A study conducted at the psychology department at the University of Auckland in New Zealand looked at the effects of upright posture, compared to slouched posture on young healthy people’s resilience to cope with a stressful reading task.

The study results clearly showed that when these people were held in an upright ‘good’ posture they could cope with the stressful task much better than if they were held in a slouch position during the same task. In addition to this, the scientists found that good, upright posture also resulted in the participants displaying and feeling higher self-esteem, better mood and lower fear, compared to the slumped posture situation.

Research: Bradley H, Esformes J. Breathing pattern disorders and functional movement. Int J Sports Phys Ther. Feb 2014;9(1):28-39.