How Do I Fix My Posture?

If you’re like most people, you’ve had a mom or grandma saying “stand up straight” since you were little. While we sometimes resent the nagging, good posture can have some great benefits: good spinal health, looking thinner (since you are taller when you are standing up straighter), and better functioning of the nerves in your body. Researchers studying at Ohio State University concluded that students with good posture were more self-confident while slumping students were more unsure of themselves.

Good posture can even help you to lose weight. According to Doctor of Chiropractic, James Emmett, you can burn up to 350 per day by maintaining good posture (holding yourself in a good upright position). Why? Because you are “taking tension off the whole body and everything starts to flow better.” So, yea…standing up straight is pretty important!

How can you fix your posture? Here are some quick tips.

Learn What Good Posture Feels Like. Some of us may not even know what good posture is, but all you have to do is find a mirror and line up your ears, shoulders, and hips. Feel how the parts of your body feel and lock that in as your goal for good posture.

Train Your Muscles to Keep Good Posture. Once you know what good posture should feel like, remind yourself throughout the day to practice it. Also, do regular exercises to increase the strength of the muscles that hold your posture.

Stretch During Breaks. If you are sitting all day, take stretch breaks when you can. Simply grab a few minutes here and there; a long time commitment isn’t necessary. Try these:

Improve Your Posture with Some Innovative Gadgets: Work your back and shoulder muscles so that they are strong enough to keep you in your good posture stance.

In our high-tech world, there are some gadgets that can help you to monitor your posture by giving you a little vibration whenever you move out of your ideal posture and into a slouch. Some are the iposture gadget; another is a LUMOback. You can check them out for yourself to see if they might be the right thing for you. I definitely want to try one! Or, you can go with the traditional posture braces that you wear to keep you in the right position.

Have you tried anything to correct your posture?