There's are plenty of things, from Botox to hair dye, you can try that make you look younger, but improving your posture has to be the cheapest and fastest.
I have a tendency to slouch, and it has become worse as I’ve got older. My wife, Clare, recently told me, ‘you look just like your father’, which isn’t a compliment as my dad had terrible posture.
So I’ve been aware, for some time, that I need to do something about it.
But the real wake-up call came last week when I wandered into a room where the TV was on, and watched this elderly-looking, round-shouldered individual shuffle across the screen. With a terrible shock I realised that it was me.
Poor posture also contributes to problems such as tension headaches because it puts strain on your shoulders and neck. To find out how good — or bad — yours is try this quick check
The long hours I’ve spent crouched over a computer during lockdown certainly haven’t helped, but the truth is my posture — the classic middle-aged stance of back curved, chin down, stomach out — was pretty bad beforehand. So I’ve finally resolved to do something about it.
Fortunately, you can improve your posture at any age, and doing so will not only make you look slimmer and younger, but will cut also your risk of developing back pain, which affects around 70 per cent of British adults at some point.
That’s because sitting badly or standing in a slouched position stresses your lower back, weakening and damaging an intricate network of muscles, discs, and joints. And once you’ve damaged your back it’s hard to repair.
Poor posture also contributes to problems such as tension headaches because it puts strain on your shoulders and neck. To find out how good — or bad — yours is try this quick check.
Start with your sitting position: sit on a chair with your feet flat on the floor, back straight (not leaning on the back of the chair) and your ears roughly in line with your collarbone. If that feels really unnatural, or is hard to maintain, then, like me, you have work to do.
Then stand with the back of your head, shoulder blades and bottom, all pressed up against a wall. Get someone to measure the distance between your neck and the wall, and your lower back and the wall. If either is more than 2 in, you may have a problem.
So what can you do to improve your posture? Well, if you spend a lot of time sitting in a chair, then you might want to invest in a standing desk. A recent survey found that many of us spend up to 12 hours a day sitting on our bottoms looking at computers or watching television.
Start with your sitting position: sit on a chair with your feet flat on the floor, back straight (not leaning on the back of the chair) and your ears roughly in line with your collarbone. If that feels really unnatural, or is hard to maintain, then, like me, you have work to do
And it’s not easy to maintain good posture for that length of time. Prolonged sitting also raises your risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and dementia (largely because it leads to insulin resistance, where the cells no longer respond to the hormone, and glucose builds up in your blood).
A few years ago, I was involved in an experiment where we asked a group of ten people working in an estate agents to use a standing desk for three hours a day, for one week. Surprisingly enough, one of our volunteers said her backache really improved, as did another volunteer’s arthritis.
All improved their blood sugar levels and on average, they burnt roughly 50 calories an hour more while standing. Doing that for four hours a day is the energy equivalent of walking four miles or the calories in a bar of chocolate.
But
