New research has revealed that good posture not only boosts your physical health, but also your mental wellbeing, reports the Daily Mail.

In an experiment, students working on the research found that sitting up straight reinforced their confidence in their decisions.

Richard Petty, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at Ohio State University, says ‘Most of us were taught that sitting up straight gives a good impression to other people. But it turns out that our posture can also affect how we think about ourselves.’

Heather Mason, a yoga instructor who teaches that good posture has a healing effect on the ind, cited ”The positioning of the body is a message to the brain. We perceive the brain as sending signals to the body, but it’s not just one-way traffic’.

‘Slouching tells the brain that we are unhappy and stressed – we’re rolling our shoulders forward in a defensive position which, from an evolutionary perspective, protects our organs and our torso. So if you’re slouching, your brain thinks you’re under attack.’

Heather believes that the spine needs to be elongated for blood, endorphins and serotonin to flow freely. Slouching hampers this flow.

She also says that poor posture that squashes your abdomen forces you to breathe from your chest.

‘Shallow chest breathing sends a message to the brain that we are in danger and kicks off all sorts of stress responses,’ says Heather. ‘Conversely, when you breathe from the abdomen you’re sending a message to the brain that everything’s OK.’

So next time you’re not feeling too assertive and need a boost, just sit up straight!