Fact: Practically everything in your life touches your metabolism in some way…
We often get so caught up in discussions about diet and exercise that we forget about other important factors in our life that can play an important role in our health and fat loss.
Posture is one such factor that gets ignored despite it’s important role in our health, energy, mental, and physical well-being.
Do you think that it’s a stretch to connect posture to metabolism? Let’s see…
Poor Posture Starves Your Cells Of Oxygen
As you may know, oxygen is the substrate that causes our cells to burn calories. If we don’t have sufficient oxygen in our cells, our metabolism suffers…
Did you know that slouching decreases lung capacity by a whopping 30%! Do you think that this could have a negative effect on how hot your metabolism burns? You bet it can!
Not convinced that poor posture is effecting your fat loss efforts? How about this…
Poor Posture Increases Appetite
Using ultrasound, Australian researchers discovered that standing or sitting up straight actually causes stretch receptors in the digestive tract to be extended, which can prevent you from feeling a false sense of hunger.
By now, you should begin to be feeling like the posture thing may be important; but let me seal the deal with a few more arguments in favor of good posture!
Poor Posture Interferes With Exercise Compliance
Back pain is one of the most common causes of someone having to stop their exercise program. It has been discovered that poor posture and slouching increases the pressure in the vertebrae of the lower back by ten to fifteen times! In fact, experts estimate that poor posture plays a role in 80% of all back problems; that’s astounding.
We must protect our back to be able to enjoy an active lifestyle. Nothing will derail us faster than not being able to stand up straight and walk due to back pain.
Poor Posture Impacts Your Emotions
How about your emotional health? Can posture impact your mood and emotional balance?
According to published research, posture is both an issue of physical and mental balance…
Sure, we can develop poor posture due to physical weakness, but we can also develop poor posture due to mental and emotional weakness. If you think about it, when you see a depressed person, their shoulders are usually slouched and their head is often forward and down…
Change expert, Anthony Robbins, says that the emotional river flows both ways, in other words, slouching can be a cause and an effect of emotional factors…
If we’re feeling down, changing our physiology by standing up straight and planting our feet in a confident manner while breathing deeply can actually cause different hormones and neurotransmitters to be produced. The result is that our body manufactures more energy, confidence, and endorphins that lift the mood.
Doubt it? Try it…the cost is NOTHING!
Every morning, after brushing my teeth, I plant my feet a little wider than shoulder width, open my arms and take up as much space as I can while breathing confidently! That is part of my morning ritual as a proclamation that I’m in control of my life! It feels great!
How to Use This information
- Practice Good Posture. Posture is managed by your subconscious systems, you can’t force good posture. You’ve got to train your muscles to manage your posture in the background. One easy way to do this is to work on body awareness a few times throughout the day. During a break stand up tall, shoulders back and down. Imagine that you have a balloon tied to your head and let the posture fall into a strong and confident position. Simply pay attention to your comfort. Move your head slowly side to side and up and down and feel where it falls naturally into neutral position. Doing this allows the body to self-correct.
- Men – Remove Wallet And/Or Keys From The Back Pocket – Sitting on a wallet or keys can tilt the pelvis and cause pressure in the lumbar spine. A study published in the New England Journal Of Medicine found that men who removed their wallet from their back pocket experienced total resolution of their chronic back pain.
- Strengthen The Core Muscles. You don’t just need stronger core muscles, you also need to build core endurance and balance. To do this, I recommend purchasing the book: The New Rules of Lifting for Abs Crunches and sit ups won’t do the job, you need to learn how your core muscles work and this book does a good job of educating you!
- Get Up And Move Every Thirty Minutes During The Day. Sitting all day wreaks havoc on postural and core muscles. Simply getting up and doing 60-90 seconds of activity and a stretch for the hip flexors can work wonders for your posture!
As always, if you enjoyed and learned from this post, please take a couple of seconds to share it with your followers, it means a lot and makes the effort worthwhile! Thanks!!
References:
- Reuters Health May, 2003
- New England Journal of Medicine 290 (1974): 633