The big issue !!!!!!

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Daanyeer
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The big issue !!!!!!

Post by Daanyeer »

............"So how can you ensure that your children grow to their full potential? There is still a class difference in the height of children. Some of this may be related to sleep, but mainly it is diet. A year or two ago I was in the Netherlands at a paediatric conference when the question of why Dutch adolescents were the tallest in Europe was raised. The lecturer had no doubts. He said that in his opinion it was in part because of the overall standard of living, but especially because children there still drank milk. The milk gave them a cheap supply of protein that is essential for growth.

Animal protein is expensive but is the best way of taking the essential amino acids essential for good growth. Vegans can, with difficulty, compensate for lack of animal protein but fish and meat make it easier for children to reach their full potential. Protein should be introduced to a baby’s diet between the ages of six months and a year – every taste and texture included. And from 5 years of age onwards they should have an adult-sized portion at least twice a week until they are fully grown. This can be fish or meat and, if the latter, does not have to be red. "

Source: Times Online
July 26, 2007


When we were hunter-gatherers a man’s height mattered, but can it really matter today? Yes, say the surveys: tall men attract women and are better paid. Dr Thomas Stuttaford explains why the last of our prejudices refuses to go away

No one who wanted a second invitation to dinner or to lecture to a learned society would dare to show any evidence of gender bias, racial or religious prejudices, ageism and (other than the disparaging remarks about toffs that are for some reason acceptable) class prejudice.

The law has accepted that discrimination on grounds of race, disability or sex is illegal and has recently added age to the categories of prejudices that are not only socially unacceptable but can result in legal consequences. The photographs of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes taken with the Beckhams and the Smiths in Los Angeles this week all emphasised the relative size of Tom Cruise to Katie Holmes. There was a subliminal message that size mattered, and wasn’t Cruise lucky to have done so well despite being vertically challenged?

The Army drill sergeant is no longer, under pain of court martial, allowed to draw attention to a recruit’s religious or racial background but he would still probably get away with referring to the soldier as a short-arsed little blighter (or a similar epithet). Height prejudice is accepted, even if good manners ensure that it is not often mentioned in front of the person who is short. Tom Cruise is lucky in that, once on the film set or in a formal photograph, pictures can be taken when a block can be used or shoes modified to reduce any disparity in height. On some film sets other actors have insisted that their co-stars, who are appreciably taller, should wear hollowed-out shoes that take an inch or so off their height. The prejudices, biases and unfairnesses of judging people by their height, a relic of prehistoric mankind, are ever-present.

In the 21st century, as it was in the 19th century, to be tall is to be dealt a trump card by nature that could make someone’s life easier. Research has shown that a tall, broad-shouldered man is more likely than a shorter rival to have an advantage when looking for a mate, or for employment. Research published last year from Princeton University showed that both tall men and women earn 10 per cent more than those who are 4in shorter. The chances of a man reaching the equivalent in Britain of the directors’ boardroom are 3 per cent greater if he is 6ft 2in than 5ft 10in.

A host of contemporary politicians, tycoons, financiers and even media celebrities have emulated Napoleon, but this isn’t evidence that height doesn’t matter: rather that a lack of stature can be compensated for by intelligence, single-mindedness, energy and presentation. No one claims that a short man can’t succeed but the evidence is that from early childhood the taller and better looking are considered by their employers, teachers and contemporaries from the kindergarten onwards as being more desirable social companions, as well as more able.

Doctors Karen Dion and Ellen Berschied, from the University of Wisconsin, published a paper showing that children aged 4 to 6 asked to judge classmates’ desirability assessed it on appearance. This bias wasn’t confined to the children: it was also reflected in the teachers’ expectations of their performance. Similarly, Doctors David Landy and Harold Sigall, of the University of Rochester in the US, demonstrated that when undergraduates were asked to evaluate their colleagues’ intellectual ability and the value of their essays it was heavily biased by height and build.

This is not only a transatlantic phenomenon. As long ago as 1962, Walter Burger and Heinz Schuler of the University of Augsburg in Germany demonstrated that a tall, good-looking man was likely to be chosen for a job not just because of his ability to carry it out efficiently: he was given better ratings for friendliness, creativity and motivation.

Height matters to both men and women but is more important to men. This gender difference relates to the origins of the preference for taller people as companions or employees. It is so ingrained that those who display it are unaware of their bias or what has caused it. The modern man evolved during the tens of thousands of years when his desirability was related either to his hunting prowess or his ferocity and success as a warrior. The survival of his genetic code was initially dependent on his ability to keep his family fed and the sabre-toothed tiger from the cave’s door. His women recognised this and wanted him to sire their children.

The other men in his group accepted that the taller, better-built man with long legs, a well developed chest to allow for good strong heart and lungs and a thick skull to withstand an enemy’s battering was the person to have beside you when hunting or fighting. The women had evolved features that were subconsciously linked by men to be associated with health, fertility and efficiency as mothers.

So how can you ensure that your children grow to their full potential? There is still a class difference in the height of children. Some of this may be related to sleep, but mainly it is diet. A year or two ago I was in the Netherlands at a paediatric conference when the question of why Dutch adolescents were the tallest in Europe was raised. The lecturer had no doubts. He said that in his opinion it was in part because of the overall standard of living, but especially because children there still drank milk. The milk gave them a cheap supply of protein that is essential for growth.

Animal protein is expensive but is the best way of taking the essential amino acids essential for good growth. Vegans can, with difficulty, compensate for lack of animal protein but fish and meat make it easier for children to reach their full potential. Protein should be introduced to a baby’s diet between the ages of six months and a year – every taste and texture included. And from 5 years of age onwards they should have an adult-sized portion at least twice a week until they are fully grown. This can be fish or meat and, if the latter, does not have to be red.

Regular exercise improves any child’s chances of developing a good physique. They should be taking at least an hour a day: a game of football twice a week doesn’t compensate for the rest of the week being spent in front of the television set. Sleep is also vital: ten hours’ sound sleep until the age of 7 or 8, and eight hours thenceforth is best (more growth hormones are produced when asleep than awake). Afternoon naps in young children are of greater advantage to parents than their child.

Environment as well as genes matters as a means of achieving full height. This doesn’t apply only to food, exercise and sleep but also to freedom from infection. Being exposed to infection early in a child’s life by mixing with other children will give them immunity to many organisms. Not having too cosseted a life when a baby will also reduce their chances of developing allergies. Later their freedom from infection will be fostered by having well-heated, well-ventilated houses – an expensive but desirable provision.

Finally, if a child is to reach its full potential height, love and security are also necessary. Even the care a baby receives in the womb so that it is of a reasonable weight, preferably around 8lb at birth, will have a lasting effect on the child’s stature and health. If a child isn’t growing as fast as it should be, expert opinion is always called for. This will exclude specific problems and will also determine whether artificial growth hormones could rectify the situation.

If you’re short, try getting rich

Evolution shows a strong preference for tall men. They produce more offspring and their genes are propagated more frequently. They are perceived as more successful, socially skilled and intelligent, and are more confident because they’re used to getting their way: it worked on the savannahs of Africa and it applies to our knowledge-based economy as well. This is explained by the hunter-gatherer model (the biggest thug always wins) and the theory that if you’re bigger you have more brain matter and therefore a higher IQ. It’s a playground effect: you always win in the sandpit of life and that affects your willingness to have a go, take up challenges, succeed.

The “Napoleon complex” is less about confidence than bloody-mindedness. Short men can be bullish because they have to be to succeed. Evidence suggests that your height at 16 remains your mental height for ever: if you’ve grown up feeling trodden on, adding a few inches at 35 won’t help. But men are lucky because women have a broad range of criteria for prospective partners. Short men can always trade off other attributes – such as wealth!
ROBIN I. M. DUNBAR

Professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Liverpool

The tall woman: ‘My high life’

I love being tall. I’m 5ft 11in, and often closer to 6ft 2in in heels. I always have a wonderful view at the theatre and concerts, and while I’m privy to who has dandruff or nits it’s a small price to pay. On the Tube my nose is mercifully clear of smelly armpits, and in pubs I can always catch the barman’s eye.

Growing up – in both senses – was more of an ordeal. Few shops stocked shoes over a size 7: the frustration and humilation of being unable to stuff my foot into the latest must-have is still vivid in my memory. Trousers would fit perfectly around the waist but I looked as if I was about to wade across a river as they were always a couple of inches too short.

Boys were also an issue: most seemed to be stuck at midget level. Just once I kissed a boy a couple of inches shorter than me and it felt all wrong. His arms didn’t fit over my shoulders and when our lips touched my head was at an awkward angle. But the benefits beat the disadvantages: I was served underage in pubs and slipped in undetected to watch 18-certificate films.

Have I ever wanted to be smaller? Only when I am at the Comedy Store and they are picking on the crowd.
PORTIA COLWELL

The short(ish) man: ‘My height? Don’t know, don’t want to know’

Gentlemen, how tall are you? Me, I am about 5ft 8in . . . ish. I don’t really know for sure, although I am sure that at my last health check-up the doctor told me exactly. In fact, I have forgotten how tall I am because I don’t want to know: I don’t want to dwell on the fact that I am (just) shorter than the British average (5ft 9in). And I am not alone in my forgetfulness. I have just done a quick survey in the office and, without exception, every man who is above average height can state with certainty their tallness, while every man below can’t quite pinpoint their shortness. Height matters.

The issue underpinned much of my upbringing. My father was short but it was never really mentioned in our house, and for the life of me I can’t tell you how short. But his army nickname – he was a career soldier – was Titch. I never quite got used to colleagues coming up to Dad at regimental reunions with a hearty: “Titch, how the devil are you?” It seemed for years like a playground insult that had no place in the adult world. I realised later that for my father it was a badge of honour and camaraderie, and he was a big enough man not to let his height bother him.

I, too, was short growing up. I was always one of the smallest in my year, but because I was fast and pretty good at most sports (apart from basketball) it never really mattered much.

Then came girls. This is where height really does matter, for all the evolutionary reasons set out on these pages. I have never been out with a girl taller than me. I couldn’t imagine looking up to steal a goodnight kiss. My wife is shorter than me, and that feels right: it feels right when we dance together and it looks right when we are pictured together. There is a complicated, deep-seated equation involving power, protection and masculine pride at work here and I would say it is impossible to fight it.

So should height matter in the boardroom as well as the bedroom? Of course not. Heightism is as bad as racism or ageism. But the prejudice is hardwired into all of us in a way that will make it difficult to eradicate. Take this test. Would you rather be tall and dumb or short and smart? My immediate reaction is short and smart. But what if the question is: would you rather be tall and dumb or 5ft 2in and smart? I find myself hesitating . . .
MICHAEL HARVEY

Tall stories

Researchers in Poland found that taller men were more likely to be fathers than shorter men. Childless men were on average 1.25in (3cm) shorter than men who had fathered at least one child.

A study published in the journal Nature appears to back up this theory. Robin I. M. Dunbar and colleagues at the University of Liverpool studied 3,200 men in their twenties to fifties, whose average height was 5ft 6in (170cm). They found:

— Taller men are more likely to be married and have children than shorter men.
— Childless bachelors are significantly shorter than married men.
— Those with children were, on average, 1.2in taller than childless men.
— Married men were on average 1in taller than bachelors.

Tall men are more likely to study longer than short men, according to Swedish research – 43 per cent of men surveyed who were taller than 6ft 3in (194cm) had at least one year of college education, compared with only 22 per cent of the men who were shorter than 5ft 4in.

Extra inches could also equate to extra income. Analysing the results of four studies, Timothy Judge, a University of Florida management professor, and Daniel Cable, a business professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill, found that for each extra inch in height, a person earned about $789 (£384) more in pay.

— A man who is 6ft tall would earn £2,700 more each year than another of 5ft 5in.
—The tallest men and women in the world are from the Dinaric Alps, on the Eastern Adriatic coast. Men are on average 6ft 1in and women are 5ft 7in.
— The shortest people in the world are from Malta, where men stand at an average height of 5ft 6in and women are 5ft 2in.

Average height of people in the UK:
Men 5ft 9in; women 5ft 3in.

Sources: Dynamique de l’évolution humaine, 2005; Eurostat, Statistical Office of the European Communities, 2007 study; NHS Health Survey for England 2005

Heights of famous men:
Bernie Ecclestone: 5ft 2in (and a half)
Daniel Radcliffe: 5ft 5in (and a half)
Rupert Grint: 5ft 10in
Michael J. Fox: 5ft 4in
Al Pacino: 5ft 5in
Eddie Izzard: 5ft 7in
Elton John: 5ft 7in
Jude Law: 5ft 10in
Gordon Brown: 5ft 11in
George Clooney: 5ft 11in
George W. Bush: 5ft 11in
Monty Panesar: 6ft 1in
Prince William: 6ft 2in
Liam Neeson: 6ft 4in
Terry Waite: 6ft 7in

Did you match the name to the height? Tom Cruise 5ft 7in, Katie Holmes 5ft 9in, David Beckham 6ft, Victoria Beckham 5ft 5in, Will Smith 6ft 2in, Jada Pinkett-Smith 5ft.
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Re: The big issue !!!!!!

Post by Basra- »

Yes.... Very Happy Those Dutch are indeed tall. Smile
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