Hello, welcome back! How are you doing with the 'rules' I wrote about in the last few blogs? I guess, some of you might say 'this is all stuff I knew before', and I agree with you.
My personal experience is that although I am aware of these rules, the rebel in me (or rather the lazy person in me) disregards them more often than I would like to admit. So, if you have been following these guidelines, then kudos to you!
Lesson 5 also deals with such a 'no-brainer', which unfortunately I see broken over and over again, so we want to put it back into your awareness:
Sit upright. Practice holding your back slightly arched while you read, write and work on the computer.
Avoid reading while lying on your stomach.
Avoid reading in bed, unless sitting reasonably upright.
Sit upright
This is surely one that you have heard from your parents, your teachers and maybe your Osteopath, haha. If you feel tense shoulders, or back-pain, then maybe this is a guideline that you should follow more (plus the stretching part of lesson 3).
If you are seated for a prolonged period of time every day, maybe it might make sense to invest in a good chair or cushion to sit on. Do your back that favor!
Don't read on your stomach
My kids love doing that and so when I first heard about this 'rule' I was really astonished. So I found out that when you are lying on your stomach to read, your eye muscles need to work much harder. Gravity causes the eye balls to move forward, which in turn stretches the muscles controlling them.
Also the inside of your eyes are affected by gravity when you read on your stomach, and the muscles controlling the lens to focus also need to work more.
Enough reasons to convince you to better sit upright to read? I hope so...
If you read in bed... do it right!
This one surely strikes a chord in me as I love reading in bed. My neck can tell you a thing or two about it. Ouch!
It is also not good to lie while reading for the same 'gravitational reasons' as why you should not read on your stomach.
Since I have read this 'rule', I try to sit more upright in bed when I read. Or read on the sofa (upright) and then go to bed to sleep and not to read. You will hear more about that in one of the following 'lessons'...
Did I give you enough to think about this time? Enjoy implementing it in your daily life.