Seven Golden Habits of a Good Posture

"Stand up straight! Don't slouch! Hold your head up!" Even if you didn't obey your mother when she nagged you, it's never too late to start improving your posture with good practices. What is posture? It is the way you stand, sit, bend or lie down. Do you impact others positively, without resorting to speech, gestures or written words? If yes, chances are that you have good posture. Many people think straightening up is important only for appearance. Although good posture does project confidence, strength and poise, it is also important because it contributes to your health and wellbeing. Poor posture may cause fatigue, muscular strain, compression of blood vessels and pain. In addition, faulty posture can affect the position and function of major organs. Seven good posture habits 1. Do not allow the head to move forward when looking at the computer. Once the head moves forward, posture is thrown off and the body compensates for the shift. The neck moves forward, the shoulders become rounded and a compensatory sway in the back develops. The result of this poor posture is pain, muscle aches, tension and headaches. 2. Do not wear clothes or accessories that force your body to assume unnatural shapes. Avoid wearing high heeled shoes, boots, tight clothing and wide belts 3. Do not slouch. This is the worst and most common postural habit of the sedentary generation. 4. Do not sway back. Whatever you do, do not keep curving your back too much as when you peer into books. With habit, a hunch sets in, impairing your backbone permanently. 5. Keep moving your toes and fingers continually even though immediate activity does not require it. This will help in blood circulation in these areas and prevent them from stiffening in the future. 6. Never arch your back to pick up an object from the floor. Keeping the back in its normal posture, bend the knees to do the job. 7. Roll your shoulders regularly. Take both shoulders upwards to your ears, then gently and slowly roll them backwards and drop them down. Reverse the direction. Do these a couple of times during the day. This will ensure they are kept in their place and maintain their correct posture. If you follow these seven rules, you will find correcting bad posture isn't all that difficult.