Good Posture: A Tool for Better Digestion?
Many of us grew up constantly hearing the phrase, “Stand up straight.” Whether it was in school or from our parents at home, we were told that slouching would make us unattractive, give us hunched backs. Although, getting a hunched back was definitely a legitimate claim, usually there was nothing about digesting your food, stomach aches or the inability to breathe properly. Had we learned these other physiological aspects of posture from a young age, perhaps we would have been more inspired and better equipped to withstand the negative rounding effects of a digital age.
Love Your Curves
First, let’s look at the phrase “stand up straight.” Is there such a thing? Unfortunately, not really. Our skeletal body is made of curves and honoring those curves is how we carry ourselves best. It’s not straight we are after, it’s balance. Learning to stack our bones from feet to head in alignment allows for the natural curvature of the spine and enables us to carry ourselves with ease.
Breaking Old Habits
Many of us have spent a lifetime trying to meet that original order to sit or stand up straight. Forever trying to fit ourselves into this preconceived idea of what’s right, not allowing for the individuality of our own bodies. The problem with this is that it becomes natural to not feel what actually is natural and after awhile we walk around with our shoulders pulling us forward, our head outstretched like a chicken and our backsides trailing too far behind. The result is misalignment, pain, injury and tension.
Whether you sway forward or backward, round your shoulders or overly pull them back, you create patterns in your body that allow a buildup of stress on your system. This starts to show its harm as we age. If you don’t create new healthier patterns, chronic pain can develop from a constant uneven loading on your spine. Your muscles will work harder here, causing injury and elevated pain. It becomes a cyclical motion of stress, injury and pain if not addressed.
Improve Your Posture, Improve Your Health
Aside from misalignment that forces our bodies into an unnatural state, there are other reasons posture matters and three of these are respiratory health, digestive health and bone health.
In order to have strong respiratory health, we need to be able to breathe fully and deeply. Our breath brings oxygen to our cells, organs and systems of our body. If oxygen doesn’t circulate fully we get limited oxygen intake, a buildup of carbon dioxide and an inability to fight infection and disease. When our diaphragm is impinged upon by an unstable skeletal system it can’t fully do its job as a multitasker playing vital roles in respiration and digestion. This limited intake affects nitric oxide and over time may result in impaired brain function leading to diseases like Alzheimer’s.
So many people today are dealing with poor gut health and although nutrition plays a huge part in this, how we hold ourselves is integral to the health of our digestive system. If we are constantly hunched over or curled up we are compressing our abdominal organs. This leaves little space for the nerves, blood and lymph to flow freely. These systems need space to enable our organs to function properly and without it dysfunction becomes the norm. The end result is everything from poor nutrient absorption to heart burn, constipation, prolonged bloating and gas, stomach pain, as well as incontinence in the short term leading to chronic illness in the long term.
Osteoporosis doesn’t always let us know its lingering and if we don’t take care of our skeletal system, keeping it strong, mobile and fluid, it shows up in fractures, degradation and frailty. When we create space within our spine we allow for fluid movement, we alleviate compression of nerves and we help keep the vertebral discs healthy as well.
Ideas for improvement
A daily posture practice can help you change your ingrained habits and is highly recommended as an easy way to strengthen your body, not only in stillness but in movement as well. Good posture is the foundation of all functionally good movement.
Here’s five simple tweaks you can make that might make a difference for you:
Improve the way you sit by sitting on the edge of your seat rather than sinking back. This will help you to strengthen your core muscles which aid in holding you upright.
Sit with your feet under your knees not crossed. This balanced position allows your feet to feel fully grounded on the floor. As you press them into the floor you may feel reverse energy rise up through your legs and torso making it easier to feel taller and stronger as you sit.
Place a medium size ball between the middle of your back and the chair back as you sit. About half the size of a basketball and softer will do. It keeps you from slouching forward and you can occasionally curve your back gently around it when you find yourself sitting for longer periods and need movement.
Hold your phone at eye level to avoid slouching over it.
When you’re dining bring the food to your mouth, not your mouth to your food.
Improved posture means improved overall aging. Better aging creates clear thinking, improved mood, and a fluidly functioning body that automatically moves confidently without thought.
Yong, M. S., Lee, H. Y., & Lee, M. Y. (2016). Correlation between head posture and proprioceptive function in the cervical region. Journal of physical therapy science, 28(3), 857.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/4485-back-health-and-posture
Han, J. et al. (2016) Effects of forward head posture on forced vital capacity and respiratory muscles activity. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 28(1) p. 128–131.
Dainese, R., Serra, J., Azpiroz, F., & Malagelada, J. R. (2003). Influence of body posture on intestinal transit of gas. Gut, 52(7), 971–974. https://doi.org/10.1136/gut.52.7.971
