Poor Posture Affects You More Than You Know

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Published:  August 8, 2019
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At some point while we were growing up many of us probably heard our parents or teachers say, “Sit up straight!”. It was most likely stated in the context of us crossing our legs at our desks, hunched over playing video games or even slouching while at the dinner table.

Even now, I’m sure the majority of us still have issues sitting up straight. We sit at a computer or drive in a car with our shoulders slumped and a curve in our neck. And if we’re really being honest, half of our day is probably spent with our necks craned downward due to us constantly looking at our smartphones.

While it may seem like poor posture only makes us look bad, there are many other ways, both physically and mentally, that it is impacting us.

Impact

Here are 5 ways poor posture impacts us:

  1. Muscle Soreness – Our spine needs to be stabilized and protected, but when we slouch our muscles need to work even harder. Overworking these muscles leads to tightness and soreness.
  2. Reduced Lung Function – If we hunch too much, our lung capacity is impacted. This means the other tissues in our bodies can’t get as much oxygen which can lead to heart disease, shortness of breath and cloudy thinking.
  3. Poor Circulation – Crossing our legs increases the pressure of the fluids and gases moving throughout our bodies which causes circulation issues in our lower bodies. On top of this, crossing our legs can lead to lower back pain and potentially even spider veins.
  4. Digestive Issues – Slouching over causes our intestines to fold up which can slow our digestion down and back us up.
  5. Increased Stress – Studies have shown that having bad posture can decrease the levels of testosterone and increase the levels of cortisol in our bodies. This means lower confidence and higher stress. Tack on the fact that slouching is already causing reduced lung function (adding even more stress to our bodies) and our stress levels are far higher than they should be.

Fix It

The good news though is that there are ways for us to fix our posture now! The thing to do is look at how we’re currently sitting.  Are our legs crossed, are we slouching, is our weight on one side more than the other? These are all things that can be changed.

Here’s how we should be sitting:

Looking for some more ways to fix your posture? Check out these articles: