TITLE:
The Influence of a Posture on the Autonomic Nervous System and Stress Hormones in Saliva
AUTHORS:
Yusuke Goto, Ailing Hu, Takuji Yamaguchi, Nobuhiro Suetake, Hiroyuki Kobayashi
KEYWORDS:
Stress, Posture, Autonomic Nervous System, Saliva, Cortisol, Chromogranin A
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.12 No.2,
February
11,
2020
ABSTRACT: Humans and animals give several impressions to their recipients with their postures. In this study, the influence of postures on a body was examined through the perspective of the endocrine system and the autonomic nervous system. The subjects were 18 healthy adults (7 males and 11 females). A slouching posture like arching back was defined as a low power pose (LP), and a posture straightening back and throwing out chest is defined as a high power pose (HP). Starting at rest, the subjects took LP posture and changed to HP posture, and their autonomic nervous functions were measured and their saliva was collected before and after taking each posture. In taking LP posture, the decrease of the parasympathetic nervous activity, the increase of the pathetic nervous activity and the increase of chromogranin A in saliva were observed. The increase of the autonomic nervous activity, and the decrease of chromogranin A which had been increased by taking LP posture were observed by taking HP posture. There was no influence on cortisol by taking either of the postures. This study suggested that bad postures such as curving back affected stress reactions through the perspective of the endocrine system and the automatic nervous system.