Ann Arbor Chiropractor, Mike Tannenbaum, D.C. presents another blog post: Postures Affect On Self Esteem and Health.

My experience as a chiropractor in Ann Arbor suggests that most people understand that good posture helps prevent neck and back pain. My experience also tells me that most don't know that good posture can improve overall self esteem and health. Here are some studies that support this idea that good posture improves self esteem and health.

A study performed in New Zealand and published in the journal Health Psychology demonstrated that those that sat erect felt stronger, more enthusiastic and more excited then those that slouched. The study also showed that that those that slouched were more likely to feel passive, fearful, and hostile. Research done by Professor Eric Peppers at San Francisco State University found that good posture led to improved mood and bad posture can lead to depression. Researchers at Columbia and Harvard Universities found that slouching posture led to higher levels of cortisol hormone (a stress hormone) release and that a more open erect posture was less likely to lead to the release of cortisol hormone. Also, studies have shown that poor posture reduces oxygen intake and that good posture will, relatively dramatically, increase oxygen intake. The increased oxygen intake helps increase the amount of oxygen in the bodies tissue, including the brain, ultimately improving one's overall health and quality of life. Furthermore, greater happiness and quality of life are often directly correlated to minimizing pain and discomfort. That is, the less pain and discomfort you have the happier you are. So, since good posture minimizes neck pain, back pain, headaches and other muskuloskeltal and nerve problems, maintaining good posture will, on average, make you happier then if you had poor posture.

Any questions about chiropractic, this blog post, neck pain, back pain, headaches or other nerve related problems, I can be emailed at my Ann Arbor chiropractic office at [email protected].