can beds stunt growth?

ok i have a question and im just wondering if its possible for a bed to stunt growth...because im seventeen and ive been the same height since my freshman year at high skool....and i sleep in a the top bunk of a bunk bed thats relatively small (5'6) in length and it has wooden boards around the edge of it to prevent me from falling. and since u grow in your sleep ...is it possible, givin the conditions im in, for a bed to prevent growth.

p.s. therees no bottom bunk... i took it out and put a tv and lounge chair in it..

[edit on 8-3-2006 by Big_BIRD]

I don't see how that could really affect your growth. Also, you don't actually grow in your sleep. During puberty (although you are in the latter few years of it), you grow constantly. Your cells are being stimulated all day by growth factors belonging to many different families. The bed doesn't effect these growth factors, and shouldn't produce any non-growth stimuli on your body unless you lie in it for most of the day, which I would assume you don't.

~MFP

I don't know about the bed part, but I stopped growing somewhere around my first year of high school, too; I've been 6'2 since I was about 16 or so, and I'll be 24 in a few days.

I should add that I slept in the top bunk of a bunkbed as well from about age 7 to age 13 or so.

One thing to look at is how tall are your parents? Unless you are significantly shorter than they are, I wouldn't worry. Also, if you are a girl, girls tend to be shorter. In my family, my dad is 5'11, my mom is 5'10. I'm 6'2, and my younger brother is 6'3, but my little sister is 5'6 (she is 19, and hasn't grown in several years) My sister was also born a month premature, which definitely affected her size for the first few years of her life, but I'm not sure whether the body makes up for it later in life or whether being a premature baby means you will be smaller as an adult or not. Maybe our good Studentessa di medicina above will have an answer for that one for you, assuming that it even applies to your case?

Beds actually make you bigger as in longer because sleeping that way releases the tention from gravity on your discs in your spine. So when we walk around we shorten up. Maybe living upside down may grow you taller but is bad for the head. Astonauts grow taller in space also.

In my family, my dad is 5'11, my mom is 5'10. I'm 6'2, and my younger brother is 6'3, but my little sister is 5'6 (she is 19, and hasn't grown in several years) My sister was also born a month premature, which definitely affected her size for the first few years of her life, but I'm not sure whether the body makes up for it later in life or whether being a premature baby means you will be smaller as an adult or not. Maybe our good Studentessa di medicina above will have an answer for that one for you, assuming that it even applies to your case?

This is actually a fairly common occurence. The disparity between you and your sibling's height and your parents' heights is simply genetic. They could each have a recessive hene for certain growth factors, and you inherited both recessive copies thus activating a growth factor which is recessively activated and that your parents have in short supply. Like I said, very common, doesn't have much to do with life style, sleeping position, etc, just genetics.

Time Lord does bring up a good point, however. Tension caused by gravity's effects on the spine does in fact compact tissue and bone to an extent and cause a shortening of stature. Sleeping in a recline position would put more pressure on your back than, say, sleeping on your stomach or side. Good point, Time Lord.

~MFP

k thanx for the input guys

No beds do not stunt growth. Your body and genetics determines how big you will be. Im short(5'4) and I haven;'t grown since like 8th grade. Its just pre-determined you may grow more you may not.