Do you often slouch when watching television, looking at your smartphone, browsing the internet on your laptop or even when you are reading a book?
Given all the conveniences in our modern lifestyle, we can spend a dominant portion of our time focusing on things in front us. With so much time in this position, it is almost as if the shoulders want to round forwards and inwards and that your head wants to lean forward.
You can learn to improve your posture!
The How and Why of Good Posture
Good posture and its potential benefits are topics more and more people find interesting. And luckily, an increasing amount of researchers are talking about the many different benefits of maintaining good posture.
Practicing good posture creates proper body alignment. This ensures that your muscles, joints and bones work optimally, and help to potentially avoid stiffness and pain. But, it goes much beyond that – your posture seems to impact the overall quality of your life in many ways.
So, if you keep on slouching like there is no tomorrow, you might be missing out on some surprising benefits that you did not think possible.
Sit up (or stand) tall while you read out these 8 surprising benefits of having a good posture! I hope this article will make you think otherwise the next time you consider ignoring your posture.
1. Promotes Happiness
With the stressful environment that we live in today, all the challenges we have to face, and the increasingly high standards we have to abide by, who is not in search of a new possible source of happiness?
Did you know that something as simple as straightening your back can give you a positive mood?
There are studies showing that proper posture reduces the level of stress hormones in the body and increases testosterone.
Embodied Cognition
Standing and sitting tall gives rise to many benefits, but in regards to happiness, good posture may help you feel less anxious and more confident. Subjectively, people often talk about feeling a higher level of self-esteem and self-confidence, pushing away negative emotions, and filling the mind with positive thoughts and memories instead.
When you slouch, more or less the exact opposite occurs.
One study done in 2014 showed that your posture can negatively affect emotional processes. The study investigated the effects that sitting posture of depressed individuals had on their tendency to recall negative things about themselves.
Surprisingly, the people who slouched recalled more negative words about themselves than positive, while there was no bias among people who had an upright-sitting posture.
If you feel like digging deeper into this, I suggest you google the theory “embodied cognition” and have a look. The theory relies on among others the same scientific background and evidence as what is stated above, but it takes it to another level.
Learn more on Wikipedia. It is really interesting stuff.
2. Improves Mental Performance
Do you remember your mom telling you to sit up straight when you were studying? She might actually have been on to something.
Since proper body alignment promotes better blood and oxygen circulation, good posture can potentially improve your mental capacity.
Your brain needs a lot of oxygen and glucose to function well, and both are delivered by your blood. If you keep an extra eye on your posture next time you are studying, perhaps you will learn more!
If you want to boost mental performance, you should also consider standing from time to time. If you’re using a computer, consider utilizing a stand-up desk, for example.
Beyond posture, walking especially in nature is proven to boost mental performance and fight anxiety and depression.
This was found by some researchers at Stanford University and here is a short video, where one of the researchers talk about the results.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTzl_AHCmho]
Combine good posture with some regular walks in nature, and you will both improve mental performance and be happier. Some famous thinkers were known to get their best ideas while walking, perhaps you can get a good idea as well?
3. Creates Power!
I don’t want to seem superficial, but simply put, good posture symbolizes power. I think we all know it, at least on a subconscious level.
Think about it, when was the last time you saw an idealized image of a leader or hero figure with poor posture?
Did you ever see an ancient Greek statue with poor posture?
The way your body looks (physique) is a powerful status symbol and is very important for how other people perceive you.
There is a lot of nonverbal communication going on when we are talking face-to-face, and for this your body posture is important.
Having an upright posture makes you appear more confident and attractive to other people. When you appear confident and attractive, people listen to what you have to say. You might also be able to seem more authoritative and dominant.
Of course, there is more than posture to claiming a leadership, but it is a very good start if you avoid looking like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons.
Social psychologist Amy Cuddy became very popular for her concept of “power poses” presented in a TED talk a few years ago.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc]
In this shorter video, Amy Cuddy talks about this concept and what lead her to start her research.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmR2A9TnIso]
She later published a book “Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges” elaborating on the scientific background.
It was not received without controversy, but the general idea seems to have a solid scientific background.
4. Allows Graceful Aging
Anti-aging cosmetics and beauty products is an incredibly big and profitable market. People are spending tons of money on various lotions and creams with the hope of maintaining healthy skin and appearing more beautiful and youthful.
No one wants to age prematurely, and, in fact, everyone wants to delay it.
Although there are some very interesting advancements in medical technology, we are probably not going to eliminate aging anytime soon.
But before you go out and buy more expensive products, you might want to think about including some posture-correcting tweaks into your anti-aging routine.
Because a lot of the negative effects of old age can be delayed or reduced by paying attention to your posture.
Practice good posture, and you can potentially avoid stiffness in joints and bones and prevent some muscles loss. You essentially ensure the least wear and tear on your joints and bones if your posture is good, making aging less of an issue.
Good posture can make you look younger, thinner and more fit. Best of all, it is much cheaper and more natural than expensive cosmetics.
Of course, remember to practice incorporate other great wellness habits into your daily living as well.
5. Helps Weight Loss
As mentioned above, when you maintain good posture, the level of stress hormones (cortisol) is reduced and testosterone is increased.
This can also have a powerful impact on your weight loss efforts. Why? Because consuming fewer calories than you burn already stresses the body, increasing the need for stress management.
Moreover, research shows that by maintaining a good posture with an upright back you increase your calorie expenditure.
You can literally burn more calories if you have a good posture compared to a bad one.
So, if you don’t have the time to go to the gym or go for a walk, how about simply sitting up straight?
6. Enhances Digestion
Our body is not made for sitting or standing in a hunched-over position all day.
Your internal organs need space in order to function properly. Especially the organs in your abdomen like the stomach, liver, and intestines can experience unnecessary stress due to the compression caused by your poor posture.
Proper digestion needs space for the food to flow freely through your gut. If there is not enough space, you can experience indigestion and constipation or worse things.
Actually, indigestion, constipation, hernia, and acid reflux are more common among people with bad posture. You can read more at the American Posture Institute.
7. Facilitates Breathing
Just above I mentioned how poor posture can compress the internal organs. This also includes your lungs.
Slouching and maintaining a hunched-over position will interfere with your breathing. Just imagine inflating a balloon while someone is sitting on it. How much air do you think can get into it?
The same principle goes for your lungs. Try and test it out for yourself.
As you read this, sit or stand with an upright posture and feel and pay attention to the flow of air in your lungs.
Now try doing the same thing while slouching. Do you notice any difference?
You should at least experience that it is easier for your chest cavity and lungs to expand. This does allow more air to flow in your lungs.
Having a good posture allows you to have a more relaxed respiration instead of faster and more shallow breathing. Deep breathing is very important to for many things to function properly in your body. You don’t want to obstruct that.
Here is an interesting quick read from Healthline on deep breathing and posture.
8. Relieves Muscle Tension and Headaches
When your body is not properly aligned the weight or pull on your muscles is not distributed equally. Basically, some muscles become overworked and given enough time it creates a lot of strain and tension on those muscles.
This is usually the reason why people with poor posture experience stiffness and pain in their back and neck.
Alleviating this issue probably don’t qualify as a surprising benefit of having good posture, however, this excess strain on your muscles can cause a lot of much “less expected” problems.
Prolonged excess muscle strain can for example, cause a lot of inflammation, referral pain (pain felt in other areas), and bone and tissue changes.
The typical area where people have problems is the trapezius muscle in the upper back and neck. Given enough strain on the traps from a head in a forward leaning position, you can get intense headaches and pain in other regions of the back.
Additionally, in more extreme cases an ugly-looking hump can form in the back of your neck known as Dowager’s hump. It is a combination of hardening of the bones in your spine and formation of extra connective tissue.
Check out a great video by a YouTube-famous medical doctor explaining how the trapezius muscles relate to forward head posture.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9PXB6iKDK4]
How To Improve Posture
There are many things you can do to improve your posture, and that is what I would recommend you to do – many things.
If you go looking for “one thing” that can solve your problem you will be disappointed. Instead, work on these five things, and I am sure you’ll improve:
- Improve the ergonomics of your surroundings, especially the setup at your desk.
- Improve “postural awareness” – become familiar with what good posture looks and feels like. Some people find it helpful to use special posture correcting shirts and posture braces for this.
- Stretch short and tight muscles and strengthen long and weak muscles. The muscles you need to work on vary depending on your posture, but here are a number of exercises to fix the common rounded shoulders and forward head posture.
- Consider adding a workout routine that, in general, helps posture. Yoga and Pilates work well.
- In general, you’ll probably want to strengthen your core and back.
Importance of Maintaining Your Good Posture
Good posture is something you need to work on maintaining. Think about how to prevent yourself from reverting to poor posture.
It’s important to be mindful of your posture, especially your shoulder and head position, both when sitting and standing.
Another common issue is doing weight training or sports focusing on a lot of pressing and pushing movements without an equal amount of the opposite: pulling. Another common issue is too little external rotation of the shoulders. (Remember to warmup and cool-down, too)
The idea of both prevention and rehabilitation is cleverly coined “prehab”. It is a great way to think about ensuring good posture for the long-term.
How Long Does It Take To “Correct Posture”?
This question is asked a lot, and, basically, there is no really good answer.
What I can say is that it depends…
How long it takes to correct your posture obviously depends on how bad your posture is, but also how long you have had it, and how much effort you put into improving it.
I have written an article specifically covering how long it takes to correct posture. If you are interested in a getting a better idea of the timeframe I suggest you check it out.
Develop Good Posture Habits
Remember! You also need to be thinking about good posture as something you need to work on maintaining. Think about how to prevent yourself from getting poor posture.
But if you think you want to “correct your posture”, you might be missing an important point.
You can’t correct your posture and then go back to your old habits because then you will just slowly regain your old bad posture. You need practice good habits to consistently have good posture.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-7ZWPCWv0U]
Where To Go From Here?
I hope that your posture became a little bit better just while you were reading this.
But don’t feel bad or guilty about the fact that you may like to slouch.
I think everyone is slouching from time to time. It is really hard to be constantly mindful of your posture when so many interesting and stimulating things are going on in front of you.
Let us be honest here – if you meet someone who says he/she never slouches (not even a little bit) that person probably never enjoyed a good movie, computer game, book, or never had to spend long hours writing some important paper.
If I am wrong, I guess that person must have some unique biomechanical advantage!
Everyone Can Maintain and Improve Their Posture
But that does not mean you can’t work on improving your posture. It is not that hard, and you can potentially improve a lot with a few tweaks and simple exercises.
More importantly, you don’t need a “perfect posture” to enjoy the many benefits of good posture. Start by focusing on the way you stand and sit. It may not turn you into a different person overnight, but the beneficial effects will gradually pile up and can eventually make a big difference in your life!
Additional Resources
- Improve Shoulder and Neck Posture and How to Check for Rounded Shoulders by Marcus
- 5 Daily Stretches – 5 great stretches for overall flexibility and mobility
- Why You Shouldn’t Sit Too Much
- Should you use a standing desk?
- Good Standing and Sitting Posture from Mayo Clinic and American Chiropractic Association
- Pilates and Posture
- Yoga and Posture – Guide to Better Posture and 8 Poses for Better Posture
Credits
Photos
Special Thanks
To Marcus for sharing his knowledge at Big Blue Waves!
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