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/

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/

How to Improve Bad Posture

Bad posture does not happen overnight. It is a gradual process. Bad posture is a response to how you hold your body in various positions, such as sitting, slouching and standing. After a period of time, your posture muscles become weak and other muscles take over the work.

Perfect posture IS possible

If you want to improve your posture, you need to be aware of bad posture habits. Here are some examples of common behavior and poor ergonomics that need correction to improve posture and back support:

• Slouching with the shoulders hunched forward
• Cradling a phone receiver between the neck and shoulder
• Keeping the head held too high or looking down too much
• Sleeping with a mattress or pillow that doesn't provide proper back support, or in a position that compromises posture
• Slumping forward while sitting in an office chair and not making use of the office chair's lumbar back support

You can improve your bad posture as follows:

1. Identify your bad posture habits and take steps to prevent such habits. Check your posture throughout the day.
   
2. Pay particular attention to your computer posture.
   
3. Examine your sleeping posture. The correct sleeping position is on your back. Sleeping on your side is your next best position. Sleeping on your stomach is the worst position and is not recommended.
   
4. Most importantly, stretch regularly. Stretching will help lengthen both your muscles and tendons. This will increase your range of movement which means that your limbs and joints can move further before an injury occurs.

Stretching is the key to posture correction and one of the best ways to stretch is to use a posture cushion. A good posture cushion will allow your head to assume a neutral position in relation to your shoulders. The contours of the cushion should be such that it pushes your thorax forward, stretching the muscles in the front of your chest and relaxing the muscles in your mid and upper back.

It is never too late to improve your posture. Just because you have bad posture right now does not mean that you have to stay that way for the rest of your life. Follow the simple guidelines set out above and you will be well on your way to improving your posture.

For more information on how to improve your posture, please visit http://www.posturepal.com/