A good body posture helps a person deal effectively with common health disorders like lower back pain and lifestyle issues like fatigue. Individuals engaged in deskwork are used to sitting on chairs for long periods of time. Consequently, they begin to suffer from several lifestyle disorders. Thus, maintaining proper posture is extremely important. A poor body posture, when neglected, can cause severe pain in the neck and back leading to permanent damage to the spine.
Correcting your posture can gift you a fit and healthy life. Yoga grants you some of the best ways to correct and maintain a healthy posture throughout your life.
Importance of A Good Posture
During the daily rush at work and home, most of us unknowingly ignore the benefits and importance of having the right posture throughout the day. So, what are the parameters of determining body posture? It is marked by an unreal plumb line that passes through the center of the human body and indicates the balance maintained.
Given below are some vital reasons as to why a good body posture is important:
- A proper posture enables good balance in the body, providing you with the necessary support to carry out your activities. It also prevents any kind of severe pain in the neck and back regions.
- When you stand and sit straight, it helps improve the alignment of your body. This, in turn, aids the proper functioning of your organs, while enhancing your digestive abilities.
- According to research, there is a connection between good body posture and memory retention. Having the right posture improves your breathing, which develops your cognitive power, thereby stimulating your ability to learn new things.
- Proper breathing requires adequate expansion of your lungs. While slouching in a chair, lungs do not have enough space to open, which can result in insufficient breathing.
- A poor body posture can lead to a protruding belly. When you sit and walk straight, you tend to develop a taller and slimmer physique.
- Most importantly, an upright position gives you a sense of confidence and power, both professionally and personally.
Causes of Bad Body Postures
There are several factors in your daily life that can prevent you from having a good body posture. Bad posture, in most cases, is a result of the daily effect of gravity on your bone and spinal structure. It can also be the outcome of a disease, a genetic disorder, or an injury which may lie beyond your immediate control. Sometimes, it is a combination of various causes. Some of the common reason behind bad body posture are as follows:
- Muscle Weakness and Tension
- Muscle Injury and Guarding
- Prolonged Use of Computers and Other Technological Devices
- Stress and A Negative Mental Attitude
- Genetics and Hereditary Slouched Posture
- Ways of Wearing Shoes and the Choice of Shoes
Indicative Signs of a Bad Body Posture
Sometimes, we tend to overlook the most obvious signs of a bad body posture which are as follows:
1. Slumped Shoulders
Slumped shoulders are the outcome of prolonged periods of sitting. It results in the tightening of your chest muscles, weakening the ones meant to provide support for your shoulders.
2. Forward Head Carriage
One of the most common signs of bad body posture, the forward head carriage is a common symptom among several office goers. The pressure exerted on the joints and muscles due to this brings about structural changes in the body.
3. Shoulder Hike or Tilt
A shoulder tilt tends to occur when you are more dominant on one side of your body. One side of your shoulder tends to tilt due to the overactive nature of the muscles in that area.
4. Flat Feet
Flat feet is the most commonly ignored bad body posture sign. Collapsed feet arches immensely disturb the biomechanics of the entire body. This creates additional pressure on your joints, leading to intense pain.
5. Anterior and Posterior Pelvic Tilts
A bad body posture might cause your pelvis to change in two different ways. It can either tilt abnormally to the front or towards the back end of the body. Either way, it can create a lot of pressure on your joints resulting in great pain.
Yoga Helps Maintain a Good Posture
Yoga is a great way to combat the adverse effects of a bad body posture. For years, yoga has been the answer to the ultimate health and well-being of the body.
Heart openers are the kind of yoga poses that can invert the effects of a hunched back. The connection between yoga and good posture is undeniable.
To begin with, posture is all about being aware of your body. Yoga helps in enhancing your awareness. Moreover, it improves the strength, agility, and flexibility of your body, thus strengthening your core muscles over a period. However, what needs to be kept in mind is that a good posture cannot be achieved overnight through yoga. It requires weeks of diligent practice.
A lot of yoga poses do not simply correct your posture but help you attain spiritual and emotional peace as well.
Here is a list of yoga poses that help:
- Locust Pose (Salabhasana)
- Mountain Pose (Tadasana)
- Tree Pose (Vrikshasana)
- Downward-facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
- Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)
- Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)
- Cat-Cow Pose (Bitilasana)
- Sphinx Pose (Salamba Bhujangasana)
Yoga can work absolute wonders when it comes to providing your body with the right posture over time, thereby improving your overall functionality and productivity. Prolonged hours of hectic work can adversely affect your health. However, dedicated yoga practice can significantly reverse the harmful effects of improper posture.
If you want to start yoga to improve your posture, I would recommend to start each day with one round of Sun Salutations A or B.
