With many more of us working from home, it’s no surprise that, according to Benenden Healthcare, 56% of the population believes that they have poor posture. It’s so easy to get caught up in your work, hunched over a screen and not really focusing on how you’re sitting.
However, according to Harvard Health, poor posture can lead to a range of difficult health issues including pain in the neck and back, headaches, and even incontinence.
Additionally, Meghan Markowski, a physical therapist at Harvard-affiliated venues said, “Researchers are also looking into whether posture affects mood, sleep, fatigue, and jaw alignment”.
Basically, we should be taking our posture very seriously and improving it wherever we can.
The exercise that can improve your posture
Of course, nothing is a miracle fix and if you don’t do this regularly, you’ll fall back into old slouch-y habits.
So, according to the yoga experts at Tummee, this Chair Seated Twist pose will help to stretch the sides of the spine which can help relieve aches from mild back issues caused due to sitting for long periods of time. It can also help the parasympathetic nerves in the neck and assit with digestion.
So, how do you do it?
To do this exercise, follow these steps as outlined by posture expert Posture Ellie:
- Sit forward in your chair, tilt your pelvis forward
- Keep your knees and feet facing forwards throughout the entire exercise
- Place one hand onto your leg or chair
- Twist as much as you possibly can, squeezing shoulder blades back until you feel a twist through the mid to upper back
- Do this same twist in the other direction
- Make sure that you take deep breaths through the nose, down to the stomach the whole time
How to look after your posture
According to the British Heart Foundation, the best tip when it comes to posture is, “the best posture is the next posture”. The charity recommends taking frequent short walks, getting away from your desk for five minutes every hour, and fidgeting every 15 minutes to keep your body moving.
The charity also recommends yoga and pilates for specifically tackling posture issues.
Brb, need to do a few twists.