Posture and Pain Tolerance

I have written previously about interesting links between posture and mood. Several studies show that altering your posture in one way or another can have measurable effects on your hormone levels and behavior. For example, sitting in a relaxed expansive posture can make you more likely to make a risky bet, and sitting in a dominant posture can encourage you to assume a managerial role in a game. A new study shows that altering posture can also have effects on strength and pain tolerance.

In the first experiment, participants who assumed a dominant posture displayed higher pain tolerance than those in submissive postures.

In the second experiment, subjects had differing strength and pain tolerance levels depending on whether they interacted with a partner who used either dominant or submissive posturing.

For example, if a subject was paired with a partner with dominant body language, this encouraged the subject to adopt a submissive posture in response, which made him weaker and less pain tolerant.

Remember this next time you hire a buff alpha male as a personal trainer.

Hat tip to Diane for the study (again.)