Stand Up Straight! 5 Unexpected Ways Posture Affects Our Mood and Health
When your parents said, "Stand up straight!" they weren't kidding.
I don't know about you, but when I heard that as a child, my eyes would roll.
Now that I am a chiropractor, I understand just how important proper posture is, not just from a physical standpoint but also from an health, appearance, and hormonal standpoint.
Proper posture plays an important role in our health and wellness.
Not only does posture affect our joints, but it also affects our mood and how we are perceived by the public.
There's more to the story than meets the eye.
1.
Proper posture sends the message that you are strong and confident.
Have you ever heard of someone who's weak referred to as "spineless" whereas someone proud and confident has a "backbone"? If you want to appear more vital and confident in your workplace, it is important to sit and stand up straight.
As it turns out, there is a simple method to both transform people psychologically and signal power to others: altering your body posture.
Across species, body posture is a primary representation of power.
From fish to reptiles to lower mammals to human's closest evolutionary cousins, non-human primates, power is expressed and inferred through expansive postures, large body size, or even the mere perception of large body size through expansive postures.
2.
Improper posture can lead to health problems over time.
A January 2014 article in the Washington Post titled, The Health Hazards of Sitting, reported the following health problems that can occur as a result of prolonged sitting with poor posture; high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, brain fog, neck pain, disc problems, muscle atrophy and internal organ damage and a higher mortality rate.
(see image) 3.
Good posture can make you feel happier.
In a randomized trial published in the September 2014 of Health Psychology, 74 participants were assigned to have an upright or slouched posture.
Researchers found that the upright participants reported feeling more enthusiastic, excited, and strong, while the slumped participants reported feeling more fearful, hostile, nervous, quiet, still, passive, dull, sleepy, and sluggish," study authors write.
Good posture was also associated with higher self-esteem, less social fear and fewer negative emotions.
4.
Standing and sitting up straight makes you appear thinner.
When you slouch in your chair, your internal organs are squeezed and have nowhere to go but down and out.
When we sit up straight and tall, everything is elongated, and you will tend to look slimmer.
When we stand as opposed to sit, we burn 20% more calories and strengthen our muscles, boost metabolism and increase bone density.
5.
Affects Your Hormones In a 2012 Ted Talk, Amy Cuddy presented revolutionary research regarding how changing your posture actually affect your hormone levels, showing that by simple posture changes, we can make ourselves feel more confident.
The Harvard showed that when people who adopted powerful postures (open shoulders and straight spines), they had a 20% increase in testosterone levels and a 25% decrease in cortisol levels-but people who slouched had a 10% decrease in testosterone and a 15% increase in cortisol.
What does that mean to you? The decrease in testosterone and increase in cortisol translates into low self-confidence and high stress.
My advice? Get up and move around! Need help remembering to get up from your computer? Set a timer on your phone or alarm clock for 1 hour.
Experiment with your posture and see how it makes you feel differently.
The more you are in tune with your own body and how you feel the happier you will be.
You will also be healthier in the process!
I don't know about you, but when I heard that as a child, my eyes would roll.
Now that I am a chiropractor, I understand just how important proper posture is, not just from a physical standpoint but also from an health, appearance, and hormonal standpoint.
Proper posture plays an important role in our health and wellness.
Not only does posture affect our joints, but it also affects our mood and how we are perceived by the public.
There's more to the story than meets the eye.
1.
Proper posture sends the message that you are strong and confident.
Have you ever heard of someone who's weak referred to as "spineless" whereas someone proud and confident has a "backbone"? If you want to appear more vital and confident in your workplace, it is important to sit and stand up straight.
As it turns out, there is a simple method to both transform people psychologically and signal power to others: altering your body posture.
Across species, body posture is a primary representation of power.
From fish to reptiles to lower mammals to human's closest evolutionary cousins, non-human primates, power is expressed and inferred through expansive postures, large body size, or even the mere perception of large body size through expansive postures.
2.
Improper posture can lead to health problems over time.
A January 2014 article in the Washington Post titled, The Health Hazards of Sitting, reported the following health problems that can occur as a result of prolonged sitting with poor posture; high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, brain fog, neck pain, disc problems, muscle atrophy and internal organ damage and a higher mortality rate.
(see image) 3.
Good posture can make you feel happier.
In a randomized trial published in the September 2014 of Health Psychology, 74 participants were assigned to have an upright or slouched posture.
Researchers found that the upright participants reported feeling more enthusiastic, excited, and strong, while the slumped participants reported feeling more fearful, hostile, nervous, quiet, still, passive, dull, sleepy, and sluggish," study authors write.
Good posture was also associated with higher self-esteem, less social fear and fewer negative emotions.
4.
Standing and sitting up straight makes you appear thinner.
When you slouch in your chair, your internal organs are squeezed and have nowhere to go but down and out.
When we sit up straight and tall, everything is elongated, and you will tend to look slimmer.
When we stand as opposed to sit, we burn 20% more calories and strengthen our muscles, boost metabolism and increase bone density.
5.
Affects Your Hormones In a 2012 Ted Talk, Amy Cuddy presented revolutionary research regarding how changing your posture actually affect your hormone levels, showing that by simple posture changes, we can make ourselves feel more confident.
The Harvard showed that when people who adopted powerful postures (open shoulders and straight spines), they had a 20% increase in testosterone levels and a 25% decrease in cortisol levels-but people who slouched had a 10% decrease in testosterone and a 15% increase in cortisol.
What does that mean to you? The decrease in testosterone and increase in cortisol translates into low self-confidence and high stress.
My advice? Get up and move around! Need help remembering to get up from your computer? Set a timer on your phone or alarm clock for 1 hour.
Experiment with your posture and see how it makes you feel differently.
The more you are in tune with your own body and how you feel the happier you will be.
You will also be healthier in the process!