How to Deal with a Heavy Backpack

With school back in session, backpacks are quickly filling up with booksheavy books.

So how do you avoid straining your back when everything youre carrying feels like a necessity?

Its obvious, but I definitely spent most of my teenage years one-strappin it for whatever foolish reason.

Wearing both straps helps to evenly distribute the weight and reduce the risk of injury.

Some larger bags also have sternum straps that go across your chest to help distribute the load.

Seriously: these make a difference.

Keep the bag close to your body.

One commonly cited studyrecommends that a childs backpack should remain lower than fifteen percent of their body weight.

Thats especially pertinent when youre carrying multiple textbooks to classes that you arent necessarily attending that day.

You probably dont need to carry every exam and paper from last semester with you.

Consider the Alternatives

Yes, Im talking about ebooks.

You could evenscan the passages you need.

Lastly, you might want to consider not wearing a backpack at all.

There areplenty of child sized versions too.

Then you might focus on holding up the more importantacademicpressure.

Images byVolhahandDavi Sales Batista(Shutterstock).

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