Like Mom said, ‘Don’t slouch!’ – USA Today
If your idea of getting comfortable at work is to slide forward in your seat until your chest is desk-high, hunch your shoulders and hunker down for the day, you may be setting yourself up for a tougher grind than you realize. A new study in the journal Health Psychology found that people who favor a slumped over posture while performing high pressure tasks report having more negative thoughts and feeling more depressed than those who sit upright.
Just a coincidence? Science suggests not: In another study done by psychologists atOhio State University, people who slumped forward in their seats while performing work-related jobs described themselves as having significantly less confidence in their professional skills than those who sat upright.
While previous studies have explored the way facial expressions can alter mood (for instance, try smiling and feeling tense at the same time—it’s harder than you think!), less is known about the correlation between body positions and people’s emotional state. “We believe that when faced with a stressful situation, people experience sensory and physiological responses at the same time,” explains study co-author Elizabeth Broadbent, Ph.D., a senior lecturer in health psychology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. “We see the threat, our heart beat increases, our muscles react and we feel scared. Because these systems are linked in the brain, when one part is activated it can activate the other parts. So being in a slouched posture may be neurologically linked to more negative emotions.”
Source: Like Mom said, ‘Don’t slouch!’
