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“Stand up straight,” “sit up,” “don’t slouch”—you likely heard one of these (or some version of them) as a child or an adolescent or perhaps even as an adult. But how important is proper posture in the grand scheme of life? Well, it might be more essential than one thinks.

Dallas resident and physical therapist Elise Waller said that while having good posture is important, how much people focus on it is something that varies based on an individual’s daily routine and habits (e.g., people who are at desks more should focus on certain aspects of resting posture guidelines).

“I do think we give gross or general parameters to everyone, and I think it is a bit more specific from person to person,” she said. “So, I think a lot of times, these general parameters aren’t as generalizable as we say, and they might not help everyone. But it is important to pay attention to your posture, especially when you’re sitting in a certain position for an extended period of time—meaning anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes to 60 minutes.”

Practicing correct posture can provide a variety of overall health benefits, including reduced back pain, increased energy, and higher self-esteem. Dallas-area resident Rachel Balthrop Mendoza said she focuses on her posture often and believes that good posture helps how people see a person and can improve athletic performance.

“To me, good posture shows confidence,” she said. “On another side of things, it’s important in my running. Fatigue brings on bad posture in long-distance running, so the more conscious I am of it from the beginning of a race or training run, the longer I can stay more upright and hurt less overall.”

While Dallas-area resident Ivan Alonzo does not necessarily think one’s posture is a primary concern, he has found that it is something of which he has become more aware as he has gotten older.

“Maybe I’ve noticed that my back and neck bother me more easily, so it’s something I try to pay attention to throughout my day,” he said.

Incorrect posture is one of the top contributors to low back pain, affecting more than 25 percent of the working population each year. When a person sits in a slouched position for long periods of time, he or she can create excess pressure on discs, ligaments, and muscles in the spine, resulting in pain in the lower back. Because he works in front of a computer much of the time, the workday is when Alonzo more often focuses on his posture.

“It’s especially true as I sit at my desk for extended periods of time,” he said. “I make an effort to keep my back straight and shoulders relaxed.”

For Balthrop Mendoza, being cognizant of her own posture is necessary for both physical and composure sake and something that has been ingrained in her mind for quite some time.

“My grandmother and mother both had and have issues with their spines, and it affected how they move physically,” she said. “I think about how I stand, sit, and walk so that I can try to combat any degradation before it begins.”

Waller said practicing correct posture includes making sure that one’s body is essentially in a straight line, with 50-50 weight in both feet and the pelvis and hips not jutting out but stacked underneath the rib cage and the rib cage stacked beneath the shoulders.

“This helps avoid undue stress through the back,” she said. “If your hips are more jutted in front of you, you’re definitely going to get more pressure through the low back, versus if they’re kind of underneath your hips and are underneath your shoulders and your neck. If I’m doing a lot of desk work, sometimes I have to set reminders on my phone to stand up, change positions, and adjust my posture so that I don’t put undue stress on my neck, my shoulders, and my low back—all of those common areas that you see people having difficulty or pain with when they’re in these extended standing or seated postures.”

One solution many people have found beneficial is a standing desk, something Alonzo uses and said has been helpful in mitigating bad posture. He makes concerted efforts to stand multiple times throughout the workday, as he knows incorrect posture is the result of a number of different lifestyle choices people make on a daily basis.

“I think it’s largely due to spending all day at our desks, coupled with having our faces glued to our phones, which doesn’t help, either,” he said. “I notice my back and shoulders anytime I’m focused on my phone for prolonged periods of time.”

Though focusing on sitting and standing up more properly can help a person improve his or her posture in the long run, Balthrop Mendoza said it is easy not to think about it and is much easier (and sometimes even more comfortable) to slouch. However, she does believe that slouching can have more harmful long-term repercussions, which is why she thinks keeping posture in mind by making efforts to improve it is wise.

“Doing core work through various exercises, whether it’s what’s being worked primarily or as a secondary benefit from other workouts, will absolutely help,” she said. “Strong cores build strong backs and help with staying straight. Building shoulder and chest strength naturally helps me be able to pull my shoulders and arms back and sit and stand up taller. That could be all in my head, and I’m OK with that. If I tell myself that’s what helps me, there are worse things I could believe.”

Sometimes, though, there are more factors to a bad posture than simply not paying attention to it. The way one sits or stands could be a result of weak or inflexible muscles or carrying a heavy backpack or purse. Waller said poor posture might also simply occur because of a lack of education.

“People don’t always know the optimal postural positions to be in, such as how you should set up your chair and your office to help your low back feel better when you’re sitting for four or five hours,” she said. “In those cases, it’s more of an issue that they were never taught. It’s not widely known, though now more and more employers are offering standing desks and chairs that are more ergonomically optimal to help people.”

Waller also said much of the way a person holds himself or herself relates to gravity and the lack of ability to manage one’s posture against gravity for a lengthy time period, resulting in the shoulders and back rounded forward and not 90 degrees while the person is looking at his or her computer.

“I would argue that our world, at least in America, is not set up for people being active,” she said. “We have jobs that require us to sit, and we have cities that are designed for cars and not for walking, and so we’re constantly put in positions in which we have to sit. A lot of times, it’s not in comfortable chairs or positions, and so I think bringing awareness to the things you can do to help with your posture is important. It’s as simple as getting in the gym, and so that’s where I typically start my clients if they’re having any pain with extended periods of standing or sitting.”

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There are more than 4 million active registered podcasts worldwide, giving listeners plenty of options when they choose this form of entertainment. The podcast audience has continued to grow over the last decade, with approximately 42 percent of Americans ages 12 and older listening to at least one podcast in a one-month period, according to the most recent stats from the Pew Research Center. 

There are a variety of topics and formats for the available podcasts—interviews, true crime, comedy, narrative, sports, storytelling, conversational, and many more. Fort Worth-area resident Sam Parnell said he prefers podcasts over music and listens to them every day during his morning and afternoon commutes and often when he is working on various projects at home. 

“Music is more just mindless ‘noise’ to me that fills up the silence,” he said. “I don’t really get too much entertainment out of it. Podcasts are actual entertainment to me.”

Unlike Parnell, Sacramento-area resident Ashley English enjoys music (she’s a hardcore Swiftie), and though she also listens to podcasts, she does not do so as often. She said she goes through seasons in which she listens quite a bit for a week or so but then completely stops for months at a time.

“I enjoy the break from my own thoughts and a distraction from the task at hand,” she said. “I really only turn them on if I’m cleaning and need a distraction; doing a repetitive task that doesn’t require complete focus, and I need something to keep me awake; or on a really long road trip when I’ve worn out my playlists.”

Dallas resident Suzanne Woodling also finds podcasts to be a favorable form of entertainment and said she listens to them approximately three to six times per week, though sometimes she listens to multiple shows in the same day. 

“I enjoy having access to a massive variety of content, and there are subject-matter experts in business on some of them who can really get granular on specific topics,” she said.

Woodling said what podcast she listens to depends on what she is trying to accomplish or needs, whether for ideas, encouragement, information, explanations, or entertainment. 

“The ONE Thing has great ideas and is motivating,” she said. “Watch What Crappens is funny—like, comedian funny—and mindless commentary on my favorite trash TV shows from Bravo. Atomic Habits with James Clear offers so many work and life hacks for setting yourself up to create habits for success in various areas of your life. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*** has lots of topics and guests with a wide variety of applications, depending on life situations.”

Former cast members from many popular television shows no longer on air host podcasts during which they discuss the episodes as they rewatch them. Such a format is one English has tried, though only one show kept her interest, but she also enjoys a number of other podcasting styles.

“I was listening to a lot of the nostalgic show recap podcasts, but I’ve only stuck with Office Ladies—it’s the best one, and they deserve so much praise for all of the work they put into that show, compared to some of the others,” she said. “I enjoy Every Album Ever when they cover my favorite artists, and I listen to New Heights every so often if they discuss a topic I’m interested in. I also really like interview formats like Smartless and Armchair Expert. We’re Here to Help with Jake Johnson is hilarious when I need a laugh.”

For Parnell, comedic podcasts—such as Comedy Bang Bang, The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, The Weekly Planet, and Scott Hasn’t Seen—primarily suit his style. He said he believes podcasts such as these (as well as podcasts, in general) have become popular because of the lack of effort they involve from those listening to them.

“You don’t have to commit to sitting down and doing one thing and nothing else,” he said. “They are a form of entertainment you partake in when you are doing something else.”

Woodling also recognizes the convenience of podcasts, including multiple options and inside information, among other appealing aspects.

“You have easy access to variety and the intimacy of a radio feel,” she said. “Podcasts offer plenty of content, passive consumption, and flexibility in time and place of consumption.”

Similarly, English said she thinks podcasts continue to draw in individuals of all ages because they require less attention than watching television, allowing people to multitask more easily.

“It’s also less commitment than an audiobook (and free, for the most part, with subscriptions many of us already have or via YouTube sometimes),” she said. “Plus, there is a podcast for every niche interest.”

WEEKLY PHOTO OP

NatNews dear reader Alexis Derrow recently traveled to Iceland and captured this breathtaking image of a rainbow over a waterfall

Monday, July 1: International Joke Day
Tuesday, July 2: Rangers vs. Padres at Globe Life Field; Free Rooftop Movie — Suicide Squad at Sundown at Granada
Wednesday, July 3: Addison Kaboom Town at Addison Circle Park; Sensory-Sensitive Fourth of July Celebration at The Sound at Cypress Waters
Thursday, July 4: Fair Park Fourth; City of McKinney’s Red, White, and BOOM! at Gabe Nesbitt Community Park; Frisco Freedom Fest at Simpson Plaza in the Frisco Square; FC Dallas vs. Portland Timbers at Toyota Stadium
Friday, July 5: Dallas Wings vs. Atlanta Dream at College Park Center
Saturday, July 6: WRRC Saturday run from Taco Joint; Bonnie X Clyde at the Village Beach Club
Sunday, July 7: PVRIS at House of Blues Dallas