Is Your Posture Making You Feel Stressed?
We hear a lot about methods for reducing the stress in our lives from breathing exercises, meditation apps, cold plunges and journaling. But there’s one thing that almost no one talks about, even though it directly affects your breathing, tension levels and how your nervous system feels…
Your posture.
Posture might be one of the most overlooked pieces of the stress puzzle. At the same time, it can quietly influence how stressed or calm your body feels throughout the day.
Your Posture Sends “Signals” to Your Nervous System
When you slump over your laptop or phone for long periods, you may feel tired, foggy, irritable or even anxious. Research is showing this isn’t just coincidence.
Your posture affects your autonomic nervous system, the part of your body that runs your stress response, breathing, digestion and heart rate. Because this system works automatically, posture can influence stress without you being aware of it.
A 2020 study found that “collapsed” or forward-leaning postures increase stress markers and activate the body’s fight-or-flight side of the nervous system. Meanwhile, more upright and open posture was linked to calmer physiological responses. These included easier breathing and improved heart-rate variability, a key measure of internal stress.
When your posture collapses, your nervous system behaves as if you’re under pressure. This can happen even when no real external stress is present.
How This Connects to ABC™ (Advanced Biostructural Correction™)
One of the core principles of ABC™ is that certain postural distortions, the forward-stuck and twisted positions many people live in, are not caused by weak muscles. Instead, they are caused by bones shifting forward in ways your body cannot pull back by itself.
When a bone gets stuck forward, the body does its best to stabilise the area by creating meningeal adhesions. These are tight, protective sticking points in the connective tissue around your spine and nervous system. As a result, the body becomes more rigid in an attempt to prevent further collapse.
These adhesions help you stay upright, but they also lock the body into a distorted shape. Over time, the body builds additional compensations to keep functioning.
Why “Standing Up Straight” Doesn’t Last
This is why simply “standing up straight” only works for a few seconds.
Your structure won’t hold it.
ABC™ works by locating those forward-stuck bones, releasing the meningeal tension and correcting the structural patterns your body couldn’t fix on its own. Once those distortions begin to unwind, many people notice changes almost immediately.
These changes often include:
- Deeper, easier breathing
- A calmer nervous system without trying
- Reduced physical tension and effort
- A surprising sense of lightness or freedom in movement
These responses reflect what posture research suggests. Open, aligned posture supports better breathing and a more regulated nervous system.
Is Posture the Cause of All Stress?
Is posture the cause of all stress? Of course not.
But can poor posture amplify stress and make it harder to feel calm?
Absolutely.
Think of posture as the environment your nervous system lives in. If that environment is collapsed, compressed or twisted, the body works harder just to exist.
That extra effort drains energy and keeps stress levels elevated. By contrast, an open and aligned environment allows the body to regulate itself more smoothly.
It’s like trying to relax in a messy room versus a peaceful one. One makes it harder for the brain to settle.
So if you’ve been feeling “stuck in stress mode”, it might not be mental.
It might be structural.
In other words, the way your body holds itself can influence how easily you return to calm.
And the cool thing about ABC™ is that it doesn’t just teach you better posture. It actually changes the shape your body falls into when you’re not thinking about it.
So even if the research is still growing, it’s already pointing to a clear idea:
A more aligned body makes for a calmer nervous system.
And a calmer nervous system makes for a calmer you.
References:
- Goto, T., et al., 2020. Effect of posture on autonomic nervous system activity and stress markers. Scientific Reports. Available at: https://www.scirp.org/html/5-8204807_98200.htm [Accessed 20 November 2025].
- Kuo, Y.-L., et al., 2022. Trunk posture influences heart rate variability in seated adults. PubMed. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36330208/ [Accessed 20 November 2025].
- Bridgeman, L., et al., 2021. Sitting posture and autonomic nervous system activity: a systematic review. Applied Sciences, 14(16), p.6985. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/16/6985 [Accessed 20 November 2025].