debtFrom cosmetic surgery to pricey gyms to celebrity-endorsed supplements, there are countless sophisticated ways to stave off the effects of aging. But there’s one rarely talked about treatment that doesn’t require any fancy equipment or extreme measures — and it doesn’t cost a cent. Dr. Steven Weiniger says strong posture is “the best free anti-aging strategy” and that just a few minutes of practice a day can make you “feel 10 years younger.”
He is an American chiropractor with 45 years of experience and is the author of Stand tall and live longer: Posture and Anti-Aging Strategieshas advised countless doctors and athletes on the importance of good posture and helped shape U.S. policy as a delegate to the White House Council on Aging.
“Standing “Being taller makes you look thinner and feel better,” he says, “but because we’re not trying to sell anything, we don’t talk about good posture.”
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Put simply, posture means “how your body is balanced” and he breaks it down into four “posture zones” – head, torso, pelvis and lower extremities (legs and feet) – which he says should all be symmetrical and roughly overlapping when you’re standing upright.
When parts of the body are out of sync, some muscles have to work harder to compensate, which causes other less used muscles to become weaker and stiffer, reinforcing poor postural habits and causing cumulative changes to the way you stand and move.
A spry 69-year-old, Weiniger’s upright 5-foot-7 physique is all the more impressive considering he has Schuurmann disease, a congenital condition that causes a curvature of the spine. Teaching me over Zoom from his home in Sandy Springs, Georgia, a technique he calls “StrongPosture,” he credits daily practice for keeping him “mobile, active, upright.”
Posture problems often result from our head being pushed forward, primarily because we’re constantly looking down at a computer, book, or device, he says. Because an adult’s head weighs about 10 to 11 pounds, as we age, our head tends to jut forward, and “every inch that our head juts forward doubles the effective weight of our head supported by the neck and shoulder muscles.”
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When your shoulders are rounded forward, “your pectoral muscles get tight,” says Weiniger. Your torso tilts back to compensate, putting more pressure on your upper vertebrae. When compressed, the vertebrae become “wedged,” collapsing on one side and causing pain and a hunched posture. Meanwhile, “your pelvis — your pelvic floor muscles are part of the central abdominal muscle that supports your abdomen — tends to sag, especially when weight is placed on your lower abdomen, which can lead to back pain,” says Weiniger. If your feet are not evenly balanced, they can also put more pressure on your spine, exacerbating the hunched, fragile posture common among older adults.
Poor posture creeps up on us slowly, but Weiniger says he’s “concerned” that it’s becoming evident as early as adolescence thanks to our digital lifestyle. “The impact of technology on posture can be seen everywhere, from airports to shopping malls,” he says. “Today’s kids are the first generation to play with phones and tablets from the time they were babies. They learned to swipe before they could speak. Their posture is literally bent. If you sit a child in front of an iPad, their head moves forward into their torso,” he says, setting a precedent for bad posture that will only get worse in adulthood. “Like a sapling that is bent, it doesn’t suddenly straighten out. They stay bent. [leaning] forward.”
Sedentary jobs make ‘tech neck’ even worse: around 80% of UK office workers spend between four and nine hours each day sitting at a desk, and Weiniger says that sitting puts strain on the body by requiring more use of some muscles, such as the deep neck muscles like the suboccipitalis, which are a common cause of headaches, and less use of other muscles that help with balance, such as the small muscles between the vertebrae, which are often associated with lower back pain.
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After all, by middle age, most of us have hunched over. “Our bodies are built to move for survival,” Weiniger says. “We’re not built to spend half our waking hours looking at our devices.”
Not only does this make you look older, it also has health implications: Dropping your shoulders narrows your rib cage and compresses your abdomen, reducing the movement of your diaphragm (the muscle under your lungs that helps you breathe), forcing you to lift your shoulders to breathe. “Diaphragmatic breathing has been shown to deepen breathing, reduce stress, and lower blood pressure,” says Weiniger.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hollywood’s top stars already recognize the importance of good posture: “Actors are rigorously trained to be aware of their posture,” says Weiniger, pointing to Harrison Ford and Nicole Kidman as examples of good posture.
Cardio and weight training alone won’t combat the damage caused by poor posture, because they only strengthen already strong muscles. Flexibility training, such as yoga, can help, but you should also incorporate proprioception, or balance training, into your fitness routine to target deeper, underused muscles that sit-ups and running don’t fully engage. No need to spend endless hours at the gym training your back.
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“The earlier you start, the better,” says Weiniger, who suggests taking a picture of yourself standing as straight as possible against a wall to see if your perception of how straight you are matches up to reality.
Even the most athletic people can be unaware of their poor posture, he says: “I’ve worked with people who have won national championships in powerlifting, and part of the reason for that is because they’ve trained their bodies in the right way.”
He says that 10 minutes of focused practice a day, best done between work and other activities, is enough to bring increased awareness throughout the day, including the exercises below: “It takes a bit of focus to get started, but it will become a habit and make a huge difference in how you feel and look.”
5 exercises you can do at home
Explore the base and the storks
Andrew Fox, The Times
1. Explore your feet – Become aware of your feet
This exercise can help you become more aware of how your feet support you, says Weiniger. “Stand tall, shoulders back and arms at your sides, with your feet flat and one foot-width apart. Inhale, exhale as you raise yourself up on the balls of your feet, straightening your spine. Inhale, exhale as you slowly lower your heels to the ground. Inhale, exhale as you raise your toes as high as you can, balancing on your heels without leaning forward. Inhale, exhale as you lower yourself to the ground and slowly place your feet on the ground. Inhale, exhale as you roll your weight onto the outsides of your feet. Inhale, exhale as you place your feet on the ground. Repeat with the insides of your feet. Practice each position once a day, breathing slowly.”
2. Storks — Develop a sense of balance
Stand up straight with your shoulders back and arms at your sides, and your feet together and flat on the floor. Lift your right leg so that your thigh is parallel to the ground and your knee is at a 90-degree angle. If you find yourself stumbling, lightly touch a wall. “This will help you stay focused on the movement.” [of the posture] “Then train yourself to stabilize your head over your pelvis, which means engaging and stabilizing your core,” says Weiniger. “Continue to breathe slowly, gently drawing in your belly to help guide the movement with your breath, and use the compression of your diaphragm, which connects your torso to your pelvis, to lift yourself up.”
Hold this position slowly for five times (about 30 seconds), then repeat on the other leg. Notice which side is easier to balance on and which side needs more practice. “It makes a surprisingly big difference for most people,” says Weiniger. Weiniger adds that this position strengthens the more commonly used muscles in the lower body, such as the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, which lie beneath the more commonly used and larger gluteus maximus. Repeat three times a day.
Ball sitting and wall sitting
Andrew Fox, The Times
3. Ball sits — Strengthen your core muscles
“Using an exercise ball will help you reduce the stability of your seated position and help you find core muscles you’re not using,” says Weiniger. Core muscles that sit-ups alone can’t work include the upper diaphragm, lower pelvic floor, transverse abdominis (which runs horizontally like a corset under the rectus abdominis) and multifidus (a thin muscle that sits between nearly every vertebra and stabilizes the lower spine). All of these need to be strengthened for “smooth, graceful movement,” says Weiniger.
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Weiniger recommends a firm ball with a 75cm diameter (I bought mine on Amazon for £21.24). Sit in the front third of the ball, with your knees at a right angle or higher. Make sure your feet are flat on the floor, hip-width apart. Keep your back straight and your palms facing up on your thighs. This will help prevent your shoulders from rounding inward. Use your core to stabilise your upper body, while slowly moving the ball back and forth a few inches. Once you’ve got the hang of it, try making circles with the ball. “Placing a pillow between your knees helps engage your core,” says Weiniger. Do three circles on each side, once a day.
4. Wall-side — Get your body in the right position
This exercise helps position your head directly over your shoulders and strengthens your torso and pelvic alignment.
Stand facing a wall. Place your right heel in front of your left toes. This is to gauge how far away your foot needs to be from the wall. Then move your left foot so it’s next to your right. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Bring your hips and shoulders closer to the wall, with your arms at your sides and shoulders down.
“Make sure your head is level, and push it back as far as you feel comfortable,” says Weiniger. “It’s not important to touch the wall; just make the effort to keep your shoulders down and your head level, and you’ll literally stand taller. Take five slow breaths, keeping your head level with each inhale and your shoulders down further with each exhale.” In this position, your instinct will be to hit your head against the wall, but “this exercise will help you understand where your head is in relation to your torso,” says Weiniger. “Do this twice a day.”
Neck retraction
Andrew Fox, The Times
5. Neck tilt exercises — These strengthen your neck muscles and help keep your head in the correct position.
Start against a wall (see above). Draw your shoulders back and palms forward, opening up your torso and stabilizing your shoulder girdle (the bones connecting your arms) against the wall. Keeping your head level and chin slightly tucked, slowly press your neck as straight as you can against the wall, then move it forward.
“Breathe in as you move your head forward and slowly exhale as you push it back. Keep your eyes fixed forward and imagine your head is on a train track moving back and forth.” Do this for five slow breaths, twice a day. “You should feel a slight stretch at the base of your skull, where it connects to your neck,” says Weiniger. “This area can get stiff over time, so it’s best to keep it as relaxed as possible. This exercise strengthens and stretches the deep neck muscles.” Weiniger warns that this may not feel like a “natural” movement, because we’re used to tilting our heads forward.
