Things That Affect Growth in Teens

Nutrition

• Nutrition plays a starring role in a teen's ability to grow. Smart food choices and consistent meals promote bone growth, healthy organ functioning and optimal height and weight. According to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, teens need to snack on nutritious foods between meals. It's good for them because their growing bodies need more energy (calories) and nutrients. Low-fat snacks including pretzels, bagels, fruit and vegetables contain the vitamins and energy growing teens need to sustain their metabolism. Poor nutrition or lack of specific vitamins and minerals such as calcium and iron diminish and, in some cases, stunt teen growth if levels are substantially and consistently low.

Sleep

• Lack of sleep can make it hard for teens to stay focused on academics and physical activities. Losing out on regular exercise due to lack of sleep can lead to apathy and deficient muscle and bone growth. According to Akron Children's Hospital, most teens need between eight and a half and nine hours of sleep each night. Sleep helps keep teens physically healthy and active by slowing the body's systems to re-energize them for everyday activities.

Physical Activities

• Teens involved in regular physical activities stimulate muscle fibers for growth and efficient performance. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation recommends regular exercise for teens to help maintain weight, build muscle, strengthen bones and boost good cholesterol levels. Team or individual sports also help teens set goals, improve self-discipline, build confidence, reduce anxiety and develop social skills. Conversely, a sedentary lifestyle inhibits healthy growth and allows muscles to atrophy.

Genetics and Medical Factors

• Heredity and genetic factors often influence a teen's growth and size. For example, shorter parents can sometimes produce shorter children. Taller parents, or those who experienced a large growth spurt in high school, often have children who follow the same patterns. According to Nemours Teen's Health, in most cases, teens who are small are probably just physically maturing a bit more slowly than their friends. In some cases, medical factors such as constitutional growth delay, cause some teens to experience a late growth spurt and continued growth at an older age. Constitutional growth delay is a temporary delay in skeletal growth that results in shorter stature during puberty. Growth spurts simply occur later, but result in normal height in adulthood. This common condition is no cause for alarm, and can be gauged through regular medical checkups just as rapid growth is monitored through consistent annual medical checks.