At one point in our lives, we’ve been admonished by an elder to sit or stand up straight and avoid slouching. As it turns out, here happens to be wisdom in these words. Proper posture after-all, has been proven by science to have positive benefits on our health and well-being.
So what is having the right posture? First off, this entails distributing the force of gravity evenly throughout your body so no one part is over-burdened. If we were to visualize proper posture, this means that whether we are sitting or standing, the spine would be in a neutral position, with our chest out and our shoulders upright as if being held up by an imaginary string from above. No slouching or rounding of the back. Visually, proper posture makes you look more confident, taller or even slimmer.
Our muscles and joints are also in proper alignment, making them work more efficiently and lessening the chances of aches, pains and injury. Correct posture also helps us breathe better, increases circulation and digestion since our internal organs are in their natural position, and are thus, able to function more effectively. Last, it keeps our spine healthy since we do not put undue stress on muscles and ligaments surrounding it.
Here are some simple tips to improve our posture:
Stand tall—When walking or standing, always be mindful of your posture. Cue yourself to stand tall with your back straight, chest out, shoulders held up and your stomach tucked in. Make like your head stretches toward the sky. You look taller, slimmer and so much more confident.
Strengthen your abs—Strong abdominal muscles help support your spine. When fat builds up around our belly, we will need strong muscles to support the spine. Doing front and side planks will help strengthen our core. Begin with 30 second front planks, add another 30 seconds for each side (left and right). Do three sets for each exercise and try working your way up to one minute per side.
Don’t be a slouch at your desk—Sitting long hours at a desk may give us the tendency to slouch while we work. This may seem comfortable, but it’s a definite no-no. Be mindful of this and sit up straight at your workstation. Place a rolled up towel between the middle of your back and your chair, with your feet flat on the floor. This approximates the correct posture you should have while at your desk.
Reconfigure your smartphone use—We normally look down on our smartphones or gadgets when we use them throughout the day. This would put unnecessary strain on our necks, and adding up the hours and hours we spend on our device, this may adversely affect our posture. Instead of straining our necks by looking down on our phones, we can try holding up our phones higher while keeping our posture upright and letting our eyes adjust to the level of our phones.
Always keep in mind that proper posture matters; whether you’re standing in line at the grocery, walking around the mall, sitting at your desk or lifting heavy weights at the gym.