If you ask anyone who commutes to work or drives long hauls about the impacts of posture on health, you will likely find them looking at you like you just stated something obvious. It’s a problem we experience every day, and it is important to understand how your posture affects your health and to learn how you can be working to improve your posture with replacement truck seats.
The Health Effects of Posture
The most apparent issue to anyone with poor posture is suffering from pain in the head, neck, or spine. This pain is caused by muscles and ligaments stretching and moving to carry your weight as best as possible in an uncomfortable position. Overexertion can cause overstretching and reduced muscle endurance in key areas like the lower back. As you get older, all these complications compound to make it difficult to go about everyday life due to limited motion. There are other potential effects that are more insidious. Sitting with poor posture produces an immediate reduction in lung capacity, and prolonged posture issues can cause damage to the lungs and heart. With one in four deaths resulting from heart disease, adding any stressor can potentially link to substantially reduced lifespan.
Ways to Improve Your Posture
Improving posture can be divided broadly into two steps. The first step is to improve your posture in your most commonly stationary positions. Of course, there are various ergonomic furnishings available to improve your posture at the office. But what if your office is on the open road? What can you do if your commute is so long you practically live in your vehicle? Swapping out furniture can be accomplished in a vehicle just like anywhere else—with replacement truck seats and cushions. With the right replacement truck seats, you can relax into a more natural, comfortable position, adjusting the tilt of your chin, leaning backward, rolling your shoulders to a neutral alignment, and keeping your legs and feet straight.
The second step is adopting an exercise and stretching regimen. While your replacement truck seats make a 12-hour ride seem cozy, you also need to move your body. Movement in joints and ligaments and relief of stress on muscles counteract and release tension built up from maintaining a relatively static position. Yoga is an excellent stretching and light strength-training style of exercise. It’s easy to learn and can be done anywhere—including at every rest stop and gas station if you wish to do so. There are also gyms that offer inexpensive membership allowing access to any of their locations across the country.
By combining these two approaches—replacing your truck seats and cushions and adding regular exercise to improve to your hours behind the wheel—you can reduce or eliminate the negative health effects of poor posture. The sooner you act, the sooner you may see relief from excessive pain and fatigue—you’ll be sitting pretty and driving with ease.