How bad posture at work affects your health

Posted by Mahi on March 4th, 2019

​Original Source of this article

Bad posture at office work is a serious and very common problem seen nowadays. The human body is designed in a way that it can move around rather sitting on a chair for several hours. Our busy and mostly sedentary lifestyles attached with a digital-heavy existence has resulted in a large number of young professionals being afflicted with back pain. It can give rise to severe mental and physical health issues and both are to be understood equally and should be taken care of.

Thus it is important to know how to improve bad posture, to be able to avoid unnecessary complications. Office furniture plays a vital role in your posture. Here are some of the bad effects of bad posture,

Effects of bad posture:

1) Increased stress

Increased stress can be both mental and physical which are the results of negative posture. Sitting upright can be a good strategy to help build capacity to fight stress.

The more physical stress our body experiences, it causes soreness and pain, and can also translate into mental stress.

2) Poor Circulation

We often tend to cross our legs while sitting, which actually causes a bad impact to our body since it increases the pressure of fluids and gases moving through our body and can lead to lower back pain and spider veins.

3) Soreness and Pain

Soreness and pain are again one such example of bad posture which often leads to long term health issues. Chronic pain is one such result of bad posture, especially in the lower back area. Poor sitting posture puts a lot of stress on the spine and causes lower pain in the lower back.

4) Poor Digestion

When you slouch and hung over, your organs usually bunch up together thus it gets harder for the body to digest food which often leads to constipation. Which even impacts your metabolism rate and ultimately damage your bodily processes which focus on consuming and processing of the food, leading to life-altering metabolic issues.

5) Fatigue

Due to the poor working posture, our body constantly tries keeping our back straight upright since it is the only normal position where our body tends to feel comfortable in, thus due to the constant efforts of our body it often leaves us tired.

How to improve your posture:

1. Boost your flexibility: Bad posture can put your whole body out of alignment. Boost your flexibility by adding a few stretches to your daily routine that can help in relaxing the muscles that support your spinal column. Even add practicing yoga to bring more calmness in your busy life and lengthening your muscles.
2. Keep your core tightened: Core muscles are the support system of our body especially the back. They take the pressure off your back and helps to maintain the good posture with ease. There are plenty of core strengthening exercises which improves your stance and overall health.
3. Keep posture in mind: If you are continuously sitting doing some work or watching something always keep check that you are sitting up straight. Even when you are exercising, like running or climbing stairs, periodically check your stance to make sure you are standing straight. While performing exercises or yoga maintain a proper posture which is needed for that.
4. Keep your body hydrated: Hydration maintains soft tissues elasticity and fluidity in joints. Take warm water baths, using a heated compressor lying under a heat lamp relaxes your back muscles and stimulates blood flow.
5. Proper Diet: Maintain a proper diet eat as much variety of nuts and seeds as possible. Try to take more and more of vitamin D like eggs and fish like anchovies and salmon are one such great source of it.

Conclusion:

It’s a common issue that you forget about your posture while you are so engrossed at your work.

Although back pain these days are more common than you think recurrent pains should not be avoided and proper precautions must be taken as stated above. Problems which are left untreated only worsen the spine and result in a life long malaise. Thus proper care must be taken and the problem must be taken seriously.