Posture Improvement

While poor self-esteem can contribute to poor posture, the idea that improving posture can improve self-esteem is surprising to some people.  Citing his recent posture study of five women between the ages of 20 and 50, Aaron Parnell, a personal trainer, concludes that poor posture can lock negative emotions in the body.  "Good posture emanates positive feelings in personal strength and self awareness, which leads to more self confidence."

After the women went through a series of specific body restructuring treatments to improve their posture, all of them showed remarkable differences in their self-esteem.  Most of the women were expecting the body treatments, which use certain stretching and breathing techniques, to release tension and straighten-out their bodies.  None realized it would affect their self-esteem.  100% reported they were much more bold and willing to take risks at work.  80% said they had more energy and were jumping out of bed in the mornings.  60% said their bodies were looking and feeling more feminine.  All of them volunteered that they were more self-accepting now that they were in touch with their bodies; they felt more comfortable with who they were.

See a posture specialist, chiropractor, yoga teacher or deep tissue body worker to help undo years of poor posture habits.  While it is becoming clear that posture and self-esteem directly influence each other, more study needs to be done on the connection between posture improvement and self-esteem enhancement.

Be careful when getting out of bed.  Turn to your side, bring your knees up, and then push up as knees swing down toward the floor.  Most importantly, always follow the advice "bend with your knees, not your back" – especially when lifting heavy objects.  Better still, don't lift heavy objects!

There is a particular exercise that has relieved back pain that occurs after prolonged periods of sitting.  The technique is: "Sit up straight.  Put your feet on the floor, then raise both feet off the floor at the same time 1 inch.  This lightens the abdominal muscles and is the sitting-up equivalent of the old bent knee sit-up exercises".  This exercise can be done almost anywhere.

Snoring usually worsens when an individual sleeps on his or her back, so sleeping on your side may alleviate the problem.  Those who have difficulty staying in a side-sleeping position may find sleeping with pillows behind them helps them maintain the position longer.