Do Short People Live Longer or The Taller Ones Have a Shorter Lifespan?

A short person and a tall person are having a debate on their life expectancy. The tall person is saying their life expectancy is longer, because of some obvious reasons. I’m sure you think the same too. Well, it is often believed that a taller person is supposed to live longer, this is because being “short” is often overlooked as a deficiency as if something is missing from that short person’s body. But what’s actually true? How long do short people live? And how long do tall people live? 

Some studies have proven that being tall may have its own perks but having a longer life isn’t essentially one of them. In fact, some research also indicates some possible connection between being tall and having some specific diseases. Now you don’t think being tall is all beneficial, do you? Well, you may find all of your answers in this article, so continue reading to know it all. 

What Does Science Say About Shorter People Living Longer? 

There are not just one but several studies that prove the correlation between height and mortality rate. In fact, over the past 30 years, there has been a constant negative correlation found between taller heights and longevity, plus, millions of death rates stated that shorter and smaller dead bodies have comparatively lower death rates. 

Not just that, shorter people appear to be having longer average lifespans. So it’s basically, not about the looks and being tall, in fact, it is about everything other than that. 

Research also found that at the age of 70 years, men who were taller lived 2 years less than the ones who were shorter. 

Note: One thing to keep in mind here is that these researches do not correlate the variables like BMI i.e., Body Mass Index for any such studies. 

Now the question that must be popping in your head is “why and how do short people live longer”, well, it did in mine too. Let’s find out. 

Why Do Short People Live Longer?

Well, there is more research needed to completely comprehend why shorter people live longer or even to acknowledge if shorter people are destined to live longer than taller ones. 

But as of now, there are multiple theories for the same. Let’s have a look:

• Caloric Restrictions– Which means less eating. This factor may be beneficial for shorter people as taller people have larger bones as well as larger internal organs. And for this, they require a larger caloric intake to have them function optimally. 

• Shorter bodies will have fewer cells– When it comes to teeny tiny cells, taller people can have trillions more cells as compared to shorter people. This leads to larger impacts and exposure to free radicals. 

• More cells lead to more replications– As people age, the replacement of cells may no longer be available for repairing tissues and organ damage in taller people. 

Now that you have almost comprehended about shorter people living longer and the reason behind that as well, aren’t you wondering where this question even arises? I’m sure you are. Let’s find out. 

Where Did This Question of “How Long Do Shorter People Live” Arise? 

You may have not even imagined this, but this query actually emerged from a TikTok trend. In some viral jokes on TikTok, this trend took place and gave birth to this question. Well, it started with the question “How long do idiots live?” 

What’d the TikTok Trend Say?

It all began with a minor mistake when a TikToker accidentally Googled the question, “How long do short people live?”. The strange part about this is, despite all the above-stated facts, according to Google, the lifespan of shorter people is only 10-13 or 10-12 years. This event led to people sending Google’s answer to their short friends with an “I will miss you” message. In fact, this further led to the emergence of another trend. 

How “I Will Never Forget You” Trend Took Over? 

Soon after the ‘how long do short people live TikTok’ trend, when people actually started believing that shorter people have a smaller lifespan, they began to text their comparatively ‘shorter’ friends as “I will never forget you” videos, which also got too viral. 

All this may sound a little childish and maybe even stupid, but the ‘how long do short people live for meme’ actually got a little viral. 

Coming back to the primary aspect of our topic, now that you are quite aware of shorter people’s lifespans and how they live longer than tall people, you must also know about some health complications of taller people. 

Are There Any Health Complications with Taller People? 

There might be some health complications that are directly correlated to height. 

Cancer Risk

A 2016 study of Americans found a direct relationship between cancer risk and height. In fact, researchers also state that an additional inch in height generates about a 2.2 percent higher risk of death from all causes, and that’s just for men, the death risk for women is 2.5 percent with every additional inch in height. 

The same additional increase of inches in height leads to a 7.1 percent risk of death from cancer in men and the stats for the same in women is 5.7 percent. Now, this is not something one can neglect. 

Venous Thromboembolism

VTE occurs when a blood clot or a thrombi forms in a deep vein. It was observed that recurring VTE was found in comparatively taller people, women to be more precise. Having longer legs will obviously lead to longer veins, which will further increase the risk of the occurrence of a thrombus. 

Now all that being said, the question that arises now is, what next? What does this mean now? How long do tall people live? Are they at any risk? Let’s find answers to each of your queries. 

What Does All of It Indicate Now? 

Despite all the facts stated above, height is not the only factor that affects longevity, it is one of them, but the only one. Plus, this also doesn’t mean that short people are destined to live longer and tall people are detained to live shorter. All of it basically depends on an individual’s habits, diet, and many other factors. 

Just like that, lifestyle choices impose great impacts on our lifespan and on disease acquisition as well. Hence, there are several measures you can adopt to have a healthier life. Let’s have a look:

• Have an exercise routine.
• Quit smoking or vaping. 
• Try to eat healthier food that is filled with nutrients and antioxidants. 
• Reduce consumption of sugar, fast food, and processed food. 
• Try not to take much stress. 
• Stay in a location with much lesser pollution. 
• Reduce the consumption of alcohol. 

Basically, all these are ways towards a healthier and more fruitful life. 

FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about shorter people, their lifespan, and the viral TikTok trend: