The secret to anti-aging… Sit up straight!
The quickest before and after you will ever see:
We’ve all seen the endearing old couple walking down the
street, shuffling and hunched over; they are unable to lift their heads upright
to see where they’re going let alone to embrace in a romantic kiss. The explanation for this is not just do to
old age; rather it is their inhibited posture that is actually impeding their
once mobile, flexible young tissues. In most
cases this humpy, hunchy posture can be avoided by taking preventative measures
in your 20’s, 30’s and 40’s.
I first became curious about posture when I started massage
therapy school but quickly put it on the back burner when 750 other things took
precedence. My curiosity eventually resurfaced when I started my professional
practice and had patients constantly quizzing me about how to properly hold
their bodies. It wasn’t until I started
a regular yoga practice that I took a personal interest in how my bones stack
on top each other and what it feels like to have good posture.
So what on earth is
good posture and how can this keep you staying young?
Firstly, I think its important to consider what causes us to
age and degenerate in the first place.
To keep it simple; anything that
causes stress on the body, or taxes a particular system in the body, can inevitably
speed up the aging process. Whether
it be through physical stress, (caused by a poor diet or lack of exercise) or
emotional stress, (such as an unhealthy relationship or excessive worry), on
some level, our bodies are being taxed and the surplus of natural resources we
need to be healthy are being depleted. As
our bodies age they have a harder time coping and managing stress. So why not take action and support our bodies
with good posture? In doing so we can
potentially decrease some of the stress that our bodies have to interpret on a
daily basis.
Benefits of Sitting up
Straight
·
Spinal Alignment
·
Engagement through core, Pelvic floor and
Transversus abdominus
·
Lengthened Hamstrings
·
C1 and Jaw (TMJ) alignment
·
Vertebral Disc, Membranous, Muscular,
ligamentous, tendonous, fascial and joint health
·
More efficient circulation especially to the extremities
·
Efficient Lymphatic Flow
·
Energetic Flow
·
Increase in flow of Qi
·
Increased space for Lungs to breath
·
Increased space for the Heart to beat and pump
·
Diaphragm has space to expand and contract
·
Increased oxygen and blood to the brain
·
Ease on the organs because they have space to
preform their function
·
Decrease in stress and anxiety
·
Feeling more alert, alive, present, awake,
focused, productive
As you can see, sitting in a more vertical and upright
posture can have all these enormous benefits on your body, causing less stress
on the body as a whole, ultimately means your body has an easier time trying to
achieve homeostasis and your sympathetic nervous system can stop firing. Just
by focusing on your posture everyday you are taking preventative measures in
slowing down the aging process.
So before you start looking like
the hunch back of Notre dame, here are some preventative measures that are
essential to staying and looking young
Preventive
Measures
·
Yoga
·
Mediation
·
Core Exercises
·
Massage
·
Chiropractic treatment
·
Physiotherapy
·
Regular exercise
·
Acupuncture
