Click HERE to Discover these 80
Keto-Friendly and Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes
How to Improve Your
Posture and Improve Your Life
I’m sure you were always told growing to “sit up straight,” or
“stop slouching”. Well, your mother and teachers weren’t wrong. However, there
is much more to posture than just looking better.
Posture has an effect on your overall health and
well-being. Posture can
affect your mood, confidence, and even your memory and digestion. Learning good
posture and improving your posture can make all the difference in your day to
day activities, mental and physical wellness, and how others perceive you.
How Posture Affects
Different Areas of your Life
Mood
Improving
your posture will not only help you look more confident, but actually make you
feel more confident and improve your mood.
Dr.
Erik Peper, of San Francisco State University, performed various
different experiments
involving posture and
how it affects energy level as well as its ability to generate positive and
negative thoughts.
In
one experiment, his test subjects either skipped down a hallway or slouched as
they walked down the hall. Almost all of the skipping participants reported
feeling more energetic and happier, while those who had slouched reported
feeling sad, lonely, and sleepy.
Poor
posture has also had a strong correlation to feelings of stress and depression.
Memory
In
his experiments, Peper also discovered that body posture can either recall
positive or negative memories. When sitting in a collapsed position and looking
downward, participants in a study found it much easier to recall helpless,
powerless, and negative memories.
When
sitting upright and looking upward, it was easier to recall empowering and
positive memories. An upright posture can also improve memory
in general.
Good
posture facilitates breathing and increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain,
by up to 40 percent. Oxygen is like food for your brain, and when well-fed, it
functions properly and recalls memory better.
Confidence
Besides
your mood and your memory, good posture can also improve your confidence. A study at Ohio State
University found
that sitting up straight reinforced confidence.
In
this study, researchers divided students into two groups and instructed them to
maintain opposite postures while answering prompts in a business questionnaire.
Those
who were told to sit up straight were overwhelmingly more confident in their
thoughts concerning whether they were qualified for a job than those told to
slouch in their seat.
This
suggests that people’s thoughts are influenced by their posture, it’s similar
to the “fake it until you make it” principle, in that you can convince yourself
to have more confidence just in the way you hold yourself.
Digestion
Standing
and sitting with good posture allows your internal organs to assume their
natural position, allowing the natural flow and function of your
gastrointestinal tract.
Researchers
believe poor posture is a contributing factor for several
digestive issues including acid reflux, constipation,
and even hernias.
“When
you sit in a crunched position, your intestines are folded up as well, and that
slows everything down.” says Steven Weiniger, author of Stand Taller – Live Longer.
To
improve digestion it’s best to sit and stand up straight, as well as get up and
move around as much as possible.
Bones & Muscles
Proper
alignment and good posture puts less stress on your spine and skeletal system.
Your skeletal system is built to support your body mass as intended, which
means in proper alignment. When in good posture, your bones are able to work
properly, which helps keep them strong and healthy.
When
you are in poor posture it puts stress on certain bones, muscles, and
ligaments. Your muscles start doing a majority of the work which starts to pull
at them and cause muscle imbalances.
When
your muscles are doing most of the work, your bones will start to become
weaker, and this can eventually lead to muscle pain, back pain, and can even
contribute to osteoporosis.
Headaches
Tying
in to strain on bones and muscles, poor posture can eventually lead to headaches. Most
people, especially those working at desks, have a “forward head posture,”
focusing that strain on their upper back and neck muscles.
Dr.
Adalbert I. Kapandji,
an orthopedic surgeon, states that to keep your head upright these muscles must
work as though they are supporting an additional ten pounds of weight for every
inch your head moves forward.
The
added strain puts pressure on the nerves in your neck and keeps upper back and
neck muscles in a constant state of contraction, causing tension headaches.
What Contributes To Bad
Posture?
Many
factors can contribute to poor posture. These can include obesity,
pregnancy, high-heeled shoes, tight-fitting clothes, weak muscles, tight
muscles, inflexibility, poor sitting and standing habits, and a poor work
environment.
Carrying
something heavy on one side of the body, like a heavy briefcase or purse, can
also contribute to bad posture.
Sleeping
on a mattress that doesn’t provide proper back support can also affect poor
posture.
How to Stand with Good
Posture
·
Hold
your head up straight with your chin in.
·
Ensure
that your earlobes are in line with the middle of your shoulders.
·
Keep
your shoulders back.
·
Push
your chest out, slightly.
·
Keep
your knees straight, but not locked.
·
Stretch
the top of your head toward the ceiling.
·
Engage
your abdominals, but don’t suck in or tilt your pelvis.
·
Carry
your weight equally between the balls and heels of your feet.
·
Breathe
naturally.
Ways to Improve Posture
1. Exercise
Focus
on stretching tightened muscles in the chest, front of the shoulders, and hip
flexors (front of the hips) as well as strengthening back, abdominal, and glute
muscles.
Be
sure to look at this Morning
Stretch Routine to help guide you on stretches to do each morning and
even throughout the day to help combat sitting for extended periods of time.
Find a workout below that’s geared toward strengthening the muscles need for
correct posture.
2. Foam Roll
Foam rolling, or myofascial release, is
becoming much more popular, and for good reason. It is essentially like a deep
tissue massage for your muscles. This is important because it allows tight
muscles and fascia to loosen up so that stretching those muscles becomes easier.
If
you have formed bad posture of years and years of bad habit, it may be very
challenging to correct it without release those over worked and tight muscles.
3. Ergonomics
Ergonomics
involves changing your environment to support and encourage good posture.
Adding lumbar support to your chair is a good example, or even invest in a
standing desk. You could also modify a tool, work station, counter height, or
task to improve its ergonomics.
4. Eliminate Bad Habits
You
must first be conscious of these bad habits, but things such as slouching in a
chair or reading while laying down are some places to start. Working under dim
light is also one, it results is craning your head forward to see your work
better as well as slouching. Even driving your car in a bad position can help
contribute to poor posture.
Posture Workout
These
exercises are geared towards strengthening the muscles of your upper back and
rear shoulder muscles. It’s best to foam roll and lightly stretch tight muscles
before starting this workout.
Complete
this workout 2-3 times to help improve posture. (Watch a video demo of each
exercise by clicking on the names of each exercise)
1. Bird-Dog
Starting
on all fours, make sure your weight is even between your hands and knees.
Engage your abdominals and lengthen through the crown of your head. Slowly, and
with control, extend your RIGHT arm in front of you and your LEFT leg behind
you. Try not to shift your weight too much and come back to the starting
position. Repeat on the opposite side. Complete 10 repetitions on each side.
Lay
on your stomach and rest your forehead on your hands so that your elbows are
out to the side. Keeping your head glued to your hands, lift your upper body
and your feet and legs off the ground a few inches.
It’s
important to remember that you want to think about lengthening through your
muscles and to keep your abs engaged. You don’t need to lift too high and you
shouldn’t feel any compression in your lower back. Complete 10-15 repetitions.
Grab
a set of dumbbells relative to your strength. Hold the dumbbells in front of
you, with your palms facing you. Hinge at your hips, making sure to keep your
back straight. Hold your abs tight and pull the weights up towards your
underarm.
Squeeze
your shoulder blades together without tensing through your neck, and slowly
lower your arms back down. Repeat for 15 repetitions.
Lower
back into your hinge position, keeping your back straight. This time, have your
palms facing each other and a slight bend in your elbows. Moving from the back
of your shoulders, squeeze your shoulder blades together to lift the weights
out to the side. With control lower back down and repeat 15 times.
Watch
this video - 4 Easy
Exercises to Improve Your Posture and Life
Written by Deanna
Dorman
Author Bio:
Deanna is an ACE®
certified personal trainer, Balanced Body® Pilates instructor, and NASM®
Fitness Nutrition Specialist. She is passionate about inspiring others to lead
a healthier lifestyle through fun workouts and healthy food. When she’s not
creating new workouts and recipes for her blog The Live Fit Girls she enjoys running with her two dogs and traveling.
A lot of people have
gotten results from the Keto diet, and enjoyed the foods that it has to offer.
However, many of the people who are following this diet have a hard time
finding the recipes that they need, especially ones that are quick and easy to
complete.
Fortunately, Kelsey
Ale, noticed this problem, and decided to do something about it. She’s found
that making recipes in a slow cooker gives you meals which are not only
delicious, but also take very little time to make. Mostly you just put a few
simple ingredients in the slow cooker, and let it do the rest.
To find out more, click
on – Keto Slow Cooker Cookbook
