Being Tall Is A Disease? | The Scary Health Risks of Being Tall

[00:00:00] There is a strong connection between your height and your health. And yes, we commonly know the aches and pains and posture problems that come with being tall, but we're going to go deeper than that. Like I'm talking about chronic diseases like bone diseases, peripheral neuropathy, and certain cancers. I don't even know if I pronounce that neuropathy properly. Whatever. I'm sure you can look it up. Yeah, all of that sounds really scary. And low key it is, but we'll get into that a little bit later.

[00:00:29] And while we're on the topic of diseases, being tall happened to be viewed as a disease in a way for girls specifically. Yeah, sounds very, very odd. But today we are going to talk about the health risks that come with being tall and a little bit of the history as to why being tall was viewed as a disease for girls. So let's get into it.

[00:00:51] Good morning, everybody. You are currently listening to a tall girls podcast hosted by a tall girl named India. I hope everyone who's tuning in today is doing super fantastic. Before I get into this episode, I do want to say make sure you're following me on my socials at a tall girls podcast on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest so that you can stay up to date on all of the latest podcast episodes and catch a glimpse of my everyday life. Also, feel free to leave me a review and let me know how tall you are. I'm genuinely curious. I also have a monthly newsletter.

[00:01:18] I literally just sent that out what two days ago. Yeah, make sure you check that out and subscribe to that. Everything is going to be linked in the description. This episode was actually a request from one of you guys. One of you guys wanted me to talk about the diseases that come with being a tall woman or the diseases that come with being a tall person and also speak about it with a doctor.

[00:01:42] So I don't have a doctor on today's episode. However, I'm going to try to include like information articles and even TikTok videos from legit medical professionals. And this is where I put my disclaimer. This is not medical advice or anything of that sort. And I am not a medical professional. I'm just a tall girl with a podcast. I know absolutely nothing about health. Please. I'm yeah, I take this with a grain of salt unless it's backed up recently.

[00:02:12] I don't know. I don't know if you're a research when I talk about these things. That's yeah, that's that's the disclaimer. But before we get into all of that, all the health risks and so forth, I want to talk about something interesting that I found on the internet. So apparently being tall is a disease. Well, it used to be viewed as such, particularly for girls. Back in the day, doctors would give young girls hormones to prevent them from growing taller because their height could potentially ruin their chances at relationships and social acceptance.

[00:02:42] Lovely. So I came across this article, I believe from 2022 talking about how young pre-pubescent girls is that I hope I pronounced that correctly. I know I butchered it pre-pubescent girls were given a hormone called diethylstilbestrol.

[00:03:01] Yeah, I this definitely shows you that I am not in any medical field whatsoever because I don't know how to pronounce any of these words. But the hormone is also called DES or yeah, that's like the acronym or whatever for it. So we're just going to stick with DES or DES to stunt their growth. And I believe this was done in Australia, if I'm not mistaken, from 1959 to 1970.

[00:03:27] Apparently this hormone was once used to prevent miscarriage and bulk up livestock before slaughter. However, it was found that this hormone was causing issues like cancer and it wasn't even effective in preventing miscarriages. So yeah, there's that.

[00:03:44] And I'm pretty sure after hearing that you can infer what happened to the girlies that was given this hormone. Apparently it only reduced their height by four centimeters and caused a whole list of issues like dysplasia.

[00:03:58] I think that's how you pronounce it and endometriosis. And you're probably wondering like why did they give this hormone to these girls to, you know, kind of inhibit their height to prevent them from going to adult height or I guess prevent them from being quote unquote too tall. You literally will not believe what this article said. They said so that they could do ballet, find clothes easily and get boyfriends and husbands.

[00:04:27] Wow. I can't believe that they would go to literally that those extreme measures just so, oh, they can live the girly life so they could do ballet so that they can, they can, you know, find a man or something like that. It's like, that is so intense that you would literally cause changes, unnatural changes because what they're doing is unnatural. This is not natural. This is unnatural.

[00:04:53] They're causing unnatural changes in these young girls. So they went out of their way to cause nausea, rapid weight gain, hormonal issues so that they could wear tutus and find a man. Literally in what world does that make sense? You know what I mean? I, whatever it is what it is. A lot of people don't know about one of the biggest medical scandals in history. In the fifties, a drug called DES was actually used to stunt women's growth.

[00:05:20] They thought that if you were shorter, you'd be able to find a husband easier and you could fit into clothes better. This drug was also used in animals to fatten them up before a slaughter. And it was also used in women to prevent miscarriage. This was a very high dose of synthetic estrogen. And the women that were exposed in utero to this drug are known as DES daughters. And the granddaughters are known as DES granddaughters. Because the side effects of being exposed to this drug were so severe.

[00:05:48] A lot of women had cancer and they had deformities. They, um, also a lot of them had T-shaped uteruses making them infertile. My mom was exposed to the drug while she was in her, her mom's belly. And she had a lot of serious side effects as well. But I do think there's just a lot to learn from these extreme cases. So high estrogen, um, in a mom can cause birth defects.

[00:06:14] And that is very clearly seen, um, through this scandal. So it's such a serious tragedy. And so many women and men were affected by this drug. Um, and there's a lot to learn from it. My mom was exposed to a drug called DES while she was in utero in my grandma's belly. This was a high dose of synthetic estrogen that was thought to prevent pregnancy complications. And in fact, it caused them.

[00:06:39] So when my mom grew up, she had a slew of health issues. She never had two periods in a row, right? Because estrogen and progesterone really regulate the menstrual system. So if those are disturbed, then possibly there can be huge side effects with the menstrual cycle. So my mom never had two periods in a row. And as a result, she did not ovulate. If you don't ovulate, you can't have a baby.

[00:07:06] The one thing she credits to saving her life is progesterone. And we do this at Moment Health. We give our own compounded progesterone, which is crazy full circle. But when she administered progesterone, which back then in the day, they only had it through syringe form. She was then able to have a normal life. I'm just glad that this did not become a widespread thing. Anyways, this article was written by Marion Vickers, I believe.

[00:07:33] But the article is going to be linked in the description so that you can read more on this topic yourself. I don't know. It's just weird that this literally shows the extent that they will go to because they see like being tall as a woman as a bad thing, as a girl as a bad thing. So you would do something as extreme as this to make sure that these girls do not, you know, get to full adult height or just be taller than average or something of that sort. Where I, it's crazy.

[00:08:01] It's giving, it's giving weird sci-fi, sci-fi thriller movie in a way. Anyways, just thought that I would bring that up for you guys. A little bit of a history lesson, if you will. Now, while being tall is not a for real, for real disease, there are several health challenges that come with being tall. And I'm sure we all know the surface level challenges like pain. Being tall is painful. If it's not the back pain, it's the neck pain. If it's not the neck pain, it's the shoulder pain.

[00:08:30] If it's not the shoulder pain, it's the knee pain. If it's not the knee pain, it's the hip pain. Like we, we can't win here. But I mean, there are fairly obvious reasons as to why we feel a lot of this pain. Like aside from the fact that some of us like actually have actual issues. I don't know if that's like genetic or anything like the scoliosis and so forth and so on. I would say sciatica, but I don't even think sciatica is like genetic.

[00:08:55] Wow, I, I'm gonna stop talking about this because like I said earlier, I am not a medical professional. So I probably sound ridiculous right now. But what I can talk about that I know is true is that a lot of the reasons for this pain is because of the environment around us. Okay, there are, we have, we may have a lot of shorter friends, you know, friends who are shorter than us, our colleagues shorter than us, boss shorter than us, whatever.

[00:09:19] So when we're talking to them, you know, we may just naturally slouch, subconsciously slouch. We also have very low desks and very low sinks. And, and some of us have like computer jobs. And, you know, if we don't have that desk that goes up and down or something that kind of elevates it so we can look straight forward. It's like we're slouching, we're hunching down, we're hunching over to look at these things.

[00:09:44] And even something as basic as cooking and cleaning and all that stuff can cause these aches and these pains. All of this causes us to sit and stand and sleep in very awkward positions. For example, you know that hip thing that every tall girl does? That thing that we do when we're around shorter people? I'll put it on the screen for y'all so you understand what I'm saying. But for audio listeners, it's essentially when you put more weight onto one side of your body, typically the right side.

[00:10:10] And that kind of causes your hip to hike up and can make you appear shorter in a way. But yeah, I think that us tall girls need to stop doing that. Like yesterday. It's part of the reason why we have posture problems. Just saying, just be, just be mindful of that, okay? It's part of the reason why I have lateral and interior pelvic tilt. I actually did a whole TikTok video on that, so I'm gonna try to find that clip and include it here. If you're a tall girl constantly doing this, I'm begging you, please stop.

[00:10:40] I'm convinced that my terrible posture, my chronic imbalance, is because I used to stand like that for a majority of the time. Fun fact, I found out two years ago that I suffer from pelvic tilt. Lateral, on the right side, and interior. So essentially, my pelvis is shifted more to the right and forward. Okay, so here in the green is what's considered normal. Now, what's in the red best describes my situation.

[00:11:06] I'm not saying that you can't get back to normal, but it can take years to do that. And to this day, I'm still standing, sitting, and even sleeping in this abnormal posture. I don't think that that position is what caused my abnormal posture wholeheartedly, but it did play a huge role. So if you're a tall girlie who likes to stand in that position, especially when she's around shorter people, just be very mindful.

[00:11:34] But yeah, tall people can suffer from issues like rounded shoulders all the way to pelvic tilts, and these can cause musculoskeletal issues. I'm getting better at my pronunciation, y'all. But on a deeper level, at first, many years ago, I didn't know that tall people were at a higher risk for several deadly diseases. Several deadly diseases. Anyways, on this one, I'ma let the professionals talk about this one.

[00:12:00] There are a couple doctors on TikTok that I found, you know, speaking about this. So I'm going to include some of the clips here. There are actually numerous studies that show an association between taller individuals and an increased risk of developing cancer in various organs. This association is stronger in women compared to men and in non-smokers compared to smokers. One of the main reasons why women have a stronger association is because they're less likely to smoke.

[00:12:25] Keep in mind that the association between adult height and developing cancer is muddied by various confounding factors. This is because your adult height is determined by a lot of factors that can be influenced biologically, inherently, but it also can be influenced by your environment. So in terms of your nutritional intake, pollutants, etc. Is it possible that having a taller height means that you have more cells, so you have a higher risk of developing cancer?

[00:12:49] Absolutely. But it could also be due to other factors such as having a higher level of insulin-like growth factor that can influence how many cells divide and multiply, leading to more chances for cancer to develop. Does being tall increase your risk for several diseases? Keep listening to find out. So we've always known that being tall increases your risk of things like varicose veins in an irregular heartbeat, but a new study from PLOS Genetics suggests that there may be more risks associated with height.

[00:13:18] This new study suggests that being tall also increases your risk of peripheral nerve damage in the hands and the feet, as well as ulcers in the skins of the lower legs. But don't worry if you're tall. It does lower your risk of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. If you found this information helpful, don't forget to subscribe for more from the most trusted name in medicine. Do tall people live shorter lives? I've got some good news for shorter men. When it comes to living longer, they might measure up best.

[00:13:44] A study of more than 8,000 men who have followed up for 40 years found a direct correlation between short height and long life. With men who are 5 foot 2 and below the red line you see here, living the longest. The research suggested that short stature may be related to a gene linked to longevity. The FOXO3 gene leads to smaller body size during development and longer lifespan. Shorter men were less likely to get cancer and have lower blood insulin levels. The findings are definitely not absolute, but there is a strong link.

[00:14:13] And listen, no matter what height you are, you can't escape an unhealthy lifestyle. So yeah, we may be at a higher risk for certain cancers, circulatory disorders, or even osteomyelitis. This, I, you know, I do this to myself. I think I did this to myself. I did this to myself on purpose because I'm writing down all of these diseases and all of these things fully knowing that I can't pronounce it.

[00:14:39] I'm going to see, you know, like those things, um, on the internet that if you put the word in, they pronounce it for you. So you know what the pronunciation is. I think I'm going to do that. I'm going to try it for osteomyelitis. Osteomyelitis. But you may be wondering why is this the case? Why are we at a higher risk for the cancers, the circulatory disorders, the bone diseases, and all of these other insane, intense things?

[00:15:08] Because I'm not going to lie to you. And I'm okay. I should have probably said this. I'm not trying to scare you. I'm not trying to scare you, but we'll get into that a little bit later. But it does sound scary at first. And, you know, when you look, you know how you look up your symptoms on WebMD and WebMD is saying that you have some insane, rare disease and you're not going to make it past, you know, 30 years of age. It's kind of giving that right now. You know what I mean? But anyways, going back to what I was saying before, why is this the case?

[00:15:36] Why are we at a higher risk for these diseases, for these disorders and so forth and so on? Simply put, it's because we have more. We have more surface area. We have larger organs. Okay. There's more space. There's more cells. There's just more. That's, that's basically the case.

[00:16:02] And because we have more, because we have more surface area, because we have larger organs and more cells and so forth and so on. There's just a higher likelihood for something to happen. That's really it. There's a higher opportunity for something to occur simply because there's just more there. And also, I don't know if this is 110% true. I should probably fact check this.

[00:16:26] But I also like saw somewhere or heard somewhere that because we're taller, our hearts have to work harder to pump blood throughout the rest of our bodies. So that's also something to take into account maybe. I don't know. As I said, I went to school for business. I'm going back to school for business. Like this is not my forte, but that's just what I heard. But hey, we do have a lower risk for coronary heart disease and high blood pressure. Period. Okay, please don't freak out.

[00:16:54] Okay, just because you're tall, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're definitely for sure 110% going to get these things. I read somewhere that it's more correlation than causation. What exactly does that mean? Being tall is not going to cause you to get bone disease. Being tall is not going to cause you to get some type of cancer or peripheral neuropathy. Neuropathy. Yeah, being tall is not going to cause those things. Okay.

[00:17:22] There are other factors involved such as genetics and stress levels, diet, lifestyle, environment, so forth and so on. Okay, just make sure you go to your doctor. This is a reminder for tall women. Well, all women really, but this is a tall girls podcast. Take care of your health. Tall women are at a higher risk for breast cancer, melanoma, endometriosis and more. So if you haven't scheduled your annual checkup yet, I think it's time we do that right now.

[00:17:52] But yeah, please don't freak out. I think as long as you take care of yourself and use your foam roller, especially if you're having like back issues and like pain and neck pains and so forth. Definitely a game changer for me for sure. Make sure you get the longest one possible because, you know, as I said, we have more. So we have more length. So especially if you have a longer torso, longer foam rollers is fantastic. But use your foam rollers. Definitely change my life. He'll most likely change yours too if you use it properly. Go to your doctor.

[00:18:21] Make sure you exercise. Make sure you stretch. Make sure you eat well and drink lots of water. This is your sign. If you haven't drank water today, drink it now. Drink it up. But anyways, that is all for today's episode. Hopefully I satisfied the person who requested this. Hopefully they learned something from it and hopefully you guys learned something from it too, even if you didn't request it. But yeah, thank you so much for tuning in. I really appreciate it and I appreciate you.

[00:18:47] Of course, as always, feel free to hit me up on my socials at a tall girls podcast linked in the description. And let me know what you thought about this episode. And if you have anything else to say, have you had any struggles with any, you know, health issues, health challenges, ranging from back pain all the way to the other serious things? Did you know about the whole DES hormonal thing that they were giving young girls so they wouldn't get to like full adult height or whatever? Or they just wouldn't be quote unquote too tall?

[00:19:16] Let me know in the comments. Let me know in the DMs. Just let me know. I'm down to have a chat as long as it's appropriate. And until then, I will catch y'all in the next one. Good night and goodbye.