[Ansteorra] Short or tall? was Sleeping sitting up vs lying down

[Sir Morgan Buchanan]

I'd like to suggest a few things that back up the evidence shown by Sir 
Lyonel.  A bit of anecdotal evidence..  I have a friend from Cuba.  He has 
11 brothers and sisters all to the same parents.  6 were born in Cuba when 
the parents were very impoverished, and the children had notabley worse 
nutrition in their formative years.  The boys are all under 5'7" and the 
girls all under 5'1".  The 6 children that were born in Miami after the 
family had been there 2 years and had financially prospered, the boys all 
over 6' and the girls all over 5'7".  Anecdotal for certain, but still, 
interesting.

On another note, the average height for Japanese men at the time of World 
War 2 was shorter than the average western European man.  In just a few 
generations, they've passed European men and are nearly the same as American 
men.  This is far from enough time for genetic change on an evolutionary 
scale.  Lyonel's historical timeline shows ebbs and flows.  I'd bet that 
those could be traced to general economic trends as well as some indicators 
in nutritional values if it were plotted together.  Just my thought.

Respectfully,
Morgan


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sir Lyonel Oliver Grace" <sirlyonel at hotmail.com>

>
> There's a frequently-encountered assumption that the average height of
> humans has grown steadily taller as the centuries have progressed. 
> However,
> studies have shown that the average height of a population is related to
> general health and economic well-being, which is affected by such factors 
> as
> climate changes, the growth of cities, war and population cycles. Thus,
> average height fluctuated throughout history.

> Average height then steadily declined until it reached a low point of 5 
> feet
> 5.5 inches in the 17th and 18th centuries, rising again through the 19th
> century and only reaching prior heights in the first half of the 20th
> century. An article on the study by Richard Steckel appears in the Social
> Science History journal.
>