A good body posture is essential not only for a healthy spine but for overall health. Having good posture can help you look and feel better about yourself. It is also important to prevent muscle injury and poor posture could also often lead to back pain.

So if you find yourself slouching a lot, here are a few steps that could help you maintain your body posture:

STANDING PROPERLY

Having a good posture while you’re standing is very important. Your chin should be in level with the ground, the shoulders pulled back and your stomach tucked in; most of your weight should be on the balls of your feet and the Knees should be slightly bent.  Avoid slouching and pushing your head or neck forward.

good-posture

Source: VeeFitness

6 STEP TEST TO CHECK YOURSELF:

  1. Do a wall test to check your posture.
  2. Stand against a wall, with your head, shoulder blades, and buttocks touching the wall.
  3. Your heels should be two to four inches from the wall.
  4. Place your palm against the wall and slide your hand behind your lower back.
  5. If you have a good posture, then you will be able to slide your hand behind your back a little bit.
  6. If space is more between your back and the wall then pull your belly button back towards your spine to help flatten your back a little.

OTHER WAYS TO CHECK YOUR POSTURE:

Use books to balance on your head while you walk. Have a good standing posture while moving. Walking with good posture is simply an extension of standing with good posture. While you walk, keep your head up, shoulders back, chest out, and eyes looking straight ahead.

Also, the type of shoes you wear is a very important factor. Pick supportive footwear. Shoes that have ample padding help to hold the body upright and maintain a good posture.

MAINTAINING GOOD POSTURE WHILE SITTING

It is important to have good body posture even while sitting. Sit up with your back straight. Your shoulders should be pushed back and your buttocks should touch the back of your chair. Your body weight should be equally distributed among both the hips.

Adjust the backrest of your chair to support your low- and mid-back or use a back support.

Relax your shoulders and avoid sitting in the same position for long periods of time.

Sitting for long times can also stress your back so you need to stand up and stretch or walk every hour or so. Just walking around the room or getting out of your car for a few minutes can help.

OTHER WAYS THAT HELP BODY POSTURE

good posture

Source: Everyday Health

  • Exercise

Focus on exercises and workouts that help strengthen your core. Most of these exercises can be done in the privacy of your home and without investing a lot of money. Planks, back extensions, crunches, shoulder rolls are some of the exercises that help maintaining good body posture.

  • Yoga

Yoga is an excellent way to maintain your posture, balance, and health. Practicing yoga a few times per week is an easy and healthy way to improve your posture. Yoga helps to stand tall look more confident, appear thinner, and feel energized.

  • Go walking

Walking for just 30 minutes a day can really help to maintain bone health.

  • Your diet

Having calcium and nutrient-rich is very important for not only a good posture but also for good health. Taking vitamin D to keep your bones and muscle strength and healthy is important.

Just like our bad habits developed over time, our good habits take time to build back. So work hard and stand in confidence.