7 Reasons Why You Should Lift Your Arms Overhead More Often

We always search for something that could help us in getting fit and healthy. In fact, a lot of people buy expensive medications and enroll in numerous classes in an effort to achieve those goals.

Little did we know that some things that could improve our health are absolutely free — like lifting your arms overhead. Here are seven reasons why you should do this easy exercise more often.

1. Opens tight shoulders

Most of us spend the majority of our day at a computer, using our phones, eating, reading, cooking, washing dishes, etc. While all of these activities are perfectly normal when done for short periods of time, they can form patterns in the body that can lead to pain and discomfort of the shoulders and neck.

2. Improves posture

Sitting for a long time gets really uncomfortable, and we end up slouching our backs. The next thing we know, it’s already a hard habit to break. For a starts, you can fix this by lifting your arms overhead.

3. Strengthens arms and shoulders

One of the easiest yoga poses is called Urdhva Hastasana, which literally means “raised hands pose.” This may look elementary, but it can strengthen your arms and shoulders if done correctly and often.

4. Prevents lower back pain

The overhead arm stretch is one of the best upper back exercises. Due to age and lifestyle, our bodies no longer function as well as they did when we were younger and much healthier. Stretching with your arms up can ease the pain as well.

5. Improves balance

We all have our clumsy moments, which is completely fine. But if you feel that you’re always out of balance, lifting your arms up and doing simple movements with your arms up could help.

6. Avoids text-neck syndrome

We’re all guilty of this. Staring at our phones for hours watching movies, playing games, texting, and all that jazz!

As a result, we suffer from the text-neck syndrome. Give your neck a break by raising your hands up and moving your head from right to left.

7. Avoids legs or spine problems

If you feel weak in the legs or the spine, it’s mainly because you have apoor blood circulation. The easiest way to avoid this is – you guessed it right – to lift your arms above your head.