How Poor Posture and Shallow Breathing Cause Our Headaches

Ever have a headache that just wouldn't go away? Maybe aspirin or Tylenol doesn't work, or doesn't keep working. Do you often get your headaches in the middle or at the end of a long day? You may be suffering from tension headaches and overlooking the natural cause, and the natural cure. Headaches have many causes, but there is one you may not even realize. Poor posture leads to many tension headaches, and while people seek out numerous preventions and cures for their often debilitating pain, they overlook the easiest and healthiest.

Some headaches are caused by medical issues, and if you've been having severe headaches or migraines early in the morning, shortly after you wake, you should go to your doctor to make sure you don't have a serious medical condition (a tumor or blood clot). If your headaches strike later in the day, then tension is likely the cause, and the leading cause of tension headaches link directly to the way you stand and breathe.

Slumping strains the muscles in the shoulders, upper back, and neck, causing the nerves in these muscles to pinch. Pain from these nerves can travel to the face and scalp where they are more pronounced, making any stiffness or pain in the shoulders, upper back, and neck unnoticeable. [1]

The main culprit is the trigeminal nerve that ties from the neck directly into the brain stem. When the upper vertebrae pinch this nerve, it signals pain directly to the brain causing severe headaches and even migraines. [2]

If you suffer tension headaches take a look at your posture. Is your body aligned straight up and down, or does your head slump forward? Do your eyes look straight ahead or are you often watching the floor at your feet? Help correct your posture by standing straight, shoulders relaxed and slightly forward and not pinned back, and your head back so the neck is straight and the chin is level with the floor.

You can practice this standing with your back against a wall. See that the back of your head touches the wall's surface but that your shoulders do not. Use your ab muscles to help you stand by contracting (flexing) them; sucking your stomach in. Otherwise your body should remain in a relaxed stance.

If you sit in a chair most of the day, sit with your back firmly against the back of the seat and your head back, not slumping forward as you look down at your paperwork or computer screen.

Fixing your posture isn't something you can do in a day, or even a week, but with constant daily practice you will find that, not only do your headaches improve, but you feel better. Correct posture helps blood flow to the brain, and if you combine deep abdominal breathing with an upright stance, then you'll double the positive outcome.

Migraine headaches are often caused by a lack of cerebral blood flow (blood flowing to the brain). The brain itself doesn't contain nerves, but the blood vessels do, and when these nerves receive too little oxygen they cause the vessels to constrict, creating the pain you feel as a migraine [3].

Upright posture and breathing through your abdomen, instead of your chest, will increase oxygen in your blood and blood flow to your entire body, including your brain.

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