Anthropometric Studies of the Diurnal Human Height Shrinkage Across Selected Professionals in Nigeria

Diurnal variation in stature is one potentially significant source of error in the evaluation of short-term growth. Hence, there is the need to observe whether there are diurnal variations when assessing humans’ (subjects) body composition, using physical anthropometric methods. In this paper, the diurnal human height shrinkage have been investigated by measurements, such that twice-daily measurements and body weight of subjects were examined and recorded. A total of 70 subjects were examined altogether. This comprises of 35 males and 35 females of which 2 nursery school children (a boy and a girl) were involved, aging 4 years and 3½ years respectively. For most of the subjects, Morning measurements were made immediately after rising. The time of the measurements was also recorded and diurnal changes during daytime were estimated. Results showed that stature decreased during the day in the entire 70 subjects surveyed and sampled. From the results, it could be seen that an average female subject will shrink by 0.88% of the usual (morning) height. Also, the mean average shrinkage in height amounts to 1.43 ± 2cm for the females. Likewise, an average male subject will shrink by 0.91% of his usual morning height. The mean average shrinkage in height in male subjects equals 1.56 ± 2cm. The findings of this study confirm the existence of diurnal variation and that the greater proportion of the height loss occurs during the earlier part of the day, especially when subjects are engaged with some form of activity or the other.