#Posture #WhatYouNeedToKnow #StayConnected #NuYuRevolution

POSTURE POSTURE POSTURE, HOW IS YOURS?

People often know they have bad posture, and then attempt to "stand straight." This usually works for about 30 seconds, until their mind wanders and they slouch into their familiar round-backed, forward-head slump.
Part of their problem is that posture is mostly unconscious.
We can focus on and be conscious of posture for a few minutes at best, but the vast majority of our waking hours are spent thinking about things other than posture.

The other part of the problem is that posture issues begin in the space between perceptions (where we think we are) and true, objective reality (where we really are). For example, if you know you're standing straight, with good posture, does that mean you really are? And if you are standing twisted, how effective is exercise going to be?
posture, and it is absolutely astounding how crooked many people stand, even when they believe they're straight as an arrow!

But there is hope. With the help of conscious awareness and postural strengthening, many people have successfully strengthened their posture. We must become aware of where we are, where we should be, and retrain the body to move and balance differently.

Stand straight in front of a mirror with your eyes closed and then, without moving, open them. Take a conscious look at your posture. Observe what is level, what is not, and what is different from one side to the other.

Posture is quite literally how you balance your body. There are infinite combinations of possible joint positions that result in a body balancing. However, there are far more combinations that result in unnatural postures.

The goal for strong posture is to achieve the best biomechanically sound alignment of the body where all the muscles and joints are ideally aligned to work as well as possible while stressing the body the least.

Posture is how you balance your body, and it is dynamic, not static. Posture is a trade-off between flexibility and stability, between motion and effort. Postural balance is the ability to control your body's position in space, and keep your body upright and stable, especially when challenged.

The strength of your posture is how well you know where your body is in space.Weakly balanced posture requires more energy to stay upright, resulting in mechanical stress and premature joint wear. So, posture is about more than standing straight, and improving posture involves more than just telling someone to stand straight and keep their shoulders back. Improving posture means strengthening how the body balances and how it moves.

Here is a simple balance test you can use to test yourself: Simply stand on one foot for 30 seconds. If you cannot balance on one leg for 30 seconds, or if you flail about, your internal perception of where your body is in space does not agree with true reality. As a result, when you move or exercise, your motion is not symmetrical and you compensate by using some muscles more and others less.

One-leg balance exercises are tools to align our internal perceptions of posture with external reality. When one-leg balance is worse on one side than the other, there is unbalanced muscle function and joint stress. A 1997 study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society showed that older people who could not balance on one leg had more than twice the risk of being injured in a fall.

Daily posture exercise creates an awareness of body placement, helps stretch shortened muscles and ligaments, and gives people the ability to stay active. According to a 2001 study in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, posture exercises also strengthen muscles that have weakened. Stronger posture not only helps back and neck pain; patients, it also improves problems ranging from knee pain to headaches.

The relationship between posture and general health is not surprising, since posture is the physical end result of how your body is dealing with the millions of inputs about your environment the brain receives from the nervous system every second. In fact, if you want to know how a person is feeling today, look at their posture and how they move. Is their motion stiff and guarded, like an old person, or do they move smoothly, with grace and ease? When someone has strong posture, you look at them and know they have energy and vitality.

So........

Be Conscious of Your Posture! It is critical that you become more conscious of posture when standing and sitting. We were not designed to sit in an office all day... we are built to move. Getting out of your office chair to walk around several times throughout the day can go a long way.

Follow A Balanced Exercise Program! Be sure to strengthen your muscles, your cardiovascular health and flexibility while also strengthening your mind in conjunction with your postural awareness. An effectively structured fitness program will improve your posture, functional strength, and overall health and well-being. If you are not regularly exercising, I would put it as #1 on your To-Do list.