Years ago, your parents may have warned you about maintaining the right posture. Back then, you knew little about poor posture and its effects, but your parents did. And today, when your back hurts, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is poor posture. While not all pain is associated with poor posture, several problems can be related to improper posture. The way you sit, walk, and sleep can significantly impact almost all parts of your body. Therefore, it is essential to maintain the right posture at all times, and with work from home arrangement becoming the new norm, it is even more critical.
Contents
Why Should You Improve Your Posture?
As mentioned earlier, poor posture can affect your entire body. The way you sit and walk affects your musculoskeletal system. It causes tension and leads to muscular spasm in your neck and back. Moreover, if the spasm is persistent and left untreated, it can also significantly damage your spine. Over time, poor posture can damage the nerves, and once your nerves get involved, you end up with more complicated health conditions.
When you slouch, your ribs are not fully stretched, which in turn affects your lung’s ability to breathe. Your lungs do not reach their full capacity, which means your blood oxygen levels are less than optimal. With less oxygen, you can get tired quickly and are more prone to depression.
In all, poor posture can be detrimental to your health. Fortunately, there are ways you can improve your posture and live a healthy life. Let’s look at eight tricks that you can try to improve your posture regardless of your position.
While Sitting
If you are working full time, you likely spend around 8 hours at your work desk. Moreover, you drive back from work, eat dinner on a chair, relax on your couch just to skim through your smartphone. All of this can take a toll on your neck, shoulders, and back. Since you spend more than half of your day in this position, here are a few things that you can do to improve your posture while sitting.
Sit Upright
As obvious as it seems, it is essential to reiterate this fact, “sit upright.” Make sure you sit with a straight back, with your chest up high, your shoulders relaxed, and your neck in a comfortable position. For maintaining the right posture while sitting, you need to ensure that your buttocks are touching the back of your chair, and your weight is evenly distributed on both sides of your pelvis.
Use a Backrest
While we recommend sitting upright, this does not mean you have to sit straight without supporting your back. Instead, it means sitting in a comfortable position where you are not slouching while providing adequate support to your back. In that case, we recommend using a backrest. It helps you maintain the correct posture by supporting your spine’s natural curves. So whether you are working at your office desk or are driving to and from work, a backrest can be a great addition when trying to improve your posture.
Move Around A Few Times
Your office hours may require you to work for 8-10 hours, but that does not mean you have to sit in the same position for that long. Another easy way of improving your posture is to move around a few times throughout your workday. It is a good idea to take a 5-7 minutes break after every 45 minutes or an hour just to move around your neck and legs. You can try a few neck stretches while sitting at your desk. You can also go for a short walk and give your spine a quick stretch.
It is important to remember that your entire spine needs movement so make sure you move your neck, shoulders, back, and legs.
Uncross Your Legs
Sitting with your legs crossed may seem professional and elegant but let’s admit it; it is not the right way to maintain correct posture. Set your feet flat on the ground. You can adjust your chair’s height just to make sure your feet are correctly placed on the ground while your lower leg is straight and in a comfortable position.
As You Walk
Like sitting, walking is an inevitable part of our daily lives. For improving your posture as you walk, you can try the following tricks.
Stand Upright
Are you leaning forward? Is your back not straight? Time to improve your standing posture. Stand upright with your back straight and your legs fully stretched. Here is a quick way to improve your standing posture. When you stand, make sure your heels, big toe, and your little toe are equally connected to the ground.
Evenly Distribute Your Body Weight
How you distribute weight on both legs as you stand is very important. It is common for people to distribute weight on their legs unevenly as they stand, which leads to a sore back. So here, you can use the same check that is mentioned earlier. Ensure that your heels, big toe, and little toe of both your feet are all equally connected to the ground.
Bend Your Knees
Do you have to lift something off the ground? Don’t bend your back and lean forward. Instead, bend your knees. This will evenly distribute the weight of the object you are lifting on your entire body, so your back does not overwork.
While Sleeping
When you are working on improving your posture, how can you forget how you sleep? After all, you spend a good 6-8 hours in this position. The best position to sleep is to sleep on your back, and it is even better if you have a pillow beneath your knees. But if you are a side sleeper, choosing a firm pillow that provides support to your entire spine can significantly improve your posture.
Poor posture can lead to several health conditions. Fortunately, you can avoid most of these medical problems simply by improving your posture by trying our eight tricks.
