May is National Posture Month!
Why is May posture month? I have no idea. But for our purposes, any reason to remind ourselves about the importance of posture is a good reason.Why should we care about posture? The reasons are many. But I’ll discuss three I believe are the most important.
1. Function
As human beings, we stand upright on our feet. This is a good thing because it frees our hands and arms to do cool stuff like cook food, drive cars, hug people and pets, etc. The downside is that it takes effort to maintain our height. We see this early in life — the teenager slouch. The challenge increases as we age due to natural reduction of muscle mass and bone density.
When we slouch we reduce space inside of the chest cavity where the heart and lungs reside. Correct posture creates space. The heart functions through pulsing movement. The lungs function through expansion (inhale) and contraction (exhale). These functions are movements. Any movement must have space. Want to improve your heart health and increase your breathing capacity? Increase the space inside your chest by standing and sitting up tall!
2. Healthy Spine and Joints
Tall posture has the pelvis level, the natural S-shape of the spine, shoulders positioned over the spine, and head directly over the shoulders. When we maintain this aligned posture, pressure on the joints is lessened. Joints aren’t designed to weight bear. They are designed to move. Therefore, we are much less susceptible to pain, falls, and joint problems when we maintain our posture.
3. Look and Feel
How you look is not necessarily about vanity. It’s about health. The person who stands tall (regardless of actual height) feels and looks confident, happy, and engaged with life. The person who slouches looks old and disengaged.
I could go on about other benefits of tall posture. But you get the picture.
WALL TECHNIQUE
How can you improve your posture? Do my Wall Technique. It’s so simple. A wall (assuming it’s well-built) is not susceptible to age and gravity. By standing up against a wall you will feel the difference between slouched and upright posture because the wall never changes. Match your body to the wall and you will always mantain your posture.
CLICK HERE to watch my free 90 second Wall Technique video.
