Tips

Improve Work Efficiency in Just a Few Seconds

Posture is more crucial than many people realize. Numerous studies and evidence have shown that how you walk or sit impacts the quality of your work.

Administrator

14 January, 2024

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The Importance of Posture

The posture you take while sitting or walking can significantly affect your work productivity, according to numerous studies and evidence.

To understand this better, let’s look back at the evolution of our human ancestors. Millions of years ago, if a person was sitting or lying down, chances are they were in a relatively safe position and could lower their guard. On the other hand, standing or moving around would increase their chances of finding food and becoming prey.

Today, our bodies still retain some of these factors, says workforce performance expert Max Vercruyssen, who conducts studies on human posture. This means that how you operate will depend on the posture you adopt. Based on this, office workers have additional suggestions to improve their productivity.

Here are three scientifically-backed suggestions to enhance your work performance, according to Bloomberg.

Sit up straight after lunch

Your heart rate increases by about 10 beats per minute when you change your posture from sitting to standing, significantly boosting reaction time and improving focus, says Vercruyssen. He suggests that individuals adjust their posture, or stand up when they have a task that requires more attention and concentration.

Strive for comfort

According to Vercruyssen, the more comfortable a person feels, the easier they lose focus, become tired, and may fall asleep. “Sitting on a hard chair can help you be more active than sitting on a comfortable chair,” Vercruyssen says.

This expert recommends that individuals categorize and schedule their work based on difficulty level. If you feel uncomfortable with a standing or sitting straight posture, use this time to perform tasks that require the most thinking.

If you still can’t leave your comfortable sitting position, take a few minutes to go to the bathroom or get a glass of water. This helps stimulate your brain and prevent it from feeling sluggish during the afternoon work hours.

Avoid a slouching posture

It’s no surprise that when we’re feeling down or unsuccessful, our bodies tend to slump and feel sluggish. A slouching posture also triggers negative thoughts and makes people feel worse.

In a series of studies, health education professor Erik Peper from San Francisco State University asked participants to sit in different postures and then record their negative thoughts, memories, and strong, positive thoughts. People with a slumping appearance struggled to recall positive thoughts.

“If you have a slouching, defeated posture, this actually changes your physiology. Testosterone levels decrease, cortisol increases, and you have more feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Your brain has to work even harder to bring up those positive emotions and thoughts,” Peper says.

Peper categorizes this effect alongside what he calls a “cringe” posture often seen in beaten or fear-expressing animals.

“In the mammal group [including humans], this position is to say ‘Please don’t harm me,’ but many of us have to be in this position due to furniture design. The result is that our bodies evoke the aforementioned thoughts, even if each person is unaware of them. We only feel a loss of energy or initiative when sitting all day,” Professor Peper elaborates. Simply changing posture for 30 seconds also noticeably improves a person’s mood and energy levels.