According To Science, Sitting Upright Increases Well-being

What position are you in now? Sitting, standing, lying down? You may be interested to know that sitting upright helps strengthen the mind, improves alertness and even mood. If you are one of those people who tries to take care of your postural axis while working sitting in an office, you should know that you are also taking care of your mental well-being.

Now you can ask yourself: what will be the ideal position for the mind to feel more focused on a task? The truth is that the neuroscientists warn us that posture and brain are related to a high point of more or less level of stress can be linked to these two variables.

It may be that many have already realized at some point: it is not the same thing to study or work with a bent back and a straight back. When we improve our posture, lift our head, and align our back to the chair, we notice a change. Suddenly our attention improves and we feel more motivated.

It’s almost like doing a mind and body reset …

Why does sitting upright help to strengthen the mind?

Over the course of our lives, we may have heard advice to sit upright several times . We certainly thought that this suggestion was aimed at taking care of our column. We all know how delicate and important this part of our body is. However, what not everyone knows is how postures relate to emotions.

One of the figures who has studied this topic the most is Dr. Erik Peper, a behavioral scientist and professor at the University of San Francisco. In one of his research papers, Peper showed that sitting upright helps strengthen the mind so that by doing so, students can improve their math performance.

Something so simple not only optimizes attention and task commitment, but also regulates mood. Dr. Peper points out that when we’re bent over, the mind doesn’t work 100%. Not only are we straining and endangering the balance in our spine, but the lazy posture also increases discouragement.

Sit upright: your posture influences how you look and feel

Our posture is a clear reflection of our state of mind. Often, almost without knowing how, we find ourselves bent over our desks, trapped by stress, fatigue and even laziness. All of this feeds back: emotions influence our posture and posture itself also increases discomfort.

Furthermore, we know, for example, that the need to curl up is a reaction fostered by sadness. On the other hand, states of stress can keep us in an uncomfortable and even painful position for hours without us noticing.

So sometimes it’s enough to stretch, take a deep breath, and put your back straight in relation to the chair to see how this improves our well-being. At that point, the mind resets and we improve our energy levels.

The back, neck and head are aligned, the gaze is directed forward and our brain activates its focus and level of attention.

Embodied Cognition: When Movement and Posture Improve Brain Potential

There is a very interesting phenomenon that scientists call embodied cognition . This experience is defined by something very simple: posture not only modulates mood, but our movements can also affect our thoughts. How can be? The data is undoubtedly curious.

Research papers, such as those carried out at the Autonomous University of Madrid, have shown us how nodding or nodding affects our assessment of something.

Imagine that someone says something that we fully agree with, but we are asked to shake our head. What we feel is dissonance and even annoyance.

Embodied cognition reminds us that movements also evoke emotions and even a series of thoughts in the brain. This association explains why sitting upright improves the quality of our thoughts and even makes us feel more creative.

Sitting upright offers several benefits

Most of us know that sitting ergonomically with a straight back and neck allows us to take care of our spine. We avoid contractures, tensions, twinges and the classic pain associated with spending hours sitting in front of the computer.

However, it is interesting to note that posture is not only healthy for physical well-being. Sitting correctly is also good for our mental health and even our productivity.

Feeling more motivated, focused and even inspired can depend on something as simple as leaning on the back of a chair correctly… It’s worth taking the test.