Are people getting bigger and bigger

[Omydearehert]

When I look at old photographs everyone seems quite regularly sized, not too dissimilar from today (discounting the majority of us who are overweight that is). But then I look at my family photographs and remember that my grandmother was 153cm tall and didn't look unusually short (1930s).

I attempted to try on a pair of 50s gloves in an antique shop and I (smallish hands, 5'2) had no chance of fitting my sausages into them.

My significantly younger siblings and their friends tower over me. Both of them wear larger shoes than I do.

I seem to have completely forgotten how to properly phrase my question, but am I going mad in thinking that it's as if every few years the children born grow bigger than the ones before?

I think so. I have a few of my late great aunts smart dress gloves. She would have worn them in the 1940's/50's.
I can't even get them on despite having a slightly underweight BMI. My hands are bony but are clomping great big ogre hands compared to what hers were.

When we moved into our house the attic was full of trunks containing clothes which I guess were 1920’s to 1930’s. I thought at first the dresses were for a a young teenager they were so tiny. The men’s clothes we found were also small.

People have definitely been getting taller for sure.

@Silvercatowner

I work in a care home and very few of the very elderly residents are overweight.

Really? A lot of ours are. And the ones that aren't, are very frail and end of life.

@Silvercatowner

I work in a care home and very few of the very elderly residents are overweight.

Is that because overweight people statistically don't make it to old age in the same numbers?

@megletthesecond

I think so. I have a few of my late great aunts smart dress gloves. She would have worn them in the 1940's/50's. I can't even get them on despite having a slightly underweight BMI. My hands are bony but are clomping great big ogre hands compared to what hers were.

Yes...I think this is not just about weight and obesity. I think skeletons are actually bigger.

I think we also need to remember that those people who lives through rationing may not have grown to their full potential

*lived

Oh it seems that being short is a good thing. Fewer cells to replicate. Done bebfir to being 5'4" after all!

www.healthline.com/health/do-short-people-live-longer

The 13yr old DSSs wear size 10 shoes - their 6’4” tall father only wears 9s! They’re 13 FGS!

Nutrition and medicine would definitely support some increase in the size of the average human, but I’m shocked it’s happening so fast.

• Some benefit

Must read before pressing post!

Well I'm 5ft 10. I doubt there was many women my height 100 years ago. Or men actually.

@araiwa

Taller- yes. Better nutrition etc more food

Fatter- also yes

Yep. Very true on both.

No idea why we are getting taller really, as others have mentioned our diets have really gotten worse, not better. Can't really be that making us taller. It's definitely what is making us wider.

I think the average age of death will start falling soon too. People are fatter so they die younger. The current elderly are very rarely obese, and there are way less thin people now than fat people, unlike several decades ago.

Is that because overweight people statistically don't make it to old age in the same numbers?

Again, anecdotal, but I've known quite a few women who were overweight in middle-age/early old-age, but lost weight when they got to the 80+ stage - they seemed to have a much smaller appetite, perhaps due to general ill-health/aches and pains.

@SquirryTheSquirrel

Is that because overweight people statistically don't make it to old age in the same numbers?

Again, anecdotal, but I've known quite a few women who were overweight in middle-age/early old-age, but lost weight when they got to the 80+ stage - they seemed to have a much smaller appetite, perhaps due to general ill-health/aches and pains.

Yes it true. My grandmother was a big woman until she hit her very late 70s/early 80s and she ate much smaller portions and was much thinner

Silvercatowner

I work in a care home and very few of the very elderly residents are overweight.

Is that because overweight people statistically don't make it to old age in the same numbers

I would imagine so, yes.

I read a book recently that said it was only the 1700s when the average working man had anything close to enough food on a regular basis.

That’s only 300 years ago. We’ve had agriculture 12000 years.

Every generation is on average taller, and has been for a while.

I would add to ither reasons people mentioned - foreign blood. Lots of people have now mixed dna in from other countries and people of UK are quite short on average. So mixing in higher average nations can have n effect too

@katemuff

vaccinations play a big part in this, as well as nutrition

Because being ill frequently stunts growth?

Yup, I think the average height in medieval times was 5'5 for men and 5'2 for women if I remember correctly. It's why the vikings were protrayed as being terrifying, as they were slightly taller than us tiny Brits. Also Edward the I was just over 6 foot which was considered really tall back then, hence his nickname Longshanks

I’m 5’4” with narrow size 4 feet and small hands
I love vintage gloves as struggle to find ones that fit unless they are Italian and small size
I find most high street shoe shops far too wide fitting and stalk Brazilian and Italian seconds at tkmaxx
I’m not at my best weight at moment but when I was still struggled with vintage clothing as my boobs are too big
DD is only 5’1” so not true that next generation are always bigger
DS on other hand is 6’4” with rugby player build - very unlike his DF and I

@OnwardsAndSideways1

If you go to the Fashion Museum, you will see that the old dresses from 1950's back to Victorian and Georgian times are made for tiny tiny women. They were short as well as tiny in frame, more like preadolescent children size nowadays. So, yes, bigger all over, shoes the same, no-one would have a hope of wearing old shoes!

They were laced into very tight corsets before putting on the dresses though.

If you look at modern high fashion in museums it is also absolutely tiny. Being skinny has been the ideal for women since Georgian times and it’s probably not surprising that the expensive clothes that were deemed worth saving were worn by fashion conscious women who would have watched their weight.

My sister and I must be throw backs. We're both under 5 foot, where as our DM is around 5 foot 3. I have size 3 feet and a small frame. DD is 9 and some of her friends are my height!

I can only say that on the clothing front my mum recently gave me her grandmothers velvet evening jacket - it would have dated to late Victorian and when I tried it on it fit fine. I’m a 10-12 on top. But it is a loose-ish style with just one button so perhaps that it why.

I have 3 sisters, 2 at 5ft 6, one at 5ft 8. I’m the youngest, with a huge gap, and 6ft, so yes, your theory must be true