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Syndication

Episode #16 Does Poor Posture Make You Slow, Tired, and Fat?

head forward posture is at epidemic levels due to laptop, tablet and smartphone use.

Sitting for more than a few minutes at a time results in slouching, and, over time, vertical postural misalignment.

Postural misalignment literally takes more energy to do day to day tasks- less efficient- an energy suck

This in turn leads to higher physical stress on the body.

Additionally, a greater emotional stress response is constantly generated in head forward posture

Cortisol levels rise in response to body stressors like physical stress and emotional stress- therefore- poor posture leads to higher cortisol levels

Cortisol levels have been directly linked to systemic inflammatory levels in the body- therefore- chronic poor posture results in chronically elevated levels.

Targeted exercise and specific strength training can improve posture but often takes years of effort.

 

Postural Specific Structural Bodywork can speed the process of postural improvement dramatically- In just 10 weeks- most people experience dramatic improvements in their posture.

 

“Good Posture is correlated with improved health, movement efficiency, gracefulness, and improved sleep.

 

Tolerance for risk taking improves with the posture

 

“Bad Posture has been linked to a host of medical problems including headaches and other neurological problems, depression, constipation, heart disease, rotator cuff, shoulder, knee and back problems.

 

Benefits of Structural Integration (resulting in improved posture):

 

A.     A natural, side-effect-free response to stress, headaches, “computer screen neck pain,” back pain, etc. – instead of pills, drugs, etc. Structural Integration literally “calms your nervous system” down. Making you more able to respond rather than react. When you feel better in your body, you are more calm and happier overall.

B.     Improves circulation. Every cell in the body is dependent on blood and lymph flow to provide oxygen and nutrients, and to eliminate metabolic waste. Structural Integration increases circulation, assisting and speeding up these processes. This means the body performs with better efficiency; resists or recovers from disease, injury, or exceptionally arduous activity; and quite simply makes you feel better, be more productive. Photographic evidence shows: Structural Integration enhances youthful appearance.  A more upright body, exudes the confidence of youth, the ease of movement, the vitality of a healthy, balanced body.

C.     Replaces fatigue with energy. If you are frequently tired….”drained” at day’s end…you’ll find that regular Structural Integration can make a big, positive difference. This is because your body moves with less restriction, and more efficiency. Graceful efficient movement is the hallmark of this work.

D.    Release of muscular tension. During Structural Integration, there is a release of “endorphins”…your body’s own pain, natural pain-killers. This relaxes muscles, calms nerves, and diffuses built-up stress.  Muscular tension is caused by our response to stress and mis-alignment of the body in the gravitational field- causing certain muscles to have to work hard just to hold us upright. SI re-aligns the body, minimizing and even elimination common excessive muscular tension in the back, shoulders, neck and legs.

E.     Improves Stamina- through increasing oxygenation of the tissues and oxygen efficiency of the body. One of the most basic fundamentals of Structural Integration- increasing the “vital capacity” or breath intake volume- is one of the most powerful- more oxygenation = better brain and body performance, better recovery, greater vitality, etc. SI literally changes your body chemistry by increasing your vital capacity.

F.     Saves energy- not only does re-aligning the body in the gravitational field help you to move with more grace and ease, when you are aligned, you don’t have to use excess energy to “hold yourself up” against the gravitational field! The more your body is aligned with the downward pull of gravity (in a straight line) the better the earths counter force is able to transmit upward thrust forces through your body- literally supporting you for “free”.

G.     Breath Efficiency- as the tissues in and around your ribcage, back, and neck are freed up and become more elastic, your vital capacity increases and so does the efficiency of breath (the amount of muscular energy used to inhale actually decreases!) Think about this for a minute- even if your vital capacity and breathing efficiency improve by only 1% (an understatement at minimum) how much energy is saved over the course of a day? You breathe average 12/min, 720/hr, 17,280/day, 6,307,200/yr…you get the picture. How much energy have you saved? How much more energy can your body now contribute to health and vitality?

H.    Improves your sleeping patterns. By calming the nervous system, improving the circulation, and evening out the muscular tension in the body, hormonal changes take place that actually improve sleep! Many clients who on their first visit to our office listed “insomnia” or “sleep problems” as one of their top 5 issues, now report sleeping much more deeply and continuously through the night- waking up feeling refreshed and rarin’ to go!

I.      Lowers raised blood pressure- by removing muscular tension, improving breathing efficiency (greater volume, less effort), and calming the nervous system, Structural Integration helps clients maintain healthy blood pressure levels- thereby minimizing stroke and cardiovascular risk.

Direct download: SPP_Episode_16.mp3
Category:Structural Performance Podcast -- posted at: 6:14pm EDT