Stand on guard and straightened up your back. In most situations, the posture of your body can make a notable difference in how you look, feel and project yourself. A poor incorrect slouching posture can lead towards physical and mental issues.
What becomes exposed are symptoms such as shoulder and neck strain, sore lower back and hips, headaches potentially leading to migraines, poor quality of sleep, and strain on the eyes.
What having proper posture will do is improve your blood circulation, digestion, giving you more energy. So being completely aware of proper posture plays an important role not only when standing, but when sitting or laying down as well.
This since what the majority will do is spend most of their days in a sitting position, be it driving, eating, or on the couch. What sitting for lengths of time will do is warp the spine, placing way too much pressure on it, which results in poor posture. So it becomes especially important if you sit at a desk all day.
So there are some proven techniques on how you can maintain your posture for better comfortable health, while making you feel better as well as looking healthier.
Routine Fitness And Exercising
Consistent routine exercising can play a huge role in correcting your overall posture. What’s developed are stronger core muscles which helps support your upper body, which maintains a more aligned back.
Proper posture during any exercise becomes especially important. Incorrect positions while lifting weights can cause potentially serious energy drain. If you’re looking at get more of the exact proper exercises, then consider a personal trainer.
What proper instruction can do is help in identifying your correct body position while minimizing strain and injury for your particular body type and conditioning level.
Taking Breaks From Sitting All Day
What sitting for extended periods of time does is it stresses out your spine, which will then lead towards slouching and spine curvature. So make it a point that you routinely stretch your body focusing on your lower back.
Standing up and then walking for just a few minutes can instantly rejuvenate your body while helping you relieve the strain. This can be as easy as just getting up and going to the restroom. Light stretching will loosen up all the tight back muscles which can occur with extended sitting.
Finding The Best Sitting Position
It was once thought that just sitting up with your back completely straight was the best position for proper posture. But what’s been discovered recently is that a completely straight back can actually place additional unneeded strain on the spine.
Leaning back at times can be the most comfortable position for your body. But it’s recommended that you find the best position that you’re most comfortable with when your spine is relatively straight. Realize when your shoulders are slouching and then minimize it.
Doing An Ergonomic Assessment
If at all possible, especially if you spend your workday sitting at a desk and chair, there are ergonomic assessment services which are available. What these professionals will do is take actual measurements of your workstation and then find where you fit best with the furniture.
They’ll then advise you of the changes which you should be making to optimizing your workplace experience. There are also online questionnaires and guidelines which can help you in identifying and making the changes that you need to make.
Some of the most common and easy adjustments for correcting your posture is changing the height of your chair and the angle of your computer monitor depending on your height, weight and body style.
Getting The Proper Mattress
Sleep is where you spend a third of your life. How well you sleep depends of the quality of your mattress which affects your posture. An old broken mattress will immediately place pressure on all of the different points of your body.
If the coils of your mattress are worn, one easy solution to extend its life and comfort is by adding a memory foam topper. These specially designed foam covers will cradle your body, while balancing out the weight and pressure.
Keep Your Head Up At All Times
During the day, especially once you get tired, what happens is that our heads will begin nodding a bit forward and will then become misaligned with the spine positionally.
This can occur when we’re reading, looking down as we walk, or using an incorrect chair with poor computer monitor positioning. Whenever you notice that your head is leaning forward in an unnatural position, make it a conscious effort to always straighten it back up.
Practicing The Art Of Yoga
Yoga is found to be an absolutely amazing stretching exercise which helps your posture. What yoga does is it improves your core muscles, body alignment and your balance.
What this ancient art form does is it helps you to get in touch with your body. You’ll then learn to listen to all of the different pains and aches that you experience.
You’ll also learn and know how to remedy the pain with the proper stretches and positions. Make sure that you tell your yoga instructor what your goals are to perfect your posture, and they should be able to guide you with the proper movements to achieve your goal.
Use Professional Consultation If Needed
If you have previously injured your back somehow, then make sure that you consult with your doctor or a chiropractor for better posture advice before you try and perfect it yourself.
Some injuries such as a slipped disk can be further damaged with improper stretching or exercising. Your health professional should be able to provide the proper tips based on your condition.
Losing excessive weight for instance can remove the extra strain literally off your back and shoulders. If you do happen to see a chiropractor, they’ll be able to stretch out and align your back to give you the desired posture.