HOW YOUR POSTURE IMPACTS YOUR BRAIN

Posture

Posture is the way we hold our bodies when we sit, stand, walk or lie down.

In their research, a social psychologist of the Harvard Business School, Amy Cuddy and her colleagues in 2010 found that posture affects brain chemistry and the way we see our selves, when they related posture to change in brain chemistry and behavior.

The change in one's brain chemistry goes a long way to affect their mood, learning, memory and sense of confidence. Cuddy and her group were able to establish this by comparing, two groups of students -- high-power pose and low-power pose groups.They observed all blinding protocols to avoid watering down the accuracy of their results. And they found that high-power pose group had their testosterone levels shoot up and cortisol levels lowered, while the low-power pose had their testosterone levels lowered and cortisol level elevated. Testosterone is a male sex hormone linked to power and self-confidence, while cortisol is a stress hormone liked to fear and depression.

Having known how posture affects the brain, let's get to know what postures to continually avoid or maintain.

Bad Postures

Bad posture is sitting, standing, walking or lying badly against gravity. Some of the postures to be avoided as bad postures include:

- Forward head posture (FHP)

The effective weight of the head is felt most while assuming this posture which is almost like slow decapitation. To confirm this, stand for a long time working with your hand-held phone slouching. This posture also cuts down the volume of the thoracic cavity, and in extension, lung capacity resulting in low oxygen delivery to the brain. Low oxygen supply to the brain translates  to low brain performance.

- Low-power pose.


- Lying with your knee drawn to the chest.

- Lying on the stomach to sleep is not very good.

Good Postures

Good posture is sitting, standing, walking and lying well against gravity.

The following are postures that enhance brain health and IQ:

- Sit with your trunk and head at 90 degrees with the seat.
- At work, adjust your chair height and work station so you can sit up close to the work well tilted up at you. Then rest your elbows and arms on your chair or desk, keeping your shoulders relaxed

- Sleep with a pillow under your knees or a lumber roll under your lower back. Or, sleep on your side with your knees slightly bent.

Lie decently, sit right, stand straight, pose well and walk tall for optimum brain health and IQ.

Festus C. Anaba, B Med.