Is your posture impacting your breathing?
Feel like you can’t take a full deep breath?
Our breath anchors us to the present, it allows us to find stillness and to create space in otherwise busy and tumultuous days.
Proper posture allows our lungs to breathe in more air and can cause more oxygen to get to our brain and blood stream.
When you are standing or sitting with improper posture it may restrict the amount of air that our lungs are able to take in.
Taking time to sit up straight and take a full deep breathe in may help you think clearer, feel more energised and bring your mind back to the present. It may also help relieve feelings of stress or anxiety as your can feel more at ease with a deeper breathe. On a physical level deep breathing triggers our brain into a space of calm.
Take a moment not to strength up your posture and see how your breathe feels. Deeper? Great. Still restricted? Might be a good time to check in with your chiro.
Good posture is a fantastic way to naturally improve breathing deeper and in a more meaningful way. Good posture may improves lung capacity by as much as 30% over time.
Poor posture impacts the diaphragm’s ability to take a deep breath as slouching restricts this muscles space. The diaphragm is located just under the ribs and the straighter your posture the more room it has to open up and you can take a deeper breath.
Over time, poor posture can cause tightening of muscles which then make it harder to stand or sit up straight. We hear this a lot- ‘its uncomfortable to sit up straight’. Well thats a sign your muscles and nerves and tightened up and possibly your abdominal muscles have become shorted and contracted making it even harder to maintain good posture.
This is where seeing your chiropractor may be beneficial, to help loosen, align and improve the positioning and overall restriction so that you can sit and stand straighter and allowing your body to take that deep breath in.