Have you ever been in awe of someone giving a speech on stage? Did you observe the way they carried themselves while they were speaking? Your posture and the way you carry yourself plays a crucial role in evoking confidence within you. Similarly, your mindset, too, can affect your posture.
On days when your mood is uplifted, notice how your back is straight. However, on days when you find yourself feeling low mentally, you may see a slouch in your being. This affects the way you are perceived by those that meet you. After all, you can never have an excellent first impression of someone who is spotted in a slouched posture.
If you have witnessed people speak on famous platforms such as TED Talks, you must be aware that these individuals are thinkers, doers, and idea-generators. But what’s common amongst them all? Apart from keeping the audience hooked to their words, presenting those same words with confidence.
Low or high levels of confidence ultimately affect our mindset and attitude. So are you ready to find out the fascinating correlation between your posture and mindset? Let’s go!
The way you walk or carry yourself in different situations has an impact on your overall mood. When you slouch, your mindset automatically tends to feel weary. In comparison, your mood will stay pleasant when you remain active in an excellent erect posture.
A study conducted by Amy Cuddy at Harvard University reveals the positive effect of power posing. She found that those who sat in the high-power pose felt more powerful and performed better in mock interviews than those who had not.
Employees working in different organizations usually sit for long periods at a stretch. This affects both their posture and attitude towards work. They must, therefore, consider staying attentive and active by sitting in a straight posture at their cubicle. This ensures that the work that usually takes them 8 hours to finish can be done at a much quicker pace.
“Expanding your body language—through posture, movement, and speech—makes you feel more confident and powerful, less anxious and self-absorbed, and generally more positive,” says Amy Cuddy, an American Social Psychologist.
Posture isn’t just about sitting straight or standing erect. It is one of the driving factors for every activity you perform. A slumped-forward posture creates unnecessary stress on your spine, making you feel heavy, achy, tired, and irritable. On the other hand, if you sit and stand with the right posture, it makes you feel happy and optimistic.
A report by Researchgate found that sitting in an upright posture led to reduced fatigue and increased positive feelings in people with mild to moderate depression. Thus, by fixing our posture, we might be able to take over our dreary feelings.
If you speak with a low tone of voice and a slumped posture, your listener(s) might not believe you because of the lack of confidence in your voice. Whereas, if you speak with an upright posture and a confident tone, the impact on the listener(s) will be remarkable.
A study found that body posture affected confidence in people’s thoughts. Participants were asked to list either positive or negative attributes about themselves. Those who sat in an upright posture were more likely to believe in said attributes when describing their future work performance.
Good posture impacts the mindset and related physiological conditions of an individual significantly. Although the physical health benefits of good posture are widely recognized, we should also consider how good posture can positively change the way we think and feel.
Remember this correlation between your posture and mindset. If either of the two isn’t balanced well, the other one could be greatly affected. Well, if you’re sitting right now, get up and take a short walk(unless you’re in the restroom, then you can skip it).