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Does sitting all day behind a computer stunt height growth?

I am 17 years old, almost 18,  and I was wondering whether sitting for like 6-8 hours behind a computer can affect my growth. When I was 13-16 I used to sit behind a computer during vacation for the whole day except when sleeping, which is like 16 hours. During school it was around 6 hours a day.
If it happens to stunt height or even if it does not, I would genuinely appreciate if you could elaborate on it!
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Avatar universal
Absolutely not, but it is not healthy either
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973741 tn?1342342773
So, here comes a mom lecture.  I do think sitting behind a computer all day is not good for anyone.  You need to be up and active.  Take breaks and stand up, stretch, get outside, do some sports/exercise, etc.  A good exercise is to hold a towel behind you and pull out with your arms--- stretches out your back.  Do you lose height because of sitting behind a computer?  No.  But you can get hunched over and posture problems if you don't watch yourself.  And if your hunched over with bad posture, you don't appear as tall.  :)  I have a son who is cerebral and works hard on his homework and such so spends a lot of time over a computer.  I make him stand, stretch, put his shoulders back, support his lower back, etc.  So, keep that stuff in mind.  But you won't be shorter because of this in terms of how much you grow.  When did you go through puberty? That is a bigger determinant of how tall you will be---  that and the height of both of your parents.  good luck
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Avatar universal
No.  You will grow to whatever height your genes have programmed for you absent some severe malnutrition episode which occurred in childhood, such as happens in war torn nations or nations with an economy that has completely fallen apart making adequate nutrients impossible to obtain.  This isn't you.  It might, however, lead to problems with your spine later in life, such as neck pain and shoulder pain, so make sure your posture is good and you don't spend all of your time doing that.  You gotta get out and move, you're an animal, you're built for movement, not sitting around.  Bending your neck down greatly increases the weight it puts on the the vertebrae that support it.  It's even worse if you spend a lot of time looking down at a cell phone, so try to keep it a eye level when you look at it.  This also has nothing to do with height, but if want muscle development, again, you gotta get out and exert yourself.  Now, if you're busy writing great music or writing great literature or making great music, it might be worth it.  If you're just surfing the web, playing video games, or hanging out on social media, go gain there at all.  Moderation.  Peace.
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5 Comments
And let me add, even if you grow really tall, if by age 50 you're bent over from vertebrae problems, you won't look it.  Good habits now will prevent the kind of problems so many of us have as we age.  I wish someone had taught me proper posture when I was young.
Sorry for the late reply, but you talked about exercising/movement. So I am wondering whether not exercising can stunt height growth since humans are generally not used to this kind of laziness. Oh and is there also any scientific proof whether not exercising can stunt height growth?

(Thanks for the replies so far)
Growth doesn't really work that way.  You'd be more likely to get 'bigger' in the middle from sitting
I think this question has been answered already several times now.  Height is a function of genes.  The only thing that can stunt it is severe malnutrition, which does occur but it's highly unlikely this has occurred with you, or birth defects or severe injuries to the bone structure early in life which also hasn't happened to you.  So tell us, why the fixation on height?  And if you're so worried that lack of exercise is a problem, what's stopping you from starting to do some?    
There is the whole bone age issue where some take growth hormone to stop puberty because their bone age is advanced.  But you are too old for this issue.  

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Arlington, VA
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