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> An exercise to improve one's hunchback posture and "text Neck" http://wimp.com/improveposture/
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Monday, November 18, 2013
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Science Behind Posture and how it affects your brain
Hi everyone,This is a REALLY GOOD ARTICLE. Please take a look and notice the importance of POSTURE.http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/11/the-science-behind-posture-and-how-it-affects-your-brain/The Science Behind Posture And How It Affects Your Brain
I'll confess up front: I have terrible posture. It's been bad since at least high school. It's one of those things I keep in the back of my mind as something I know I should do but never get around to, like eating more vegetables and sending more postcards.
This post originally appeared on Buffer
The way we stand, sit and walk, actually has more longer reaching implications on our mood and happiness than we thought. The latest studies reveal it:
Shaking Your Head Will Affect Your Opinion
Body language is closely related to posture — the way we move our bodies affects how others see us as well as our own moods and habits. In terms of scientific research, the two overlap quite a bit. This isn't too surprising, but how our posture and body language affect our thoughts is.
For instance, a study at Ohio State University in 2003 found that our opinions can be subconsciously influenced by our physical behavior. Here are two fascinating examples:
- When participants in the study nodded in agreements or shook their heads to signal disagreement, these actions affected their opinions without them realizing.
- The same study also showed that when participants hugged themselves, they were sometimes able to reduce their physical pain.
Dutch behavioral scientist Erik Peper has done extensive research into this area, as well. He regularly makes participants in his classes stand up and stretch, for similar reasons why exercise has been linked to happiness, like here:
Here are three fascinating things that happened once our posture changes:
- For example, when we sit up straight, we are more likely to remember positive memories or think of something positive in general, according to this experiment.
- Another insight was that if we skip during breaks, we can significantly increase our energy levels. A slow, slumped walk on the other hand, can do the exact opposite and drain us of our energy.
- The study also found that those who were most affected by depression before the study found their energy drained more than others.
So Erik Peper is convinced (and I am, too) that we should keep a careful eye on our posture and body language — lest it bring us down without us realizing.
Posture Changes Our Hormones
When we talk more broadly of body language, as opposed to good posture, we can actually see the affects it has on relationships right throughout the animal kingdom. In particular, body language is used to express power, through expansive postures (i.e. spreading out your limbs and opening up your body) and large body size (or the simple perception of large body size).
You might know about Amy Cuddy's famous Ted Talk and her incredible insights on how posture changes our hormone levels. Well, some even more recent studies took this even further. A study by researchers from Columbia and Harvard Universities showed that body language symbolizing power can actually affect our decision-making, subconsciously. The researchers measured the appetite for risk of participants in either expansive, powerful poses or constricted poses (occupying minimal space, keeping limbs close to the body). Those in the powerful poses not only felt more powerful and in control, but were 45% more likely to take a risky bet.
Plus, the study used saliva samples to prove that expansive postures actually altered the participants' hormone levels — decreasing cortisol (C) and increasing testosterone (T):
This neuroendocrine profile of High T and Low C has been consistently linked to such outcomes as disease resistance and leadership abilities.So clearly, our posture has more to do with our minds we might have thought. And in fact, it seems like our bodies come first — when we alter our posture and body language, it subconsciously influences ourthinking and decision-making.
There's No "One Best" Posture
So if you want to take advantage of these proven benefits to live a healthier and happier life, where should you start? We know that there is a large amount of different areas that can be painful when we have bad posture. Here's just a short list of them:
Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of research into how exactly to adopt good posture — a lot of what we know tends to come from being told to "sit up straight" as children. A study in 1999, however, found that sitting at an angle of 110-130 degrees is optimal for spine comfort, and another in 2007showed that leaning back at 135 degrees is ideal for preventing back strain.
Not only is a position like this difficult to measure and maintain (do you know precisely what angle you're sitting at right now?), not everyone agrees. The team at LUMOback have created a posture sensor that you can wear around your waist during the day to help you develop better posture. The device watches for slouching and shifting to the side, and vibrates to remind you to sit up straight.
The team, which includes a doctor and a data scientist (as well as a medical advisor), doesn't advise the leaning-back position for your workday. Instead, they maintain firstly that "the best posture is always the next posture," or in other words, always keep moving:
We know that many of us have jobs that do require us to spend time working at desks, so knowing how to sit and stand with good posture is certainly important and beneficial to one's health and well-being. That said, the human body was built to move, not spend 8 hours at a computer.Walking around helps your body to reset itself into healthy posture, so make a point to get up from your desk at least twice an hour.
When you maintain a neutral pelvic position with a straight and upright back, the vertebrae in your back are nicely aligned. This takes a lot of pressure off of your spine and back muscles, which can reduce back pain.
In an office setting, you're likely to have to crane your neck to see your computer screen and strain your upper back and shoulders to reach a keyboard. Thus, any potential lower back benefits of a reclined position are outweighed by the negative impacts on your upper back and neck.For now, I'm going to give sitting up straight a go. If nothing else, at least I know it will probably put me in a good mood!
The Science of Posture [Buffer]
Belle Beth Cooper is a content crafter at Buffer and co-founder of Hello Code. She writes about social media, startups, lifehacking and science.
Bob WaegerSpinal Q855-472-7223 Office714-514-8038 Mobile866-532-4047 Fax
Science Behind Posture and how it affects your brain
Hi everyone,
This is a REALLY GOOD ARTICLE. Please take a look and notice the importance of POSTURE.
The Science Behind Posture And How It Affects Your Brain
I'll confess up front: I have terrible posture. It's been bad since at least high school. It's one of those things I keep in the back of my mind as something I know I should do but never get around to, like eating more vegetables and sending more postcards.
This post originally appeared on Buffer
The way we stand, sit and walk, actually has more longer reaching implications on our mood and happiness than we thought. The latest studies reveal it:
Shaking Your Head Will Affect Your Opinion
Body language is closely related to posture — the way we move our bodies affects how others see us as well as our own moods and habits. In terms of scientific research, the two overlap quite a bit. This isn't too surprising, but how our posture and body language affect our thoughts is.
For instance, a study at Ohio State University in 2003 found that our opinions can be subconsciously influenced by our physical behavior. Here are two fascinating examples:
- When participants in the study nodded in agreements or shook their heads to signal disagreement, these actions affected their opinions without them realizing.
- The same study also showed that when participants hugged themselves, they were sometimes able to reduce their physical pain.
Dutch behavioral scientist Erik Peper has done extensive research into this area, as well. He regularly makes participants in his classes stand up and stretch, for similar reasons why exercise has been linked to happiness, like here:
Here are three fascinating things that happened once our posture changes:
- For example, when we sit up straight, we are more likely to remember positive memories or think of something positive in general, according to this experiment.
- Another insight was that if we skip during breaks, we can significantly increase our energy levels. A slow, slumped walk on the other hand, can do the exact opposite and drain us of our energy.
- The study also found that those who were most affected by depression before the study found their energy drained more than others.
So Erik Peper is convinced (and I am, too) that we should keep a careful eye on our posture and body language — lest it bring us down without us realizing.
Posture Changes Our Hormones
When we talk more broadly of body language, as opposed to good posture, we can actually see the affects it has on relationships right throughout the animal kingdom. In particular, body language is used to express power, through expansive postures (i.e. spreading out your limbs and opening up your body) and large body size (or the simple perception of large body size).
You might know about Amy Cuddy's famous Ted Talk and her incredible insights on how posture changes our hormone levels. Well, some even more recent studies took this even further. A study by researchers from Columbia and Harvard Universities showed that body language symbolizing power can actually affect our decision-making, subconsciously. The researchers measured the appetite for risk of participants in either expansive, powerful poses or constricted poses (occupying minimal space, keeping limbs close to the body). Those in the powerful poses not only felt more powerful and in control, but were 45% more likely to take a risky bet.
Plus, the study used saliva samples to prove that expansive postures actually altered the participants' hormone levels — decreasing cortisol (C) and increasing testosterone (T):
This neuroendocrine profile of High T and Low C has been consistently linked to such outcomes as disease resistance and leadership abilities.
So clearly, our posture has more to do with our minds we might have thought. And in fact, it seems like our bodies come first — when we alter our posture and body language, it subconsciously influences ourthinking and decision-making.
There's No "One Best" Posture
So if you want to take advantage of these proven benefits to live a healthier and happier life, where should you start? We know that there is a large amount of different areas that can be painful when we have bad posture. Here's just a short list of them:
Unfortunately there's not a whole lot of research into how exactly to adopt good posture — a lot of what we know tends to come from being told to "sit up straight" as children. A study in 1999, however, found that sitting at an angle of 110-130 degrees is optimal for spine comfort, and another in 2007showed that leaning back at 135 degrees is ideal for preventing back strain.
Not only is a position like this difficult to measure and maintain (do you know precisely what angle you're sitting at right now?), not everyone agrees. The team at LUMOback have created a posture sensor that you can wear around your waist during the day to help you develop better posture. The device watches for slouching and shifting to the side, and vibrates to remind you to sit up straight.
The team, which includes a doctor and a data scientist (as well as a medical advisor), doesn't advise the leaning-back position for your workday. Instead, they maintain firstly that "the best posture is always the next posture," or in other words, always keep moving:
We know that many of us have jobs that do require us to spend time working at desks, so knowing how to sit and stand with good posture is certainly important and beneficial to one's health and well-being. That said, the human body was built to move, not spend 8 hours at a computer.
Walking around helps your body to reset itself into healthy posture, so make a point to get up from your desk at least twice an hour.
When you maintain a neutral pelvic position with a straight and upright back, the vertebrae in your back are nicely aligned. This takes a lot of pressure off of your spine and back muscles, which can reduce back pain.
In an office setting, you're likely to have to crane your neck to see your computer screen and strain your upper back and shoulders to reach a keyboard. Thus, any potential lower back benefits of a reclined position are outweighed by the negative impacts on your upper back and neck.
For now, I'm going to give sitting up straight a go. If nothing else, at least I know it will probably put me in a good mood!
The Science of Posture [Buffer]
Belle Beth Cooper is a content crafter at Buffer and co-founder of Hello Code. She writes about social media, startups, lifehacking and science.
Bob Waeger
Spinal Q
855-472-7223 Office
714-514-8038 Mobile
866-532-4047 Fax
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Fwd: sit up! Slouching leads to posture problems
http://globalnews.ca/news/960555/sit-up-how-slouching-leads-to-posture-problems/Sit up! How slouching leads to posture problems
CALGARY- 18-year-old Allison Pritchard admits her posture is a problem. You'll often find the field hockey athlete bent over her smart phone or computer.
"I have the classic rounded over [posture], head hunched forward – just like every teen, I think," she says.
The average teenager sends 70 to 80 texts each day and spends at least an hour watching videos or checking social media sites on their mobile devices. That means that each time a device is out, the user's head is hunched forward.
"We're really afraid that this continual postural habit is going to create so many health issues in the future," says Eva DaSilva, a Calgary pilates and posture educator.
DaSilva and her associate Kathleen Keller became concerned about teen posture habits after noticing a growing number of teenage clients coming in with neck, shoulder and back pain.
"[Teens] need to be educated about what their core truly is, the deep muscles inside that stabilize their core and lengthen the spine up," Keller explains.
Her practice, 'The Keller Method' has developed a workshop specifically for teens to improve their posture.
"We focus on strengthening the core as well as the muscles in the spine and around their rotator cuff, in particular the shoulder girdle muscles that prevent the arms from coming forward."
If young people don't have the time for a full exercise program, Keller also says a few minutes a day can also help correct posture problems.
"Just lifting up, rotating around and stretching throughout the day can stop that pattern."
Holding devices at eye level can also be helpful.
For more information about the Keller Method's workshops for teen posture improvements visit: http://www.thekellermethod.com/Slouchitis.html
Bob WaegerSpinal Q855-472-7223 Office714-514-8038 Mobile866-532-4047 Fax
sit up! Slouching leads to posture problems
http://globalnews.ca/news/960555/sit-up-how-slouching-leads-to-posture-problems/
Sit up! How slouching leads to posture problems
CALGARY- 18-year-old Allison Pritchard admits her posture is a problem. You'll often find the field hockey athlete bent over her smart phone or computer.
"I have the classic rounded over [posture], head hunched forward – just like every teen, I think," she says.
The average teenager sends 70 to 80 texts each day and spends at least an hour watching videos or checking social media sites on their mobile devices. That means that each time a device is out, the user's head is hunched forward.
"We're really afraid that this continual postural habit is going to create so many health issues in the future," says Eva DaSilva, a Calgary pilates and posture educator.
DaSilva and her associate Kathleen Keller became concerned about teen posture habits after noticing a growing number of teenage clients coming in with neck, shoulder and back pain.
"[Teens] need to be educated about what their core truly is, the deep muscles inside that stabilize their core and lengthen the spine up," Keller explains.
Her practice, 'The Keller Method' has developed a workshop specifically for teens to improve their posture.
"We focus on strengthening the core as well as the muscles in the spine and around their rotator cuff, in particular the shoulder girdle muscles that prevent the arms from coming forward."
If young people don't have the time for a full exercise program, Keller also says a few minutes a day can also help correct posture problems.
"Just lifting up, rotating around and stretching throughout the day can stop that pattern."
Holding devices at eye level can also be helpful.
For more information about the Keller Method's workshops for teen posture improvements visit: http://www.thekellermethod.com/Slouchitis.html
Bob Waeger
Spinal Q
855-472-7223 Office
714-514-8038 Mobile
866-532-4047 Fax
Monday, November 11, 2013
Tips for Creating a healthier work environment
s work a pain in the neck? Your back aches? Not to mention your wrists too.
Join the office crowd. We've morphed into "chair people" and it's costing us big time – our bodies are taking a beating.
The slump trumps. "We are now sitting more than ever and as a country we are becoming more sedentary" thanks to screen time at work and home, says Dr. Stacy Irvine.
Chronic inactivity or "sitting disease" is a risk factor for several chronic disease states, including diabetes, heart disease and obesity, says Irvine, chiropractor and exercise specialist at Totum Life Science.
Nothing good comes from not moving enough, including weight gain, weakness in our muscles and postural changes. "Eventually these postural changes may lead to conditions such as low back pain, degenerative disk disease, neck pain, upper cross syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome and the list goes on," says Irvine, of Totum.ca.
"We do know that if people are in a healthy work environment they tend to perform better and have less sick days during the year," says Irvine, adding that creating a healthier work environment can be relatively simple and inexpensive.
Don't just sit on the problem. Get up and move during the day, stresses Irvine, including scheduling "walking meetings," standing up when you take a phone call at your desk, switching from your desk to a boardroom for part of the day, and taking small walking breaks for lunch and any other time you can leave your desk.
"Ensure your work station is as ergonomically efficient as possible. While sitting at your desk, add stretching breaks or simply try moving your feet, to change your position and keep your circulation flowing," she adds.
A regulated health care professional can help repair chronic postural damage by finding ways to improve the ergonomics of your work space, manage your discomfort and strengthen your body, says Irvine, adding to visit Yourback-health.com.
phone use = Neck and back pain. Text neck
CHARLOTTE -- An epidemic known as "iPosture" is causing severe back and neck pain as people spend more time on mobile devices. The position is a result of looking down at a cell phone or tablet with the neck bent and the shoulders slumped over.
"When somebody is holding something in front of you, you start to curl to curl your shoulders over," said physical therapist Christopher Stulginksy of Ayrsley Town Rehabilitation. "They start to look down, specifically at their mobile devices, and it puts a lot of stress on the muscles in the back."
Stulginsky said that type of stress overworks the muscles and creates pain.
A recent study by UK health provider SimplyHealth shows 84 percent of 18 to 24 year olds reported suffering back or neck pain in the past year. That same study finds someone in that age group spends almost nine hours a day in front of some of screen.
"Think about the percentage of the day that you're in that posture," said Stulginsky. "So, OK, what can we change? It's not realistic to stop using those devices, but you can change the posture, and that's where you can mitigate the problems you have long term."
Stulginsky suggested setting an alarm on a phone for every 15 minutes as a reminder to check posture or change your position.
"Put it on vibrate so it doesn't disturb people around you, and when that goes off, in your pocket or on your desk, just momentarily change the posture," Stulginsky said. "It will mitigate the force that you're putting for the position you're in all day."
Grandparents' advice to stand straight and sit up tall really will help alleviate problems as well, along with a healthy lifestyle and regular exercise.
"When somebody is holding something in front of you, you start to curl to curl your shoulders over," said physical therapist Christopher Stulginksy of Ayrsley Town Rehabilitation. "They start to look down, specifically at their mobile devices, and it puts a lot of stress on the muscles in the back."
Stulginsky said that type of stress overworks the muscles and creates pain.
A recent study by UK health provider SimplyHealth shows 84 percent of 18 to 24 year olds reported suffering back or neck pain in the past year. That same study finds someone in that age group spends almost nine hours a day in front of some of screen.
"Think about the percentage of the day that you're in that posture," said Stulginsky. "So, OK, what can we change? It's not realistic to stop using those devices, but you can change the posture, and that's where you can mitigate the problems you have long term."
Stulginsky suggested setting an alarm on a phone for every 15 minutes as a reminder to check posture or change your position.
"Put it on vibrate so it doesn't disturb people around you, and when that goes off, in your pocket or on your desk, just momentarily change the posture," Stulginsky said. "It will mitigate the force that you're putting for the position you're in all day."
Grandparents' advice to stand straight and sit up tall really will help alleviate problems as well, along with a healthy lifestyle and regular exercise.
Bob Waeger
714-514-8038 Mobile
866-532-4047 Fax
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