Your Posture and Your Self-esteem
Check yourself right now as you are reading this article. Are your shoulders hunched over, your spine curled and your head bent down? Are you slumping or slouching? You’ll probably doing that right now! What you do know is your brain is suffering for it!
Research has been done on the link between bad posture and brain activity and results show that bad posture not only affect your brain function but also your self-esteem and mood levels. For example, power poses, that is, the confident posture of standing tall, uplifted posture has been found effective in making good decisions. The brain receives a signal that you are confident and powerful hence you make confident and powerful choices at that moment.
A study found that when you sit up straight or stand tall, you send positive message to the brain and therefore form positive opinions about your observations. If you are slouching or slumping, negative signals are being sent to the brain which in turn triggers the stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline instead of the feel good hormones such as serotonin thereby influencing your actions and reactions. Everything is interrelated. So your posture can influence your moods and behavior.
A study conducted at the psychology department at UC Berkeley shows that power poses radiates confidence thereby increasing levels of testosterone and lowers the level of cortisol in the brain. Testosterone is associated with self-confidence therefore high levels of testosterone make you feel more confident. A physical position which in turn stimulates a physiological response thereby causing a psychological reaction!
Apart from the brain activity and all, your posture affects your self-confidence and others’ perception of you. And science aside, your posture affects how you see yourself, as well as how others see you. For example, no matter how intelligent you are, if you slouch over throughout a job interview, your interviewer is likely to see you as less confident and less capable.
On the contrary, if you have good posture, with your shoulders pulled slightly backwards and your spine aligned, you can look good in your clothes and receive compliments from both friends and strangers which in turn boost your self-esteem and mood. You admire yourself from time to time in the mirror and reflect a more positive aura. It also makes you more approachable.
Walking is also part of posture. If you walk with your shoulders high, chin up and spine straight, you can feel confident and ready to take the world. Unlike if you walk haphazardly and sluggishly, you will look disheveled and fatigued, which can make you actually feel disheveled and tired. The summary is that your brain tries to match the posture you project.
Bad posture can cause physical pain which can also affect your brain. Physical pains such as wrist pain, back pain, neck pain often affect people with bad posture. The brain then release stress hormones as a response. Such pain, when intense, can cause depression. A good posture results into a happy brain and a happy pain causes you to have a positive outlook on life.
There are several ways to improve your posture, including yoga, exercise or the use of posture correctors. Therefore, in order for you to stay happy, healthy and have a positive outlook on life, make a conscious effect to improve your posture.
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