Consistently good posture has been linked to decreased back pain, better cognitive performance and increased energy. Despite this, poor posture is incredibly common among high school students.
Students connect poor posture to a number of factors; heavy backpacks, prolonged phone use and school desks that are not conducive to proper posture.
“People being hunched over on their phones all the time is a big influence,” Camas High School (CHS) senior Angelo Luchini said.
“There’s not really a lot of outside factors stopping people from fixing their posture,” CHS sophomore Aria Bent said. “It’s mostly themselves.”
Still, many high school students spend their time slumped over, and are even aware that they have bad posture; many point toward exhaustion as a primary cause of their poor posture.
“You’re tired, and you’re not gonna want to be awake, so you’re gonna slump over,” sophomore Sarah Nilles stated.
Oftentimes, students have to consciously correct their posture rather than doing so as a habit.
“If I have a lot of energy, I’ll notice I have bad posture,” Bent said.
Students spend seven hours every day at school, which, for many, is followed by extracurriculars that take up several hours of their free time. Additionally, many students have hours of homework to take care of every night. Oftentimes students do not get the recommended number of hours of sleep, because of this, many high school students tend to be chronically sleep-deprived.
“Your energy influences your posture, and as your posture gets worse, you get more tired. It’s a negative feedback loop,” Nilles said.
Another issue lies in school chairs themselves.
“Some classrooms have stools without any backs at all,” CHS biology teacher Brianna Abraham said. “Students find it difficult to get comfortable in the chairs, so they slouch.”
Abraham still agrees that there are not many factors keeping students from fixing their posture.
“Not caring is the main thing. It’s not important, they’re not in pain right now, so they don’t make it a priority,” Abraham said. “Youth tend to be focused on the present, so even if they’re gonna be hurting in the future, they don’t take care of it right now.”
