Posture is very important in all aspects of our life from our sports to our sitting activities and any job that we have. Maintaining proper posture in that activity will result in fewer injuries. It actually allows us to have higher oxygen levels.
We look at posture at Whitmire Chiropractic to see if someone is fully recovering from their injuries. There is a lot of compensating postures from injuries that we can notice. If we get rid of those postures, we know that person is on the road to recovery.
Slouching compresses the rib cage and cuts off about 30% of our oxygen. Decreased oxygen affects the brain, so it leaves us feeling more tired and fatigued. Actually, there is a study from Australia that found that after the age of 25, every single hour that somebody watches TV or slouches on the couch or sits at work reduces the life expectancy of a person about 21.8 minutes.
An English researcher cross referenced sitting time with health outcomes in a different study. They found that those people who sat most in their lifetimes doubled their risk of developing diabetes and had a 147% increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease, even if they exercised at other times.
That desk job, where you’re sitting there for 8 to 10 hours at a time, with not getting up, not taking your breaks, not stretching and not exercising, you are really taking a health risk. Recently, several magazines and newspapers have put out studies that describe sitting as the new smoking.