While the WFH experience hasn’t been the most smooth sailing for most of us, it is not without its perks – rolling out of bed to work, turning up for meetings in boxers, not having to put on makeup, and the list goes on. With less eyeballs on us, however, we are less self-conscious, and have slackened in our posture. Moreover, many of our sources of entertainment at home further worsen the problem.
If any of the following sound familiar to you, you might want to pay closer attention to how it is affecting other aspects of your life.
You roll out of bed and into your workstation, and only leave it during mealtimes
You often find yourself slouched on the couch while watching Netflix
You have been gaming for the past 5 hours, taking only quick dashes to the bathroom
You lie in bed scrolling through social media for hours
Your posture is so much more than how you stand or look in the mirror. It is one of the most important indicators of your health, because your posture is a reflection of the health and alignment of your spine.
Here are some ways in which poor posture can affect your life:
1) Adds more stress and tension on your muscles
If we sit, stand or lie in a poor posture for any length of time, it puts a huge amount of stress on the muscles because it has to work harder to hold up your spine. Over time, these muscles would be over-stretched or tighten in a specific way.
2) Affects your breathing
Try hunching and take a deep breath. Now sit up straight push your shoulders back, chin up, and look straight, and take a deep breath once again. Do you notice that you can breathe easier?
3) Poor digestion
Sitting in a slouched position compresses your abdominal organs, including your digestive tract. Over time, this can really affect your metabolism and ability to process food correctly.
4) Body Pains
When a posture problem arises, often the first thing a person feels is muscle tightness, stiffness and potentially aches. Aches and pains are warning signs that warrant a detailed investigation – they may be common, but are definitely not normal.
5) Spinal Misalignment
Spinal Misalignment affects the overall integrity of the rest of the spine. When this happens, it can cause a lot of stress on a person’s back, as well as irritation on the surrounding spinal nerves.
Doctors of Chiropractic are the only healthcare providers that specialize in correcting the cause of bad posture — spinal misalignments, known as subluxations.
If you find it difficult to sit up straight, feel tight and stiff throughout your spine, or are dealing with neck pain, headaches, shoulder stiffness, and other types of painful body signals, it likely that you have a problem in your spine that needs to be corrected.
Take the first step and have your spine and posture checked.
