A Shirt That Gives You Better Posture

In an article published this week, The Guardian tells us that in an average person’s lifetime, he or she will spend 36 total years sitting down. As humans, though, we didn’t evolve to be sitting creatures, so our bodies aren’t adapted to that lifestyle. Good posture is one way to minimize the health problems of sitting all day long, but if you follow all the rules, you’d be sitting “with a 110-degree angle between your legs and spine, with your bottom pushed well into the back of the seat and your back, legs and bottom in contact with the chair.” Awkward.

Or, you could just put on an Ergoskin undershirt. According to the official description from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, where the Ergoskin won an innovation award last year:

“Ergoskin” is an orthopedic underwear with ergonomic bio-feedback to promote a positive posture: nano-sized, locational “sensors” and “pistons” are woven into the fabric in order to act either neutral when the posture is ideal as programmed or to release mechanical impulses to the skin when a non-ideal posture is assumed for too long – the feedback is on a time-lapse, as constant movement (tensing and relaxing of muscle groups) is endorsed.

More or less, when the shirt detects that your posture is bad, it’ll stimulate your skin with tiny electrical impulses, prompting you to straighten up. The Ergoskin is not available to purchase yet, as it’s still in the prototype phase.

[via DVICE]