You must have heard that sitting up straight and walking with shoulders back and your chin up helps you get rid of joint pains, feel more comfortable and makes you appear confident.
Yes, indeed they're all true but did you also know that it is a fact that all those could boost your energy levels?.
Indeed beyond causing you pains and affecting your appearances, poor posture can also affect your energy levels.
This is a proven fact and in this course of this article, you'll get to know how.
Your posture most times is in respect to the alignment of your body or in simple terms whether your spine is upright or not.
To the effect of the above, your body has muscles that naturally control your posture. The consequence of this is that when you begin to develop bad posture, you are putting more strain on these "posture muscles" to work harder to correct your posture and eventually leading to the feeling of exhaustion.
In the same vain, bad posture unevenly distributes the pressure on the spine, muscles and ligaments. This leads to increased physical stress as some of the muscles become shortened and in turn leads to a low range of movement. In like a chain reaction the final result is having to use up more energy to move and hence making you feel drained.
Also, poor posture results in reduced energy levels because it affects the body's oxygen levels.
Research has shown that hunching for example can restrict blood flow to important systems that include the brain and muscles. And blood being the primary transport system for oxygen, it means the supply of oxygen is reduced and hence cellular respiration in the brain and muscles become reduced. The effect is that your body shutdown to conserve energy.
Asides reducing blood flow, poor posture can also affect oxygen intake directly. Slouching for example affects the contraction of the lungs as well as the expansion of the lungs. This means less oxygen and less oxygen means less energy.
It's true that poor posture has negative effect our energy levels, but it's not a death sentence. The good news is that correcting your posture is boosting your energy levels.
For example, If you sit and stand more upright, your lungs have more space to expand. This improves your breathing and consequently your oxygen level and energy level as well.
Also good posture while sitting and standing, evenly distributes the pressure that is placed on the spine, muscles and ligaments. This results in reduced physical stress throughout the entire body which enables us to reserve our energy for other activities.
In other words, the correct alignment of the body, affords the muscles reduced strain in carrying out its function and hence you’ll more energy.
However, it's noteworthy that no one can maintain a perfect posture overnight. But in same vain, there's a way around it.
Experts advise that moving around frequently—every 20 to 30 minutes is one way to get rid of slouching for example.
Other posture tips including, sitting with your feet resting flat on the floor. Your back should be mostly straight. Your shoulders should be back but relaxed and your ears should line up over your collarbones.
When standing, your legs should have a slight knee bend so you’re not locking your knee joints.
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