As it turns

out, there's more to good posture than just looking good; it's also important

to our health in a number of ways.

Poor posture

wastes energy. Good posture places your body in a gravity neutral

position. When you're hunched forward or when your posture is otherwise

not properly aligned, your body expends extra energy in order to offset

this pull of gravity.

Poor posture

causes pain. When you have poor posture, you abnormally load your

muscles, ligaments and joints. This abnormal loading eventually leads

to muscular pain, especially in the neck, shoulders and low back. Headaches

and fatigue are also quite often caused by poor posture.

Poor posture

leads to osteoarthritis. When you have poor posture, you also abnormally

load spinal bones. Over time, these bones degenerate because of this abnormal

pressure. As the spinal joints begin to weaken, they begin to fuse together

in order to offset the degeneration.

Poor posture

leads to traumatic disk injuries. The cummulative trauma of poor posture

adds up on skeletal tissues to the point where an innocent movement, like

bending down to pick up the newspaper or a small child, can cause the

disk to bulge, herniate or rupture.

Poor posture

accelerates the aging process. Poor posture compresses the body's

organs, which leads to decreased blood flow; this decreases the amount

of oxygen going to the organs. This reduction in oxygen leads to diminished

function and self-repair, which accelerates the aging process.

Poor posture

affects the entire nervous system. Your spine is the home for your

spinal cord. When you have good posture, your spine is properly aligned,

and your spinal cord is relaxed and allowed to operate the way it was

designed. When you have poor posture, your spinal cord is being stretched

into abnormal positions, which disrupts the normal state of the nervous

system.

Clearly, good

posture is critical for good health. The problem is that you can't simply

have good posture by thinking about it.

When you consciously

try to sit up straight or stand with your head up and shoulders back,

you are using large muscle groups to hold yourself up. This requires a

lot of energy.

The muscles

ultimately fatigue and you slump