Doctors Recommend Lifting Your Arms Overhead More Often, and Here Are Reasons Why
saumya gaur 
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Do you remember when you would be especially naughty in school as kids, you would be given the punishment to raise your hands and stand in a corner? You might have thought that was the worst that could have happened to you then but turns out even when they were punishing you, your teachers had your best interests at heart.
Today, we are going to tell you why raising your arms is the best mini workout that you can squeeze into your daily grind. Intrigued? Read on to find out how lifting your arms can do wonders for your body.
1. It Opens Tight Shoulders
Have you ever felt a tightness in your shoulders? This is a common issue for those of us who sit in front of our computers for hours at an end, hunched over our work. Over time, sitting like this causes our shoulder muscles to stiffen which leads to limited mobility in the shoulders.
To counter this, you can do stretching by raising your arms overhead. First of all, stand straight and then stretch your arms by raising them from your hips to your head. Hold the position and inhale. Now, put your arms down and exhale. Doing this a couple of times can release the tension in your shoulder muscles.
2. It Improves Poor Posture
Did you know your bad posture has repercussions on your health at large? Most of us have the tendency to slouch while standing or sitting. It is the natural way for our bodies to be at rest. To improve your bad posture all you need to do is raise your arms.
Just stand with your back straight and raise your arms such that they are perpendicular to the ground. Repeat this at an interval of about 20 minutes every day. In no time, you would see a remarkable difference in the way you sit.
3. It Strengthens Your Arms and Shoulders
A very common pose in yoga is Urdhva Hastasana. A literal translation of the name is “raised hands pose”. This pose is supposed to strengthen the shoulders and arms (1).
To practice this pose, stand up straight, place your feet about shoulder-width apart, following this lift your arms overhead and hold that position for some time. Then try to stretch backward and forward till you feel a little tension in your shoulders. After that put down your hands and relax.
4. It Prevents Lower Back Pain
For most office goers who lead a sedentary life, lower back pain is a common side-effect of putting in those long hours at their desk. It is mostly a result of some structural changes or anomalies in the spinal cord. The primary reason behind that is advancing age and lack of exercise, due to which the vertebrae become fragile and less flexible. This is because the intervertebral discs that act as cushions between the vertebrae dry out. Due to this, the nerves which are attached to the spinal cord and are responsible for movement and passing signals from the body to the brain are likely to get caught between the vertebrae (2). Raising your hands and stretching can help with the issue of lower back pain.
5. It Improves Your Balance
Though it might have never occurred to you, all those everyday activities that you do right from walking to tying your shoes is because your body is capable of maintaining its equilibrium and balance. However, sometimes it isn’t able to do so due to various factors such as weak muscles, damage to the balancing organ which is located in the inner ear or damage to nerves, or blood muscles (3), (4). If you often find yourself dizzy or find it difficult to do tasks like bending forward, there might be something wrong and we would advise you to consult a doctor.
However, if you suffer from a regular case of clumsiness, then we would advise you to practice some balance training exercises (5). Lifting your arms is also a good balance training exercise. You can also do other core strengthening exercises that involve lifting your arms.
6. It Helps With The Text-Neck Syndrome
With the advent of technology, we are witnessing ailments which weren’t possible in the time of our forefathers. One such ailment is the text-neck syndrome. It so happens that when you crane your neck to read that hilarious post or urgent text on your smartphone, your head weighs more than when it is in an upright position. The greater the angle between your neck and spine, the more it weighs. Keeping your head like this for long periods of time puts a lot of pressure on your lower back which leads to a great deal of wear and tear (6). It can also be the cause of that niggling back pain. Apart from keeping your mobile devices at eye-level, you can beat this syndrome by doing stretching exercises such as stretching your arms overhead and pushing your head against them.
These are some of the ways by which raising your arms can make the functioning of your body smoother and relieve you of your everyday ailments like back pain etc. Do you know of any other ways in which raising our arms overhead is beneficial for our body? Let us know in the comments.
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