier- we had a much more varied diet and greater amounts of protein. With the agriculture, children were raised on very low protein diets, and grew much less during childhood and puberty- and, incidently, had lots of teeth problems, both with grinding them down because of rocky grit in the grain, and because of poor immune support combined with carbohydrates-loving bacteria.
Recently, children are eating a great deal more protein, and more varied diets, and have much fewer debilitating childhood diseases. All we have done, is allow humans to grow to the maximum genetic height by have excellent dietary support (especially protein), lots of rest and sleep, low stress, and good medical care. The largest single factor, though, is the amount of dietary protein and vitamins available during growth.

Answer 6

It's just better nutrition and health knowledge.

You talk about it like it creeps you out, it's not a doll house. Just think, one day giant futuristic men may be creeped out by our little houses. It's just evolution.

Napoleon was 5'6". Not everyone is getting THAT much bigger. I'm only 5 foot and my shoe size is 5.5. But I'm considered "Petite."

Answer 7

Arguments basied on genetics or evolution don't make sense here - genes are genes (they won't make children taller than their parents), while tall people surely aren't having more children than short and average-sized people. The nutrition argument definitely makes the most sense.

Answer 8

must have food... bigger as in taller I can only guess its because we eat more then we did in the past and also there are more growth hormones in our foods today because of chemicals and stuff just a guess...

Answer 9

better diet, nutrition, and medicine. the orientals that i know that grew up in the US, all all much bigger and taller than their parents that grew up in asia.

Answer 10

better food and health care. evolution may play a part in it.