高和矮：哪个更好？

BBC大卫·罗布森（David Robson）(2023年10月4日)

（图片来源：Getty Images）

身高是一个简单的生物学事实，几乎无法改变。但是身高可能会以一种您没意识到的方式影响着您的命运。BBC Future 栏目通过梳理证据，分析身高对您的影响，小到您的性感魅力，大到您的银行账户和您的寿命。

金钱和权力

亚伯拉罕·林肯身高 6 英尺 4 英寸（193 厘米），比巴拉克·奥巴马还要高，但是这个身高仅比美国人的人均身高约高出 3 英寸（8 厘米）。为了证实这种相关性，最近的一项研究发现高个子候选人确实通常会获得更多的选票。

除了白宫竞选，高个子男人和女人通常都被认为更出众、健康、聪明，并且更有可能获得更有竞争力的工作；此外，他们挣的钱更多。这种情况可能源于，我们自然而然地就把身高与“伟大”和“出众”联想在一起，而后面这两种品质对于领导力来说很重要。但是身高也反映了孩子营养状况的好坏。因此，虽然身高也许只是一个更普通的生长发育指标，但是它可能反过来影响您的教育状况，以及您在后来的生活中是否会取得成功。

当然，并不是所有成功人士都是男人中的巨人（尽管温斯顿·丘吉尔和马丁·路德·金身高不高，但是他们浑身散发魅力）。但是单从第一印象来说，高个子人可能占优势。

结论：高个子人更容易占据上风。

高个子男人可能在床上遇到麻烦（不仅仅因为他们霸占所有床单）（图片来源：Getty Images）

性吸引

高大且体态修长优美的男人确实通常更具诱惑力。一项又一项的研究发现高个子的男、女更具吸引力。有趣的是，您甚至可以通过看某人的脸部，猜出他/她的身高，这意义着交友网站上的大头照无法掩盖身材骨架的大小。但是尽管高个子女人可能得到重视，成为超级模特，但是他们在爱情游戏中似乎不能享有同样的待遇。在爱情游戏中，中等身材的女人通常最受欢迎。

即使是男人，拥有瘦长的身材可能是喜忧参半的事情，因为这意味着人们会更关注您的其他天赋。最近的一项研究考察了女人对阴茎尺寸的判断。奇怪的是，身高越高的男人，他的阴茎尺寸在决定整体吸引力方面的重要性似乎越大。也许女人对高个子男人的期望很高，所以当他们未能达到这种期望时，对他们的评判也尤其严厉。毕竟，人们对“大脚男人”的评价并不总是正确。

结论：在爱情游戏中，高个子人似乎是赢家，但这并不一定能与成功相挂钩。

体育运动

对于高个子人来说，他们的原始体能可能更多，但是他们的灵活性不是很好（图片来源：Getty Images）

您只需要看看篮球场或田径跑道，就会意识到，在许多比赛中，长腿是一大优势。四肢越长，覆盖面积的速度越快，并且跑的更远。此外，在美式足球等团队运动中，高个子球员可以看到对手的头顶，这样更方便传球。

然而，有时候，体型较小可以是一大优势。神经脉冲从四肢传到大脑所消耗的时间更少，这意味着体型较小的人反应速度更快，可能更加灵敏——而这一点对于某些武术家（如成龙）来说大有裨益。此外，如果体型较高，弯曲和扭转动作也会更加麻烦，而体型较小的人却可以实现更大的“旋转加速度”，因此他们在体操、滑雪、滑冰、滑雪和潜水领域表现杰出。

结论：两相打平。实际上取决于运动类型。

体型较高的人是否较具笨拙倾向，是否更容易招致霉运？（图片来源：Getty Images）

笨拙

您的身体有点像汽车：从纯机械这一角度来说，汽车越大，越难慢下来，因此越难避免碰撞。此外，动力越大，碰撞所产生的撞击力也越大，这会让您更加痛苦。当然，在坠落时，矮个子人与地面的距离较短。据估计，高出 20% 的人在一次坠落中所产生的人体动能会高出两倍。

也许这可以解释，为什么高个子人在他们一生中更容易遭受伤害；相比那些只有 5 英尺 2 英寸的女人，身高超过 5 英尺 8 英寸的女人遭受髋部骨折的机率可能高出两倍。

结论：高个子人要比矮个子人更容易出意外。

个子高是否对健康有害？每高一厘米，您的寿命会折损 0.7 年（图片来源：Getty Images）

寿命和健康

众所周知，意大利撒丁岛（Sardinia）斯特里赛利大村的百岁老人比例最高，超过欧洲其他国家。虽然这一事实有许多产生因素（包括地中海饮食与愉快的社会生活）——但是其中一个因素可能是那里的人普遍都不高。就年龄最大的一代人来说，男性平均身高约在 160 厘米（或 5 英尺 3 英寸）左右。

这令人惊讶。因为越健康的儿童往往长得越高，因此您可能认为身高是衡量整体体格的一项好指标。然而，在考虑了其他因素之后，如饮食和保健，高个子人在老了以后似乎会受苦。例如，体型越大，体内细胞越多，细胞癌变的风险也随之增高。越大的体型也可能会消耗更多的能量，而这加剧了有毒副产物的堆积，这种副产物往往可能会引发磨损情况的产生。

这些结果可能会让您减寿；在撒丁岛长寿居民中，身高最高的居民要比比他矮的邻居约少活 2 年。另一项对 130 万西班牙人开展的研究发现，身高每高一厘米，总预期寿命会减少 0.7 年。

结论：矮个子人享有更长的寿命。

高个子人的人生旅程是否更容易？（图片来源：Getty Images）

幸福

尽管这些轻微风险影响着您的健康，但是下面一项研究结果给高个子人带来了一线曙光：各种研究均表明身高越高，幸福度和享受生活度越高。这可能又要回到一个事实，您的身高可能会影响您的职业前景，并且会帮助您挣更多的钱，而这表明高个子人的人生旅途可能稍微轻松些。

结论：您越高，您越幸福。

当然，所有这些因素仅仅相互关联。打破常规的例子很多。我们所有人都受到身体各因素的限制——但是无论您的体型是哪种，我们似乎均分享奖品。也许，所有这些统计数据不过是验证了一句老话：决定您命运的不是身体，而是如何使用身体。

（责编：友义）

Tall vs short: Which is it better to be?

By David Robson,4 October 2024

Your height is a simple biological fact that you can do little to change, yet it may be influencing your destiny in ways you didn’t realise. BBC Future combed through the evidence to size up its impact on everything from your sexual allure to your bank account and your lifespan.

Money and power

At 6ft 4in (193cm), Abraham Lincoln would tower above Barack Obama – but even he is around 3in (8cm) taller than the average American. Confirming the correlation, a recent study found that taller candidates do indeed tend to receive more votes.

Beyond the race to the White House, taller men and women are considered to be more dominant, healthy, and intelligent, and are more likely to be chosen for more competitive jobs; they also earn more money. It could be that we naturally associate height with “greatness” and “dominance” – two traits that are important for leadership. But height also reflects nutrition as a child – so perhaps it simply acts as a more general indicator of your upbringing, which may in turn influence your education and success later in life.

Not all high achievers are giants among men, of course (Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King exuded charisma despite being on the short side). But on the basis of first impressions alone, taller people may have the edge. Verdict: It’s easier for taller people to have the upper hand.

Sexual attraction

Towering, statuesque men do tend to have more allure. Study after study has found that taller men and women are generally considered more attractive. Intriguingly, you can even guess someone’s height from their face, meaning a mugshot on a dating website is not going to hide a more diminutive frame. But although they may be prized as supermodels, tall women do not seem to enjoy the same advantages in the dating game, however – an average height generally seems to be preferred.

Even for men, a lanky body could be mixed blessing, if it means people also pay greater attention to your other endowments. One study recently examined women’s judgements of penis size. Curiously, the taller the man, the more important his penis size seemed to be in determining his overall attractiveness. Perhaps men of greater stature raised the women’s expectations, and so they were judged particularly harshly if they failed to make the grade. It’s not always true what people say about “men with big feet”, after all.

Verdict: Taller people might seem to win the dating game, but that doesn’t always translate into success.

Tall? Tweet this article.

Sport and athletics

You only need to look at a basketball court or the race track to realise that longer legs are an advantage across many events. Longer limbs can cover the ground faster, and they can reach further. What’s more, in team sport like American Football, taller players are able look over the heads of their competitors, making it easier to pass the ball.

Yet sometimes a smaller body can be a bonus. It takes less time for a nerve impulse to travel the lengths of their limbs to their brains, meaning that their reaction times should be quicker, and they may be more nimble – which might help certain martial artists like Jackie Chan. It is also more cumbersome to bend and twist a taller body, whereas smaller people can achieve greater “rotational acceleration”, meaning that they excel in gymnastics, snowboarding, skating, skiing and diving.

Verdict: A clear score draw. It really depends on the sport.

Clumsiness

Think of your body a bit like a car: in purely mechanical terms, the larger it is, the harder it is to slow down if you need to avoid a collision. What’s more, the greater momentum means you face a more painful impact during collision. And of course, shorter people have less distance to fall. According to one estimate, someone who is 20% taller will build up twice as much kinetic energy during a fall. (You need only watch the comedian Miranda Hart to see this principle in action.)

Perhaps this can explain why taller people are much more likely to suffer from injuries across their lifetime; women taller than 5ft 8in are twice as likely to fracture their hip as women who are just 5ft 2in.

Verdict: Smaller people are less accident-prone than taller people.

Lifespan and health

Villagrande Strisaili in Sardinia is known to have the highest proportion of centenarians in the whole of Europe. While many factors may contribute (including the Mediterranean diet and a lively social life) – one possible reason may be that the people are a little on the short side, with an average male height of around 160cm (or 5ft 3in) for the oldest generation.

That’s surprising. Since healthier children tend to grow taller, you might expect height to be a good indicator of overall fitness. When other factors such as diet and healthcare have been taken into account, however, taller people seem to suffer as they get older. For instance, the bigger you are, the more cells you have in your body, increasing the risk of mutations developing that could cause cancer. A larger body may also have to burn more energy, increasing the build-up of toxic by-products that could contribute to general wear and tear.

The results could knock years off your life; among those long-lived citizens of Sardinia, the tallest people lived for about two years less than their shorter neighbours. Another study, of 1.3 million Spaniards, found that every additional centimetre in height shaved 0.7 years from the total expected lifespan.

Verdict: A shorter body means a longer lifespan.

Happiness

Despite these slight risks to your health, there is a silver lining to being tall: various studies have found that the greater your height, the higher you score on measures of happiness and enjoyment of life. This probably returns to the fact that your height can influence your career prospects and helps you to earn more money, meaning that taller people may have a slightly easier ride through life.

Verdict: The taller you are, the happier you are.

All of these factors are mere correlations, of course. There are plenty of exceptions that break all the rules. We have all been subjected to biology’s lottery – but it seems the prizes have been spread evenly, whatever your body size. Perhaps all these statistics really just prove the old adage right: it’s not the size of your body that determines your fate, but the way that you use it. And that’s the long and the short of the matter.