Use a Posture Cushion to Relieve Stress

A posture cushion is a great way to relieve stress, especially the stress in your upper body.

It is estimated that over 85% of modern people suffer from stress-related problems. If you are under continual stress, it is likely that your brain, via your HPA axis, cannot reestablish equilibrium in your body (we refer to this as a state of homeostasis). It is thus likely that your body will be in a constant fight-or-flight state. Over time, this will create enormous wear-and-tear on your mind and body.

The Ideal posture cushion - Posture Pal - has special contours to reverse bad and forward head posture, and will provide the utmost relief from upper body stress

If you suffer from bad posture, this will only add to your stress levels. If you have bad posture and you are under constant stress, it is likely that your natural healing ability will be severely impaired.

When you use your posture cushion each evening, this is the perfect time to calm down and empty your thinking mind. Here are a few tips to help you reduce stress while using your posture cushion:

• Let go – purge yourself of your everyday thoughts and worries

• Be positive - think happy, pure, and loving thoughts

• Breathe - practice deep breathing. Your breathing should be automatic, deep, easy and balanced.

• Get in the mood - play some appropriate, soft music in the background, music that will help you relax.

• Get visual – imagine yourself relaxed, happy, healthy and with good posture.

The time on your posture cushion should be devoted to relaxing and changing your brain vibration so that it can attain a normal frequency after a tough, stressful day at the office.

Is it not time to empower yourself? A posture cushion can help release those blockages and increase your energy and blood flow. Feel the difference. Tackle life with zest and energy.

But be warned – not all posture cushions are equal.

To find out more about how to improve posture, please visit http://www.posturepal.com/

Can Bad Posture Make You Retarded?

If it is true that oxygen deprivation can result in brain damage, does it not follow that bad posture can lead to retardation? No, it is not true. Bad posture cannot lead to brain damage, but bad posture can affect your breathing and resultant oxygen intake, with some very serious consequences.

See my blog post “Bad Posture: How it Affects Your Breathing” for an explanation as to precisely how bad posture can play havoc with your breathing.

We all know that we will die if we do not breathe, but exactly what is it that oxygen does for us?

Quite simply, your body requires food (in the form of appropriate nutrition) to produce energy so that your body can function. These nutrients are “burned” by your cells and in the process, the cells produce carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide is toxic and needs to be expelled by the body.

Oxygen plays a critical role on this “cycle of life”. This is how it works.

When you inhale, the oxygen in the air is absorbed into your bloodstream through alveoli, tiny sacs in your lungs. When the oxygen enters your blood, a passing protein molecule (called hemoglobin) collects the oxygen. Each molecule of hemoglobin can transport four molecules of oxygen. This oxygen is then transported to all parts of your body and is used by your cells to make water, an essential requirement for life. Your cells make two molecules of water out of every molecule of oxygen that is delivered to it by the hemoglobin.

When this conversion process occurs, energy is released. Your cells then use this energy to perform the everyday functions that your body needs. The toxic by-product of this conversion, the carbon dioxide, is then removed from your body by the oxygen.

As you can see, oxygen is critical to your health and the smooth-running of your body. Proper breathing is essential to get the oxygen to your lungs and to expel the toxic carbon dioxide.

Bad posture can easily hold your breathing hostage and seriously impede the amount of oxygen you get and this is bad for your health. Improving your posture will vastly improve your health, increase your energy levels and improve your productivity.

To learn more about improving your posture, please visit http://www.posturepal.com/

Bad Posture: How it Affects Your Breathing

Bad posture can negatively impact your life in so many ways, including your breathing. And breathing, as you know, is absolutely essential for human life. Before we examine how bad posture affects your breathing, you need to understand how abnormal posture arises in the first place.

Bad posture arises because of two main reasons:

1. Your tonic muscles, responsible for holding your posture, constrict and tighten over time if you do not stretch them periodically.

2. Your phasic muscles, used for dynamic movement, weaken and lengthen.

Our bodies were not designed for sitting for long periods. Nowadays, we spend so much time crouched over a computer either at work or at home on the Internet. Before you know it, you develop a slouch. Over time, the slouch gets worse.

The problem with bad posture is that your body seeks to maintain some kind of balance, so it compensates for your bad posture by making it worse. For example, if you have forward head posture, your hips move forward to compensate for the added weight of your head and eventually you get bent out of shape.

So exactly how does bad posture affect your breathing? Have you ever tried sitting in your chair, leaning forward and breathing?

Poor posture results in restricted, shallow breathing and affects your energy levels and productivity. Add to this the stress that we all have to endure nowadays and you have a recipe for disaster. The resultant tight muscles in your upper body are like a giant elastic band around your chest. To breathe correctly, your diaphragm has to more upwards and outwards. The tight muscles restrict this movement and prevent you from breathing effortlessly. This is not normal – breathing is supposed to be automatic.

Not breathing correctly can upset your normal body chemistry. Your blood oxygen and blood carbon dioxide levels begin to fluctuate under stress and certain organs systems become affected. This manifests itself in panic, anxiety and stress.

Breathing badly can lead to an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, muscle pain and blood circulation. Some of the symptoms associated with bad breathing are pains in your hands, feet and muscles, dizziness, shortness of breath, pins and needles, pain over the heart and shaking. The list goes on.

Fortunately, you can correct bad posture. One way is to stretch, and one of the best ways to stretch is to use a posture cushion specifically designed to reverse bad and forward head posture.

There is an old proverb: "Life is in the breath. He who half breathes, half lives." So improve your posture now – live life to the fullest!

To learn more about improving your posture, please visit http://www.posturepal.com/