Answer: Yes, according to human physiology the bones of a man get closely joined together near about the age of 21 years. Hence they do not develop further. But it is not absolutely correct to say that the height of no one increases, beyond the age of 21 years. It is correct to say that when one reaches this age, the development will be visible only above or below the back and not in the legs.
Question: Should we infer thereby that the length of the legs does not increase at all beyond the age of 21 years?
Answer: No, there are several persons whose height has increased even after this age.
Question: I am forty years, old. Can my height increase even now? If so, how?
Answer: Undoubtedly, your height can increase even at this age. On several occasions your body shrinks on account of wrong postures and defective positions of the various parts of the body, and you start looking short. You can improve your height by improving your posture. Besides, your height can increase by taking good and nourishing diet which can make you strong and sturdy. Adequate rest, sleep, massage and sun-bath also contribute towards the development of your body

Our answer would be “Undoubtedly”. You can set right your posture by effort and continuous practice. The older the habit of keeping the different parts of your body in a wrong position, greater will be the effort needed to get rid of it.

So it means that our posture becomes wrong due to our carelessness or ignorance. But if we exercise a check on it and strive to practice the correct posture, the wrong posture can be set right.
Several people, on the suggestions of their friends, walk with a stiff head or a protruded chest and think that they are following the correct posture. But they are mistaken. The posture does not become correct by making any part of our body stiff. For this we require systematic movements and regular practice. Tension is aroused in our body, when we make it or any of its part stiff artificially. But if we maintain a natural posture, our muscles become elastic and strong. The normal posture keeps our body and its parts healthy and dynamic.

Why is correct posture essential?

Our posture is directly related to the activities of the internal parts of our body. Wrong posture hinders the right functions of heart, lungs and circulation of blood. The curves in the spine, fallen shoulders and drooping head do not allow the heart and lungs to function properly. You can very well realise that if the heart and the lungs do not /unction properly, what will he the consequences thereof. You are thinking correctly. If the blood circulation will not be right, our body will become weak and its parts will tend to be loose. There will be pain in certain parts of the body, while stiffness will be found in others. The man will become tired and his hands and feet will become benumbed. The cumulative effect of all these will be that your posture will become all the more defective. Consequently your stature will become still shorter.
Examination of the knees
(1) The knees of some persons often rub against each other.

(2) The legs of some children are bent in the shape of an arrow.

(3) The knees of some persons are bent. These three states are the outcome of putting up with wrong positions of the different bodily parts for years together. They can, however, be overcome with diligent efforts.

The first and the second defect can be removed by walking regularly for five minutes, both in the morning as well as in the evening, after adopting the correct position of knees. The third type of defect can be detected with the help of a vertical line. If the line touches your ankles and passes touching the middle part of your knees, you should conclude that the position of your knees is perfectly all right. But if the knees are observed coming out of the line, you should infer that your knees are bent and are defective.

The technique of correcting the bent knees

(1) Sit erects on a chair and stretches your legs. Keep them on a stool, placed at a short distance from you.

(2) Stretch your right leg straight and remain in this position for 4 seconds.

(3) Now stretch your left leg in this very manner.

(4) Repeat this movement eight times for each leg.

When the wrong position of the knees is corrected, the posture improves and the height increases.

Those who Hue on the peaks of mountains are found to be taller in comparison to their relatives, who live in valleys. Even in the same state it has been observed that those who work under the sun in the open fields are taller than those of their relations who live in the narrow lanes of big cities and those who work in factories. Have you ever thought as to how the offsprings of the same parents are tall as well as short in stature? If one is tall, the other is short. How does the growth of one and the same person vary in different situations?

You must have understood our meaning, the reasons are sunshine and fresh air. The famous English journalist, John Douglas, says, “If some one would ask me to enumerate the three most valuable things of the world, I will say, sunshine, fresh air and water.” Vitamin D is present in the rays of the sun, and there is oxygen in fresh air. Water regulates the entire digestive system.
The sunshine is the essence of all physical powers. If human body is deprived of sunshine for some time, it becomes powerless and is surrounded by a number of diseases. Those people who work in dark rooms or in underground rooms, find that their skin soon becomes pale and they suffer from anaemia and consumption.
We get light and heat from the sun. The old residents of Greece and Rome knew the importance of basking in the sun. They used to make use of the roofs of their houses to bask in  the sun. Hippocrates, the father of medical sciences and Celsus were great exponents and supporters of the heat of the sun. They were of the opinion that those persons, who basked under the sun, developed great resistance towards disease. Celsus used to advise the patients suffering form nervous diseases to expose themseleves to the sun. The Ultra Violet Rays of the sun are very useful for human body.
The sun-bath should be taken with the rising sun. Put on an under-wear and enjoy the rays of the sun without putting on any other clothing on the body. Slowly you will begin to perspire. The circulation of the blood will increase in the whole body. The dormant or the dead cells of the body will revive. If oil massage is also done as suggested above, you can have a complete transformation of your body in a few days. Within a few days the height of the body of a man starts increasing.
Enjoy fresh air along with the sun-bath both in the morning as well as in the evening while putting on light clothes. In the morning go to some garden and do the exercise of deep breathing. Enjoy as much oxygen as you can, inhale it and benefit your body thereby. You will find that you have become fresh.
If you feel this freshness both in the morning as well as in the evening, do you know what it suggests?
Yes, your freshness goes to prove that you are deriving the maximum advantage of the gifts of Nature i.e., sunshine, air and water. If you are growing in harmony with Nature, your body will naturally grow and develop. If a plant grows when it finds sufficient sun-shine and water, why will not the human being group when it also enjoys these gifts of Nature?

The diet of children

Our suggestion in this regard is that the children should be given such a diet which will make their bones strong and also increase their height. To achieve this end, you should give them pulses, ghee, butter, milk and rice in sufficient quantity. If this may not be possible, you may give them some of the following items in their breakfast. These are eggs, fish, tomato, apples, grapes or almond.
At the time of lunch, you should give them the soup of boiled nourishing vegetables such as beans. On special occasions you may give them dry fruits such as dry resins and dates. The menu of the food at night can be fixed according to their taste. The meals at night should be lighter than the one in the morning, *so that it may easily be digested.

Out of the liquid diets, you may give the children barley water, ovaltine, coco, along with other fruit juices. These drinks should be taken an hour after the meals.

The parents, who are desirous of developing the body of the child and increasing its height, should give nourishing diet to their children. Some children do not like the pulses, rice and vegetables, but want to eat pastries, tasty and fried snacks and sweets. Some like only potato and others want to eat Vajmah’ only.
The parents should not yield to the obstinacy of the children, in such a condition. On the contrary, they should be explained u;ith foue that tuhen only one item of food is taken, some ingredients become excessive in body, tuhich is harmful. When other items of food are not taken, the body becomes weak, which gauderies to a number of new diseases. We believe that the children will value your arguments and your job will become easy.

To put on clothes, as other people do, is called fashion. It is not very good for the people to remain distinct from the rest knowingly, but blind imitation is something very bad. In so far as the fashion of putting on tight clothes is concerned, it is defective. (Luckily the attention of certain people has gone in this direction and an opinion has grown against it.)
The development of the body of a human being takes place in the same way as the growth of plants and trees. While planting trees, we take care to see that their roots get sufficient space to grow. Their roots should get sufficient water from the ground to suck. They should get sufficient air and sun-shine. Only then it is possible for the plant or tree to grow and yield fruits and flowers.
If you are in the habit of putting on tight clothes, your body cannot grow properly. It is not a fact that tight clothes are just uncomfortable. Our body is continuously growing. If we shall afford proper opportunity to it, it will grow. This can only happen when we will put on such clothes as would afford proper opportunity to it to move all the parts of our body freely.
The growth of the legs of such children is retarded, who put on tight pants qr tight ‘churidar payjama’. In the same way, the girls should not put on tight clothes. It is harmful to put on tight banyians, underwears, tight shorts, tight shirts, bush-shirts, coats and waist-coats. They ‘hinder the growth of chest, thighs and arms. Tight cuffs and collars are also harmful. The growth of the neck stops, if tight collars are put on. The growth of the wrists is also hindered on account of tight cuffs of shirts

The thyroid gland is associated with the weight of a person. On the basis of recent researches, the experts have arrived at the conclusion that the activity of the thyroid gland creates an unprecedented increase in the height of a person in young age^ Nevertheless, it is true that in the phenomenon of increase in stature, other glands, too, have their role to play. Even then this can be definitely stated that if this gland does not function properly, the development is not normally possible.
According to experts, “It is very difficult to study the general functions of this gland in an average individual. To Understand its function, the best course is to observe the defects which are found (in a human organism) when this gland does not function properly or when it is removed from the body of a person. In that condition, the growth of the bones is stopped or the bones are deformed or mis-shaped. The sexual maturity of a person becomes slow or is stopped. The skin become dry. The muscles grow weak and fatigue occurs. Not only this, the development of the body stops—the stature remains short and a growing body too tends to become short.

“From the study of the above defects, one thing becomes very clear that the thyroid gland affects all the cells of the body and, therefore, it is very significant..,.”
Now let us look at its reverse. If the thyroid gland becomes hyper-active, the result will be-just different. The heart-beat increases, the appetite increases all at once, but after having taken food in an unusual quantity, the person become dull all of a sudden. The person feels very great energy and enthusiasm in him, and becomes very much restless. The skin becomes moist. The temperature of the body increases, and the quantity of glucose in it becomes more than normal.

It need not be said, that the claim of increasing the height can be made in such circumstances, but the person should be treated by an expert physician, otherwise the desired results will not be forthcoming.

In the nineteenth century, there were many fields in the inland regions, which were called ‘Goiter Zones’, for the inhabitants of such places mostly suffered from the hypo-activity of the thyroid glands. They were administered iodine, which led to the disappearance of the disease, and their normal growth began again in its natural form.
If you are anxious to increase your height, follow our course according to the technique outlined and you will find that you have/improved a lot and you are on the path of progress.

(3) The Digestive System:—Its function is to digest the food which generates energy. (The undigested food is also passed out in the form of stool through this system.)

(4) The Breathing System:—To get energy from the food that is digested, oxygen is necessary. This system helps in the procurement of oxygen. It also helps our body to send out carbon dioxide gas from it.

(5) The Circulatory System:—This system is responsible for sending the energy procured from the nourishing elements of our food and the oxygen procured from the air, to all the parts of the body. All the cells of our body require these things, i.e., energy and oxygen. Its circulation takes place through blood. The blood, the blood vessels and the heart—all three combined go to form this system.

(6) The Excretory System:—Its main function is to send out the refuse and the useless matter out of our body. The kidneys, urester and urinary bladder go to form this system. (The urine is passed out through this system.) Other parts of the body also assist in sending out the waste matter e.g., perspiration from the skin and sending out carbon dioxide gas from the lungs.

(7) The Reproductive System:—The organs which go to form this system are different in men and women. The reproductive organ of the male consists of the penis and the testes, while reproductive organ of the female consists of ovaries, uterus and other parts.

(8) The Nervous System;— It exercises a check over the functions of the different parts of human body. The brain, spinal chord and the nerves go to form this system.

(9) The Endocrine System:—’Endocrine* means secreting internally. This system mainly consists of certain glands, which secrete fluids, which get directly mixed up in the blood. These secretions are called ‘hormones’ and the glands secreting them are also called ‘ductless glands’. The main important glands are, thyroid, adrenal, pituitary and the pancreas. Though there are several systems in our body, yet all of them function together. The thyroid gland is mainly connected with the development of the body and the stature of a person. We will discuss it in brief in the next step.

Warnings have been given against smoking, from time to time, in the various spheres of society. But the smokers laugh at these warnings and do not care for them. They do not think them to be worthy of consideration. In the buses and frowns we often find it written: ‘SMOKING PROHIBITED’. Even in offices, cinema halls and factories and also at places of public interest, such a prohibition is notified. You should have thought over the reasons for the same. The main reason underlying this warning seems to be the need for protection from fire. There is, however, another reason, and it is this that smoking is considered to be anti-religious and anti-moral in certain places.
Besides this, those people who do not smoke find faults and faults alone in smoking, while those who smoke, dwell upon its need and point out that it creates in them a mood (to work) and helps clear their bowels.

But here we are not concerned with the other advantages or disadvantages of cigarettes. We only want to know whether cigarette smoking is at all concerned with the increase or decrease of our stature.
We are not to analyze here the cigarettes scientifically and to put up before you a long list of poisons found in them and to startle you thereby. We only want to state briefly that the cigarettes contain certain poisonous elements, which very much hinder the development of the body, particularly during adolescence. Smoking not only badly affects the lungs of a person, but there is always a fear of ‘cancer’ and the growth of the stature is also retarded. This is the conclusion which is derived from the latest scientific researches. All the scientists also agree with the inference that the nicotine present in cigarettes is very much harmful for health.-Hence the people who want to increase their height are advised to get rid of this habit as early as possible.

The foundation of one’s stature is laid in childhood. The child can grow properly during its childhood under the supervision of it parents. The child whose development takes place properly in the beginning, grows into a tall and well-built adult. It can, therefore, be inferred that if the good, the attentive and the educated parents take proper care, their offsprings can also grow into well-built and tall adults.
Undoubtedly, all the parents want that their children may become tall and posses an attractive personality. But only those parents can achieve their goal, who can back their desires with the right type of “efforts. And what is this efforts?

You may ask a hundred times as to what is this effort, but our reply will be one and “the same. While the child is in the growing stage, take every possible care to bring it up properly. Put your child in the open on a mat and afford it an opportunity to move its hands and legs freely, while lying on its back.
If the ground on which the child is lying down is hard and even, it will be able to do bodily exercise by moving its hands and legs. Thus while it grows into an adult, its body will become, proportionate, soft and modifiable.

On the contrary, several mothers, out of excessive affection, make their children sleep on a bed having thick cushion. Some of them think that the cushion is a sign of their affluent economic condition and assume that as their child is one in a million, why should it be made to suffer any trouble’-

And so they make their children sleep on a bed having thick cushions, in an uncomfortable position. You can very easily imagine the consequences.

Yes, you have correctly guessed—the child cannot develop properly. Even when the child has grown up, its bod. remains under-developed.