How many times, as a child, did you hear your mother say, “Sit up straight,” or “Quit slouching?” They say Mother knows best. It seems they would be right, again. Millions of Americans spend countless hours in front of a television slouching on the couch, in front of a computer leaning over the desk, or hunched over their cell phones on a daily basis.
As a result, back problems are skyrocketing. However, your back is not the only part of you to suffer when you don’t adhere to your mother’s advice and correct your posture. Below are some other adverse effects that bad posture can have on your body.
Body Pain
Now, we now there are all kinds of things that contribute to general body pain. Loud noises, allergies, overdoing a workout, and not moving enough can all give us a reason to reach for the acetaminophen. Visiting a gym like Training in the Bay can help you find out more about how to get rid of it and lose the meds.
However, one habit the majority of us maintain probably contributes to more of our aches and pains than we would like to give it credit for. Our posture, how we choose to sit or sleep, can cause very preventable pain.
When you lean forward, your head goes along for the ride and a lot of us have a tendency to clench our jaws. This can give you a massive headache over time. The muscles involved in holding our bad posture can ache pretty bad at the end of the day, as well, and contribute to deterioration of the spinal column.
Gastrointestinal Problems
Many of us are regular visitors to the bathroom. Some up to two or three times a day. Did you know that the way you sit could have a tremendous effect on your restroom routine? Your intestines rely on a system of movements to transport the food we ingest from the stomach to the end of the intestinal tract.
When you are slouching, specifically, when you are leaning forward, you in a sense, fold up your intestines and make it extremely difficult for your body to relieve itself of waste. This can cause constipation, acid reflux, and hernias in extreme cases.
Reduced Lung Capacity
Raise your hand if you like to breathe. (If yours is not up, you are lying.) If you enjoy breathing as much as the next guy, train yourself to sit up a little more. Hunching over in your chair can reduce your lung capacity by as much as a third.
When you limit your body’s ability to breathe, you also limit the amount of oxygen getting released into your bloodstream. This can leave you short of breath, make you unable to focus, cloud your judgement, and leave you rather tired earlier than you would probably like to be. Breathing is a good thing. Sit up.
These are just some of the ways bad posture can affect your health. So, next time you decide to relax on the couch or slouch in the computer chair, think about the harm you could be doing to yourself and try to have a little better posture.
