I suppose the following is really more for my Tip Topper friends than anyone else, just to make them all feel good. None of this, of course, is to say that life as a taller person is all wine and roses, then again, when the love of your life is 6'3", it ain't all bad, is it? None the less, let's hope I don't start a firestorm some other way. The findings do fail to specify about people with a family history of Marfan's Syndrome, but one could still suspect there is no major deviation. So the evidence is clear, your mother was right; eat your Spinach, it really will make a difference. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon. And it could be said that taller people NEED the extra money for cars and shoes that fit, and helmets to protect them from low-flying tree branches. Never mind the hell that riding a horse can be.
THE FOLLOWING IS EXCERTED FROM A REUTERS STORY
While researchers have long shown that tall people earn more than their shorter counterparts, it's not only social discrimination that accounts for this inequality -- tall people are just smarter than their height-challenged peers, a new study finds.
"As early as age three -- before schooling has had a chance to play a role -- and throughout childhood, taller children perform significantly better on cognitive tests," wrote Anne Case and Christina Paxson of Princeton University in a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.The findings were based primarily on two British studies that followed children born in 1958 and 1970, respectively, through adulthood and a U.S. study on height and occupational choice.Other studies have pointed to low self-esteem, better health that accompanies greater height, and social discrimination as culprits for lower pay for shorter people. But researchers Case and Paxson believe the height advantage in the job world is more than just a question of image."As adults, taller individuals are more likely to select into higher paying occupations that require more advanced verbal and numerical skills and greater intelligence, for which they earn handsome returns," they wrote. For both men and women in the United States and the United Kingdom, a height advantage of four inches equated with a 10 percent increase in wages on average.But the researchers said the differences in performance crop up long before the tall people enter the job force. Prenatal care and the time between birth and the age of 3 are critical periods for determining future cognitive ability and height."The speed of growth is more rapid during this period than at any other during the life course, and nutritional needs are greatest at this point," the researchers wrote. The research confirms previous studies that show that early nutrition is an important predictor of intelligence and height." Prenatal care and prenatal nutrition are just incredibly important, even more so than we already knew," Case said in an interview. Since the study's data only included populations in the United Kingdom and the United States, the findings could not be applied to other regions, Case said. And how tall are the researchers? They are both about 5 feet 8 inches tall, well above the average height of 5 feet 4 inches for American women.