Why do my pages load more slowly when I use SSL?

SSL pages are slower because of the overhead needed to encrypt and decrypt the data. The web server must spend extra time encrypting the data before it is transmitted to your computer. Likewise, your computer must then decrypt the information. The same applies when you securely submit information from your computer to the Web server. All this requires your CPU and the Web server's CPU to work harder and therefore might cause pages to load more slowly.