system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELi5 Why are sitting positions that are bad for our spines more comfortable than sitting positions that that are good for our spines? I.e. leaning forward while sitting vs sitting straight.

I always thought it should be the opposite.
gpt
Because the muscles are more relaxed.  It's literally more relaxing to sit that way.  But that means the muscles aren't being used so sitting in a less damaging position becomes more difficult and even less relaxing.

That it's not good for you long term is irrelevant to comfort initially, but may become relevant as time goes on.