Hunching?

My Mum (bless her) has been a keep-fit enthusiast pretty much her whole life.  She’s always been a strong, fit, capable woman.  And has been a big inspiration to me in the “I can do it” department.

But her posture has deteriorated over the years.  And so has her digestion.  No amount of cajoling by my sister or I has worked.   Insisting she gets herself on the yoga block daily, to open up her chest has fallen on “stop bugging me” ears!  She hates being told what to do.  Particularly by her daughters!

It’s not a ‘given’ that you have to end up hunched over as you age

Yes it happens.  Just look around at elderly people.  And some not so elderly people.

The way you choose to stand and walk is YOUR responsibility…

If you don’t put the effort in to undo the crappy sitting and forward leaning positions we put ourselves in each day….you too may end up hunched over as you age.   And with that comes a whole plethora of other body functioning problems!

Our lives in this decade ARE primarily about sitting.  And that unfortunately is just the age we live in.  Sitting and staring at screens.

Look at the posture of a lot of the kids now. Head jutting forward, neck rounded over, shoulders slouched, backs curved slumping on couches or chairs!  God knows what they’re posture is going to end up like at 50!

Hunching without a doubt makes you look older than you are. And is often an indicator you’re holding a lot of mental ‘stuff/issues’ from the past inside.

But it’s not just about an aesthetic thing. That curvature through your upper spine doesn’t allow enough space for your organs and compresses your diaphragm.  This makes it impossible to breathe deeply and get that oxygen into the cells of your body.  This has a HUGE effect on your health longterm.

And that rounding and compression through your spine effects the smooth flow of your digestive tract.  Your posture and digestion go hand in hand.  You WILL have digestive issues if you have crappy posture.  You may have digestive issues anyway (that’s a hands up from me!) but they’ll be so much worse if you allow the core of your body to become hunched!

Got acid reflux, heart burn or even Irritable Bowel Symptoms?

Your stomach is situated just under your breast line and to the left of your rib cage.   So if you’re slouching on a couch or in a car seat.  Or hunched over your computer, you’re placing continuous pressure on the bag like structure of your stomach.  And if your stomach is full…the pressure increases.  Urgh!

This pressure ‘squashes out’ some of the contents.   Causing a burning or irritation in the middle of your chest.  GERD!  Your oesophagus can become weakened too and the muscle at the end won’t close properly after eating.  This allows stomach acid to travel up into your oesophagus……hence that acidy burning feeling!

I can vouch for this.  I’ve got pretty good posture.  But this endless sitting at a computer over the past few years, has not been my friend.  And it’s taken me awhile to realise that I tend to sink into my diaphragm slightly when I’m in the typing zone.  This has caused me months of heart burn issues.  Until I started to release the fascia around my diaphragm (more on this in another post) and to be conscious of lifting up through my chest in a sitting position.

Without a doubt your hormones can mess with your digestive tract post 50.  But take a look at your posture first!

Get on your yoga block.  Daily.  Open up your chest and release your tight back muscles.  It’s 5 minutes well spent.  You CAN change crappy posture if you’re consistent.  The benefits are long-term and if you’ve suffered with digestive issues….life-changing!

Find out how to do it here….This is an advanced version but you can start with a yoga block.  It might take you several months to move up from your block to the roller…and that’s ok.