A few tweaks to your posture can help you straighten up your act

"Feet apart, stomach in, shoulders back, chin up." This is your inner drill sergeant talking. And many of us have gone AWOL.

The good news is, it’s never too late to improve your posture. Here’s why you should learn to stand straight and how you can make it happen.

Consequences of Bad Posture

From board meetings to bunko groups, there’s a lot of tension these days—as in neck tension. "Our necks and backs hurt, and poor posture is the No. 1 culprit," says Janice Novak, M.S., author of the book, Posture, Get it Straight! (Perigee Trade, 1999).

When you hunch forward, your body isn’t properly aligned. "Not only does poor posture look bad, but it forces some muscles to work incredibly hard all day long while others get weaker," Novak says. Poor posture can put you in other slumps, too. "When you slouch, you’re pressing down on your internal organs, which affects digestion," Novak says, adding that circulation and breathing capacity can take a hit too.

Quick Fix?

Unlike other bad habits, poor posture can be relaxing to correct. Why? Massage can help get your body back on track. In fact, Novak, who calls massage "a necessity, not a luxury," says a good massage therapist can be invaluable in relaxing the tension overload that our muscles develop in response to bad posture.

Massage can relax and loosen the muscles made sore by bad posture, allowing your body to position itself in its natural—and pain-free—posture.

Novak’s book outlines a one-minute-to-better-posture plan to unlock knees, pull in abs, "lift" the rib cage and unround the shoulders. Core exercises, such as planks, crunches and back extensions, can help strengthen the muscles that support good posture.

In the end, retraining yourself to have good posture will be worth the effort. "Your posture conveys an awful lot to the world around you," Novak says. "Do you want to convey insecurity or vitality and strength?" —By Laurie Davies