How is your posture? Maybe you pay attention to your posture, and so it is quite good. Or maybe you tend to be slouchy, and you don’t think about your posture at all. Well, we started thinking about posture when we recently heard a segment on one of those radio shows that offers health tips. What we heard might have you sitting up straight in surprise.
The host of the segment—musician and radio personality John Tesh—had this to say:
Hey, grumpy pants, try this. Sit up straight—shoulders back, chin up. According to the journal Health Psychology, that’s all it takes to improve your mood, reduce your fear, and have higher self-esteem. Psychologist Elizabeth Broadbent says when we sit upright, our body’s autonomic nervous system, which is what controls our automatic functions…kicks right into gear. It releases energy and increases blood flow, and that’s what makes you feel more alert and confident. So check your posture next time you’re stressed, bummed out, or grouchy. If you’re slumped, sit up straight and your mood will instantly improve.
While we enjoy Tesh’s theme song for the NBA (you can hear “Roundball Rock” here), he notably is not a medical professional. Fortunately, however, he is diligent about citing his sources. And sure enough, Dr. Elizabeth Broadbent has studied this very thing.
Slumped Versus Upright Posture
Broadbent and her fellow researchers were interested in how “muscular states are related to emotions.” In their study, 74 participants were randomly assigned to either sit upright or slumped and then asked to complete a few tasks. Here are the results and conclusions the researchers published in the abstract of their report of the study:
Results: Upright participants reported higher self-esteem, more arousal, better mood, and lower fear, compared to slumped participants. Linguistic analysis showed slumped participants used more negative emotion words, first-person singular pronouns, affective process words, sadness words, and fewer positive emotion words and total words during the speech. Upright participants had higher pulse pressure during and after the stressor.
Conclusions: Adopting an upright seated posture in the face of stress can maintain self-esteem, reduce negative mood, and increase positive mood compared to a slumped posture. Furthermore, sitting upright increases the rate of speech and reduces self-focus. Sitting upright may be a simple behavioral strategy to help build resilience to stress. The research is consistent with embodied cognition theories that muscular and autonomic states influence emotional responding.
Long and short, the former host of Entertainment Tonight delivered a useful tip. Sitting up straighter can provide a quick boost to your mood—which is good for your mental health.
Put This Posture Tip in Your Toolkit of Practical Moves
This tip related to your posture is in keeping with other strategies for dealing with anxiety and other mental health challenges when they arise in the course of your day.
Here, for example, are steps for box breathing, which can help address sudden feelings of anxiety:
- Take a breath in for a count of four
- Hold your breath for a count of four
- Breathe out for four
- Hold your breath for a count of four
- Complete the cycle a total of four times
You can read more about box breathing and how it works in this previous blog entry.
Here are the steps for a simple countdown technique that can be helpful in similar situations:
- FIVE: Name five things you can see. Focus on each of the five objects for a moment rather than rushing from item to item. It can be helpful to name each of them out loud.
- FOUR: Name four things you touch in your immediate environment. Take a moment to focus on each of the four things you can touch (or feel—like a cool breeze), and perhaps say their names out loud.
- THREE: Name three things you can hear. Take a moment to really listen to what is happening nearby and farther away. Pick three distinct sounds you hear and name them aloud.
- TWO: Name two things you can smell. Don’t rush. Pause and focus on the scents around you.
- ONE: Name one thing you can taste. For this one, it can be helpful to have some hard candy, some dark chocolate, or a pack of gum around to help you complete the countdown exercise.
You can read more about this countdown exercise in this previous blog post.
We Can Help You Improve Your Mental Health
While the techniques we have described above can be handy and helpful, they are not a substitute for quality mental health care. At Peak View Behavioral Health—located in Colorado Springs, Colorado—we provide personalized mental health care for each individual we serve.
You can count on us to employ evidence-based practices supported by our expertise, experience, and empathy. Improving your mental health and maintaining those improvements over time is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself—and for those who love you.
