Ways To Keep Your Back Straight and Healthy For A Long Time
Your posture says a lot about you but it’s more than just about giving a good impression towards others.
Keeping your back straight for a long time does have its benefits. However, most people can’t help but slouch their backs. Some even don’t notice that they’re slouching for an unhealthy amount of time.
Keeping your back straight means making sure that your spine is perfectly straight when walking or sitting down. As hard as it may seem, keeping your back straight is one of the things that you should work on. As we’ve said, it helps you give off a better impression towards others but it’s the health benefits that you should be after.
For most people, keeping their back straight is hard because they’ve been unknowingly used to slouching all the time. If you are one of those people, you should read on as these are some good tips on how you can keep your back straight for long periods.
Make Sure That Your Shoulders Are Aligned
Most people don’t know what it means to keep your back straight. As such, it’s important for them to know what it means to do this. A good way to know if your back is straight is if your shoulders are from a straight line behind your back.
It can be challenging to maintain this at first but eventually, you’ll see that it’s the way your body is supposed to be. It will feel natural once you get used to keeping your back straight.
Sit Correctly
Sitting properly does wonders for your posture. There’s a reason why chairs have flat surfaces behind them. This can be used as a means to gauge how straight your back is. When sitting down, make sure that your back fully rests on the back of the chair.
Keep your chin up and your shoulders leveled too. Sitting properly does wonders for your posture so it’s something that you should practice while working and even while eating.
Get a Good Mattress
Believe it or not, some mattresses are made to promote better posture. For instance, if you check on this website, you can see a good example of such mattresses. Most people think that the best mattresses are the ones that are as soft as the clouds but it’s definitely not recommended for your posture.
A good mattress should be one that’s firm but comfortable to lay down on. Mattresses that are too soft will cause your back to bend as you lay down. On the other hand, mattresses that are too hard can be quite stressful for your back as well.
What you’d want to get are mattresses that are ergonomically designed to keep your back straight as you sleep. When you wake up, you’ll feel a big difference when it comes to your posture. As your back has been straight all night, keeping your posture straight will feel natural.
Planking and Core Exercises
One of the reasons why people have a tough time keeping their back straight is that they don’t have as much core strength. Making your core stronger will make keeping your back straight feel natural. As such, you should set aside at least 30 minutes of your time per day in doing these core exercises.
The best and most basic way to train your core is through the planking. This might seem like a simple exercise at first but it’s very difficult once you get right down to it. Start with intervals of 30 seconds and do at least 5 rounds of this. Eventually, work your way up to a minute and before you know it, you’ll have a good core foundation for your posture.
Practice Yoga
Yoga is the best form of light exercise that can help with your posture. It’s all about understanding your body mechanics and helping you find your balance. There are many yoga poses dedicated to improving posture so this is something you might want to get into.
What’s great about yoga is that it’s something that you can do at home. Just get a yoga mat, a good instructional video, and then you’ll be good to go. Practice yoga at least one hour a day and you’ll be surprised at the difference this makes for your posture.
Keeping a good posture has many short-term and long-term benefits. It can help you breathe better, it can help you feel less strain on your body, and when you get old, you’ll benefit from having a strong back as well. Slouching is a bad habit to get into so make sure to take these tips to heart.
