See this pug? Isn’t this adorable???
Head tilt is ADORABLE in dogs.
It’s not adorable in people. A person with a head tilt – or a forward head posture – doesn’t inspire the “awwwww….” response.
Instead, as a chiropractor, when I see head tilt and forward head posture, I see LOW TONE. In other words, when I see bad head posture, I see that the muscles of the neck and upper body are having a hard time fighting the effects of gravity.
It’s EASY to slump. It’s EASY to slouch. To extend, and to resist gravity and stand up straight, is a LOT of work.
Flexion is inertia. Extension is effort.
Flexion is passive. Extension is active.
People with good posture WORK AT IT. All the time. All day, every day.
My daughter was commenting on her classmate’s posture during band practice. She noted that her friend sat at the edge of her chair, sat up really straight, and kept her trumpet up FOR THE WHOLE CLASS. And how tiring that was!
And it’s true. Sitting and standing upright takes a lot of work and effort.
But if you don’t, that slumped posture – the LOW TONE of those flexor muscles in the front of your neck and upper body – causes a long, gradual chain reaction – and you don’t want to go down that path.
When you stop WORKING at your posture, 3 bad things happen.
#1. LOW TONE.
You lose tone in your flexor muscles. These are the muscles in the front of your neck, and as a result, your neck pulls forward and down, your shoulders roll in, and your ribcage gets compressed.
Low tone causes the part of your brain that CONTROLS tone – to “turn down.” It’s as if your brain has a dimmer switch – good upright posture, with head up and shoulders back and good chest expansion with every breath – that’s turning the light up bright.
#2. BRAIN FUNCTION DECLINE.
Slouched posture, head forward, ribs collapsed – now the brain goes dim, and that part of the brain controls not ONLY posture, but respiration and digestion.
Here’s another way to think about this. If you have sleep apnea, do you need your CPAP machine during the day, or only at night? Are you really breathing well at any time of the day? Why not? If you’re not breathing well at night – if your breathing is so poor at night that you need a machine – then you’re also suffering during the day.
If your posture prevents you from taking normal, deep breaths all day long, then you have to breath FASTER during the day to get enough oxygen for your brain. Your brain needs oxygen and glucose and stimulation to be happy, and when it’s not getting enough oxygen, your brain will tell your lungs to breath more often to get that necessary oxygen.
However – when you breath faster, then your heart rate has to increase, and your blood pressure will increase to deliver oxygen to your brain. Hmmm... Faster heart rate, higher blood pressure, and the sensation of gasping for air all day.
That sounds like a perfect recipe for ….
ANXIETY. If you’re anxious, your breathing is shallow and fast, your heart races, and your blood pressure soars.
SO ANXIETY IS ALL ABOUT CRAPPY POSTURE?
No, but it IS a significant contribution to the problem.
And when you’re living with anxiety, you’re set up for…
#3. BEHAVIOR CHANGES.
When you’re stressed AND you have anxiety, AND you’re not breathing well, AND you’re not sleeping well, AND your neck hurts (and maybe you have headaches from all that neck tension too) –
Then you’re not dealing well with that stress.
We all have stress, in different forms. We all have financial stress, and job stress, and relationship stress, and parent / child / family stress. We have stress from addictions and lack of time and from physical and emotional pain.
But when our brains are “dim”, from that slumpy posture, we can’t get to the part of the brain that gives us HOPE. The right frontal part of the brain is where our joy lives, where we hold hope for the future, where we remember to be grateful for our friends and family. When we’re stuck in anxiety and depression (ever seen a depressed person with good posture? Nope, neither have I.) then we have a hard time remembering that we’re not in this alone.
That we have resources. That someone else might be able to help us get through this day. That tomorrow will be better.
Good posture doesn’t mean that all your bills will vanish, that your kids will behave the way you want, that your stresses will disappear. But it will change how you perceive the world – and will help you tap into the part of the brain that remembers that it’s worth it, to find the joy in life.
Angela Hall
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