Driving me crazy!

Tweet I've just driven from the centre of Ireland to the city of Galway and back again to catch up with a friend of ours who has been doing an intensive English course there. And although I want to concentrate on posture in this article, I first must make a few observations of what I saw in that lovely city: 1. So many people were smoking that my heart sinks for their future health, because so many of these people are young people. 2. The number of seriously overweight people was remarkable. But as we know, this is not just an Irish problem, but a universal challenge. But yet again it was the number of young people who are literally carrying 40 to 50 kilos of extra fat around on a daily basis that must inevitably lead to serious health consequences. 3. Being a tourist area there is an added emphasis on alcohol, and yet again it's the young who are at the pointy end of the problem. In all these situations there are those who are putting in a huge effort to promote a healthier alternative, but to the average punter, they are not having the required impact. One obvious casue of these problems is the ease of availability of cigarettes, fast foods and alcohol. I do not advocate prohibition, but perhaps we should look at reducing the number of outlets for each of these products within each community. Naturally there would be a screetching outcry at such a suggestion, but tough decisions need ot be made if we are not to end up paying billions of dollars in the years ahead to combat the health and social impacts of the negative consrquences of these three challenges. Meanwhile, back to the problem of posture. Maybe I am deformed - a suitable pause for ribald comments - but at my age I find that the driving seats in cars eventually will cause me neck and shoulder pains. I find that they cause me to bend forward in the seat with rounded shoulders resulting in my cervical spine (neck) being in an uncomfortable position. Unless I force myself to constantly tighten my lower abdominal muscles to fix my lumbar spine in the correct position, to stick my chest out and push my shoulders back, then after an hour I find myself with tense shoulders and the onset of a mild headache. Perhaps all the creative geniuses out there who deal with ergonomics can give me some good advice!