Our Body Posture Reflects our Mental and Physical health

Our body posture determines our physical and mental state. The term posture is used to describe how your body is positioned when you’re sitting, standing, walking and lying down. Good posture facilitates ease of movement, strengthens muscles and improves flexibility.

Proper posture is important because it places your body in an alignment where the stress is properly distributed to the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and muscles. It reduces the risk of joint pains or degenerative arthritis.

Being conscious of our posture or sitting with our spine straight without slouching is the first discipline we can inculcate towards good posture. A good posture speaks volumes about the person’s personality, confidence, and attitude.

As a child, we always keep hearing from our elders ‘sit straight’.

Let us first examine what is a good posture and why is it important to have a good body posture

A good posture, straight spine keeps us mentally alert and allows us to work more efficiently with less fatigue and strain on our body’s ligaments, joints and muscle enabling our vital organs and nervous system to function efficiently. When our body is not in proper alignment, some muscles have to work harder to keep us upright which results in undue fatigue and strain.

Primarily posture is about the right alignment of the body with respect to the pull of the gravitational force. Good posture entails distributing the force of gravity through our body so no one structure is over stressed.

Good Body Posture Enables Healthy Breathing

When we sit for meditation we need to sit with our spine straight, because right posture enables better breathing and helps us to remain mentally alert. You will find a huge difference in the amount of oxygen one can inhale with the right posture. Slouching constricts the ease of normal breathing and reduces healthy breathing. This is why yoga and meditation put so much emphasis on getting your posture right.

Good Body Posture Boosts Confidence

Right posture boosts confidence. Have you ever noticed people or celebrities or leaders and instantly felt what a confident look or what a confident walk. On the flip side no matter how well you dress up, with a bad posture there will be something lacking in your personality. A confident look makes you look smarter and helps you carry yourself with aplomb and an aura of appeal.

Improves blood circulation and digestion

Right posture allows the digestive organs to function smoothly without any undue compression of digestive organs constricting or inhibiting the normal function of the gastrointestinal bodies inside. An improper posture has been postulated to contribute to several digestive issues right from gastritis to acidity and constipation.

Makes you look smarter

A good posture has a lot to do with how you look. Right posture will make you look slimmer and smarter and a slouching posture will make you look like a couch potato even in the smartest of dress.

Healthy Spine

Right posture is the key to maintaining our intricate muscles of the body in shape. Inadequate posture can change the anatomy of our body by putting stress on our spine, leading to constricted nerves and blood flow.

Strengthens muscles and joints

Right posture keeps away the abnormal wear and tear of the joints and muscles that could result in degenerative arthritis and joint pain. It also reduces the stress on the ligaments holding the spinal joints together, minimizing the likelihood of injury. A good posture allows muscles to work more efficiently, allowing the body to use less energy and, therefore, preventing muscle fatigue. It also helps prevent muscle strain, overuse disorders, and even back and muscular pain.

Improves your frame of mind

Last but not the least our body posture reflects our mental frame. When we are happy and alert or if there is something we need to focus we naturally sit alert. On the contrary, when we are feeling low and depressed or we are in pain we tend to slouch. A keen observant can read the mental state of a person by his body posture. Being desolate or in a despondent mood brings a sharp change in your breathing.

Try this, next time when you are anxious, change your posture sit straight and take a deep breath and feel the difference. Right posture facilitates easy breathing which relaxes the mind and the body. 

Contact Jagadguru Kripalu Naturopathy Hospital  for lifestyle consultation.

by Pragya Sinha