By Samantha Clark, supervisor of wellness at Network Health
5/17/2022
If you’re somebody who is concerned with their health and wellness, you are probably taking steps like eating the healthy nutritious meals your body needs, monitoring your activity levels and ensuring you’re getting adequate sleep every night.
Is it possible, however, that we’re missing a key element of whole-body health and wellness? As you may have guessed by the title of this article, it’s posture.
We’re all familiar with the movie scenes where a character has to attend an etiquette course or finishing school and is made to walk with a book on their head.
Unfortunately, these portrayals may have convinced us that posture was strictly a social grace for high society types. In reality, posture impacts more than just your physical appearance. Having good posture positively influences your physical, emotional and mental well-being, enhances your quality of life and can even be a predictor of longevity.
So, while there’s little need for most of us to learn how to walk with a book on our head, learning about posture’s impact on our body and mind and focusing on steps we can take to improve our posture goes a long way to helping us feel healthier and stronger.
Posture is defined as balance, alignment and movement of the body while in any given position, whether that’s lying, seated or standing.
Ideally, proper posture should involve total body alignment, meaning your ears should be aligned over your shoulders, shoulders aligned over your hips and (if standing) hips aligned over your ankles.
This position allows your weight to be evenly distributed down your spine and on both sides of the body. When you aren’t in alignment, the imbalance creates extra pressure on areas of the spine and certain joints, which can trigger a cascade of negative health effects.
From a physical wellness perspective, proper posture limits pain and helps preserve your range of motion long-term. Similarly, you maintain flexibility, balance and coordination.
One area you may not know can be affected and improved by good posture is breathing. Having good posture enables you to breathe deeper, as your lungs and organs aren’t being compressed.
Less internal pressure also reduces your risk for poor circulation, improper digestion and heart disease.
On the flip side, a more commonly known benefit of good posture is reduced back pain. Even weight distribution keeps pressure from concentrating on joints and vertebrae in your back. This balanced pressure can reduce your risk of developing arthritis.
Good posture is more than just physical wellness, however. From a mental perspective, physical alignment through good posture helps to ensure that your nervous system (brain, spinal cord, etc.) is all functioning well and communicating with the other parts of your body.
Good posture influences your mental capacity, helping your short-term memory and information recall, as well as increasing your alertness and concentration. The combined benefits of these individual parts are more creativity, better problem-solving and higher-level thinking. It can even help you feel and be more productive at work.
We talk frequently about getting enough sleep, but if you do manage to miss a few Zzz’s the night before, focusing on your posture can help counteract some of the negative effects of sleep deprivation.
Finally, posture helps your emotional self by alleviating stressors, reducing anxiety levels and promoting a higher sense of self-esteem.
Good posture is whole-body care.
Health experts often use the phrase “A.C.E. your posture,” to help their patients remember the steps to good posture. A.C.E. stands for Awareness, Control and Environment.
Your physical posture is an outward reflection of the way you feel and your internal state. Becoming aware of this internal state through mindfulness and attention helps reconnect your mind and body.
Here are some ways to be more aware of your emotions and internal state.
After you have some awareness of your posture and how it is serving to communicate your internal state, the next step is to control those things. Focus on slow, rhythmic breathing while moving to this state and work to do the following.
Consider ways to adjust your environment in a way that encourages better posture throughout your daily activities.
Overall, correct posture allows the opportunity for all body systems to function to their fullest capacity so that you can reap the greatest short-term benefits and long-term benefits possible.
For more information on how your Wisconsin health plan can help you feel your best through wellness coaching, preventive care and more, contact us today.