From the time we could sit up, our parents taught us the important of sitting up straight. Slouching doesn’t look good or feel good but having good posture affects more than your physical health. You’ll be surprised to know that there’s a link between posture and the state of our mind.
When you’re feeling low or anxious, you can find yourself slouching but this is actually the time where you should sit up straight. A study by Harvard University found that sitting up straight improved certain symptoms of anxiety, stress, and depression.
This is why ‘power poses,’ are quite popular in yoga as they can boost energy and confidence. In fact, bad body posture can also impact your memory.
A study at one San Francisco State University looked at how many students were about to think about their past experiences.
The group were asked to think about both good and bad experience twice. Once will sitting up straight and the other whilst slouching over. 86% of the students in the slumped position were able to easily remember their negative experiences. Whilst 87% of the students who were sitting up straight found it easier to remember positive experiences.
The experiment included 216 college students and found that “participants who reported being most depressed over the previous two years reported significantly more recall of negative memories in both the slouched position,” the report said.
It continues: “Body posture reflects emotional states, and this study investigates the effect of posture sitting in a slouched or upright position on recall of either negative (hopeless, helpless, powerless, or defeated) memories or positive (empowered or optimistic) memories.”
The researchers in the study suggest that people maintain good posture in the office and at home as a way of dealing with depression.
We bet you sat up straight while reading this, keep it up!