If you’re anything like us, you’re probably no stranger to shoulder knots, seat shuffling, and foggy brain syndrome (and it’s only 10 in the morning, are you kidding me?!).
And like us, you probably thought you were alone in this too. You’re not! In fact, more than 7.6 million people are right there with you. This number only consists of those who go through the trouble of filing a disability claim for their chronic back pain.
So what is it that’s causing so much pain for so many people?
Poor posture!
It affects more than just your appearance too. Poor posture has been linked to chronic neck and back pain, heart disease, foggy brain, diabetes, muscle degeneration, and even colon cancer.
One study even claimed that every hour of sitting reduces our lifespan by 21.8 minutes, whereas smoking a cigarette only reduces it by about 11 minutes.
Oh, and let’s not forget about how much poor posture and other preventable conditions cost our country each year- over $225.8 billion!
Newsflash: You can avoid all of this by taking the steps to improve and correct your posture.
How to improve your posture:
*We’re not health professionals, just avid slouchers looking for solutions to our posture problems.*
- When sitting, sit with your legs uncrossed and touching the floor. Make sure your chair and computer are at the correct height for your stature and relax your shoulders while you work.
- When standing, keep your knees slightly bent, hips shoulder width apart, and shoulders back and relaxed. Whether you’re sitting or standing, engaging your core helps ensure you have good posture. Check out this article from the American Chiropractic Association for more tips.
- Try using an exercise ball as a chair for a little while! It’ll force you to use your core to balance and as a result, you’ll be sitting up straighter for longer periods of time.
- You can also buy posture correction devices to remind you to sit up and help turn proper posture into a long-lasting habit.
Speaking of long-lasting habits…
How many other bad habits do you have that may affect your health or productivity? (three cups of coffee by lunch, eh?) We bet you’d like to get rid of some of those too!
We can help!
Here’s a healthy habit tracker we created just for that!
Research shows that positive rewards only strengthen your habits, so why not give yourself a gold star every day you work on improving your posture? Fill in your healthy habit goals and get to it!
We know this is a huge problem for so many people, so we’re working on finding some more awesome resources to help you get rid of all those pesky posture problems! Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive these exclusive resources. It’s free and full of tons of awesome resources and tidbits! Fill out the form at the bottom of this page!
See you there!
