Simple ways to improve your posture everyday

Since we were kids we were always told to sit up straight, but as we get older, especially with more time looking down at a screen or a book, we tend to forget that golden rule.

Posture is incredibly important for balance, preventing osteoporosis, helping digestion and improving blood flow. All of these factors become even more important with age.

We rarely pay attention to correct posture and often accept the fact that as we get older our shoulders will naturally hunch over. However, this definitely shouldn’t be happening. The longer we can maintain a healthy posture, the better our quality of life will be.

Remind yourself to fix your posture whenever you feel your shoulders hunching over so that keeping your spine straight eventually becomes instinctive. It’s important with sitting, standing and lying, so these are a few ways to help yourself to continue to double check your spine.

Sitting

• Make sure you are as far back in the chair as possible.
• Don’t cross your legs or ankles.
• Lift your ribs and pull shoulders back.
• Keep forearms parallel to the ground.
• Adjust chair to provide lower back support and make sure it is the correct height for your feet to rest flat on the ground.

Standing

• Stand shoulder width apart and bear most weight on the balls of your feet.
• Keep softly bent knees and arms loosely hanging by your sides.
• Pull your shoulders back and find an easy arch for your mid back to stay comfortably in.
• Pull your belly button back towards your spine.
• Keep your earlobes in line with your shoulders and avoid straining forward or backwards.

Lying

• Sleep on the correct mattress and with the correct pillow.
• To sleep on your back place a pillow under your knees.
• If you are sleeping on your side place a pillow in between your thighs.

Do you ever pay attention to your posture? What do you do to improve it?