Using a Waist-Trainer to Fix your Bad Posture

Over the last decade in the US, the majority of the jobs require you to be hunched over a desk or stand for really long hours. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 8 out of 15 of the most common jobs in the country fall into this category, forcing employees to remain in stationary positions for a really long time.

This restriction of movement for such long hours of the day impact your cardiovascular health since you aren’t burning any calories and on top of that, you consume food and then resume your stationary positions. Consuming calories and not burning them off leads to weight-gain, which is very common amongst those with desk jobs.

You may be able to prevent the weight gain with regular exercise but you will definitely suffer from bad posture. Being stagnant for the majority of the day has a direct impact on your spine (regardless of how good your chair is), it’s unnatural for humans to remain in one position for as long as we do and it takes a toll on our spine.

Sitting hunched over a table particularly will affect your posture negatively.

Bad posture affects you in 4 major ways:

• It adds pressure on your neck, shoulder and especially your lower back. This leads to muscle pain and makes you susceptible to injuries.

• The efficiency of your lungs is affected by bad posture because constantly bending forwards prevents our lungs from expanding.

• Makes our digestive system weak which in turn causes acid reflux and even hernia

• It leads to the dreaded “belly pooch” - the bulge in your belly that ruins your figure

Emotional Impact of Posture

Studies have found that bad posture can increase stress and anxiety, which then leads to depression. This can cause low self-confidence and low-productivity at work.

Having good posture, on the other hand, makes you look taller and automatically makes you look more confident which then improves self-esteem.

Fixing your posture

A good chair can support your back adequately but it cannot ensure that you keep your spine straight at all times.

Having good posture can actually help you burn calories as you require a certain number of calories to keep you back and shoulders upright.

According to scientists, it takes minimum 21 days to successfully build a new habit so you can force yourself to correct sit/stand upright but it will take you a few weeks to adopt the correct posture.

There are ways that can ease the process for you. You can hurt yourself by keeping an elastic band around your wrist which you flick into your wrist each time you go back to hunching but how effective is that really?

Waist-trainers are a much more effective solution to correcting posture. Realigning your spine is just a byproduct of using a waist trainer but it really is one of the most promising solutions to the age old problem of bad posture. Sitting upright will automatically flatten your stomach.

Choosing the right Waist-trainer

When you first begin waist-training, you will undoubtedly find it uncomfortable. Note that if you are having difficulty in breathing you need to switch your waist trainer with a bigger size. Waist-trainers will feel like they restrict some movement at the beginning but your body quickly adjusts to its.

The higher up your waist trainer goes, the better it is for your posture. The correct way of using the waist trainer is to allow your body to gradually adjust into its new posture.

To get the right waist-trainer for your size, measure the narrowest part of your waist – this should tell you what size of waist trainer is best for your body. A decent waist-trainer should of the right stiffness and fit comfortably around your waist. If it rolls up from your hips, it means that the waist trainer is too small.