Don’t Cross Your Legs – It’s Unhealthy
When you sit, keep your torso in the same position. Sit on your hips, with your feet flat on the floor or with ankles lightly crossed. You can work for hours at your desk in this position without fatigue, but it’s best to stop hourly for a good body stretch. Stand, stretch your spine up and do some shoulder rolls forward, then backwards. Then for energy do some arm-wide swinging windmills. Also take frequent brisk walks, maintaining healthy posture with your arms swinging naturally in rhythm with your stride.
When sitting never cross your legs. Under the knees run two of the largest arteries, carrying nourishing blood to the muscles below the knees and to the nerves in the feet. You immediately cut down the blood flow to a trickle when you cross your legs. Don’t cross your legs!
When the muscles of the legs and knees are not nourished and don’t have good circulation, the extremities stagnate, which can lead to varicose veins or broken capillaries and other problems. Look at the ankles of people age 40 and over who have the habit of crossing their legs. Note the broken veins and capillaries. When the muscles and feet do not get their full supply of blood, the feet become weak and poor circulation sets in. Cold feet usually torment the leg-crosser.
A well-known heart specialist was asked, “When do most people have a heart attack?” He answered, “At a time they are sitting quietly with one leg crossed over the other.” When you sit, plant both feet squarely on the floor or a box if needed. Crossing your legs puts an unnecessary burden on your heart.
People who are habitual leg-crossers have more acid crystals stored in the feet than those who never cross their legs. Crossing the legs is one of the worst postural habits of man. It throws the hips, spine and head off balance and it’s the most common cause of chronic backaches, headaches and varicose veins.
Poor posture can bring an unbearable pain across your upper back and fatigue in your drooping shoulders. It can also cause soreness that shoots from the back of your throbbing head to the base of your neck and downward to mingle with the stiffness in your lower back. Poor posture can cause weakness in your hips and loins, a numb feeling at your tail bone and often, a shooting pain down your legs. Bad posture can develop aches and pains all over the body. Be kind to your body and please don’t cross your legs. You can break this habit.
Happiness is a rainbow in your heart – a real health sparkler! – Patricia Bragg
Poor posture inhibits the flow of oxygen throughout the body. With less oxygen taken in, every cell in the body then becomes undernourished and hungry for fresh oxygen. Of paramount importance is the circulation to the head area. Because of gravity, blood carrying oxygen naturally has to work harder to get up above the heart into the head. When poor posture interferes with circulation it also affects the skin, eyes, brain and hair. – Philip Smith, Total Breathing
