MOVEMENT
Improve Your Posture Elevate Your Mood By Anneke Kruger
F
or many, the new normal of the working day involves spending more hours at our desks (or makeshift offices) and browsing through our mobile phones and laptops. Have you ever stopped to think about the effect of your posture on your mood and stress levels as you engage in these activities? Research has shown a clear link between posture and mood. Many of us spend hours hunched forward when at our desks or on our devices, in a position known as the ‘startle response’. The startle response is a natural, automatic, protective response to sudden or threatening stimuli, such as an unexpected loud noise or sharp movement. It happens when the muscles at the front of the body contract to pull the head forward, flex the spine, and tuck the tailbone under. As we contract the chest muscles, the shoulders roll forward, readying themselves to fight or flee. It’s linked to our survival instinct, and spurs us into taking action. It’s a natural and healthy short-term response, but if sustained, it can also illicit feelings of stress and anxiety. ABOUT THE AUTHOR The Anneke body registers whether Kruger distress, is an Educator for it’s hunched mobile Anatomyforward Trains®over (US)a and The Art phone computer, or responding of or Motion Academy® (Switzerland). to a She genuine threat. Myofascial The postureTraining we is a Slings assume during both to restricted Practitioner, andleads a Pilates and Yoga breathing, which increases Teacher. Shefurther specialises in injury feelings of stress and anxiety. prevention and rehabilitation, and teaches online and from her studio in Bloubergstrand. Visit www. movementintellect.com to learn more and get in touch.
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Prolonged stress, real or perceived, often results in physiological and psychological strain or illness. Research has shown that sitting in a ‘helpless’ (often flexed forward) position can generate negative thoughts and emotions. We are in ‘protection’ mode, and are thus more likely to resort to survival strategies such as aggression, avoidance, or withdrawal. Ultimately, uninviting body language, and the internal negative commentary that goes along with it, affects how we communicate with the people and the world around us. Our bodies cannot discern the difference between hunching forward and harbouring fear. What was originally meant as a natural short-term muscular response becomes stored in the fascial system - the interconnected, living, receptor-rich, and adaptable connective tissue in the body.
