Is Bad Posture Connected To Your Mood?

If you've never thought much about whether you’re sitting or standing stance is doing harm to your health, you might want to start before you find yourself in a bad mood.

Whenever you’re sitting at a computer, be conscious of your posture and keep your feet evenly planted on the ground.

As many people are finding themselves spending more time sitting slumped behind a screen or standing on their feet for hours on end without a break, paying attention to your posture is more important than ever. Here's why:

• Each time we lean forward 60 degrees, the stress placed on our neck is increased dramatically. This can lead to numbness, pain, pinched nerves and improper breathing—none of which are good for your mood! Stress on your neck can also lead to tense upper back and shoulder muscles, resulting in headaches which can be very frequent for some with poor posture.
• Your body language is closely related to posture. A slumped stance can make us appear sad, afraid or disinterested to peers leading to different treatment that can bring you down without even reali[z]ing it.
• In a 2015 article, researchers concluded that when facing a high-stress situation, study participants with good posture maintained a higher self-esteem and mood, while those with poor posture experienced heightened stress and used negative words to describe their experience.
•  Prolonged static posture is the enemy. The healthy body can only tolerate staying in one position for about 20 minutes. That is why sitting on an airplane, at a desk in an office chair, or at a movie theatre becomes uncomfortable after a short time. Standing in one place, such as standing on a concrete floor at an assembly line for extended periods of time tends to cause back pain. Holding the same position slowly diminishes elasticity in the soft tissues (muscles, ligaments, and tendons in the back). Then, stress builds up and causes back discomfort and/or leg discomfort.

Get up and move

A way to improve your posture naturally is to avoid a sedentary lifestyle. As muscles tire, slouching, slumping, and other poor postures become more likely; this in turn puts extra pressure on the neck and back. In order to maintain a relaxed yet supported posture, change positions frequently. One way is to take a break from sitting in an office chair every half hour for two minutes in order to stretch, stand, or walk.