The Unseen Challenges Of Overcoming Dis-Stress: Insight From Posture, HRV, Psychology and Physiology

I'm always playing with different variables in improving my Health.

In my work on understanding the Psychophysiological Aspects of Successful Leadership, I have had to connect many dots on my own.

At times, this means looking at Research from different fields of Study, finding how and if they are interrelated, and testing to see what happens.

One of the things that I regularly track is Heart Rate Variability (HRV).

I was having a conversation with my HRV Coach, and we were discussing an Insight I had discovered in my testing.

I found that when I used a device that pushed me to Improve my Posture, my HRV also increased.

The device I would recommend for accomplishing this is a Buteyko Belt (Yes, this is an affiliate link, but I only recommend products I use and believe in).

Over 2 weeks of utilizing this type of device, I noticed a fairly consistent ≈30-40% Improvement in HRV.

THINGS TO NOTE!

1 - The device was used to PUSH me to Improve my Posture, I did not use it to "hold" my Posture for me. Think of it like a Resistance Device (aka Workout) rather than a Brace (No work required).

2 - Sample Size is 1, Myself. Improvements "could" work for others, and Research indicates it is likely, but small Sample Sizes do not "necessarily" reflect overall trends, so more Research would need to be done.

3 - When I stopped using the device, increases were not maintained, BUT I did not use the device long enough to create a "Habit" either, which means much of my Posture likely returned to a "baseline" afterward. For better Results, I plan to test for longer periods of time to develop a "Posture Habit".

4 - Different devices measure HRV slightly differently, so increases on one device may not "appear" the same on other devices. I was using a Lief Device (another Affiliate Link, 15% Off Order) for measurement as it is the most accurate device I have found.

5- HRV is dependent on the Individual, and Gains are going to be in relation to your overall Health. At certain points, you will have diminishing Returns on Improvements, ie, if you are already EXCEPTIONALLY Healthy, your Gains in HRV will likely be less than if you are not as Healthy.

My Coach then asked me a great question.

They wondered if there would be an initial decrease in HRV as some people might find the process of "Fixing Posture" to be Uncomfortable and thereby increase Dis-Stress, leading to lower HRV.

They also wondered if as Improved Posture became more habitual, the HRV would Increase from there.

It was a great question that got me thinking about the dots between different Research.

I have not been able to find any direct research around Improved Posture and HRV, only differences between sitting, laying, and standing.

(PS If you HAVE seen Research directly looking at this, please send it my way!)

Since I only have the pieces from different Research, and my personal experience, I came to these points.

• In terms of feelings of Comfort, I found for myself that I felt "more" comfortable with better Posture... to a point. Purposefully maintaining Posture over a long period is like a long-term workout, so it was easy at the beginning of the day, but by the end of the day my body would begin to become more uncomfortable. Continuing the practice over time would likely lead to more comfort and less effort to maintain.
• There are 2 types of "Stressors" we are looking at. There is the Physiological Stressor of Improper/Proper Posture. There is also the Psychological Stressor of Feeling Comfortable/Uncomfortable.
• All Stress Adds
• Humans don't always "Notice" different Stressors, ie, Poor Posture does not usually "feel" Stressful, but Physiologically it creates a LOT of Stresses on the Body. Consciously or Psychologically you may not recognize that Stressor, but it Impacts us regardless.
• In my Results, I found that even though I "felt" more Uncomfortable at the end of the day, my HRV did not Decrease in Response.

Those dots led me to this Insight:

It is likely that Focusing on Improved Posture could have a "negative" Impact Psychologically (at least at the beginning due to feelings of "comfort"), but I suspect that the decreases in Stress from having Proper Posture are Significantly Higher.

This then would lead to a "Net Positive" in HRV, or a "Net Decrease" in Dis-Stress.

Overall, even in the "Short Term" I suspect that Improving Posture is better for HRV and worth the Short-Term Psychological Dis-Stress.

This brings us to something Important to understand about Dis-Stress.

We don't always "Consciously" recognize our Worst Stressors.

The Human Body is INCREDIBLE at times.

Our Bodies can actually block our Recognition of certain Stressors in favor of Focusing on other Aspects of Life that we believe are Important.

This is Great in many Respects, as it can allow us to drive all of our Attention towards certain Goals, instead of dividing our Energy (Mg-ATP) across LOTS of Stressors in Life.

However, the dark side of this is that we may not always Consciously recognize "where" all of our Dis-Stress is coming from.

When these Stressors are not fixed (such as Posture or our Diet), they can simply continue to "Add" to our overall Dis-Stress.

This means that even though we may be better served fixing something like Posture, we are far more likely to become "Hyper-Focused" on whatever we Consciously "Recognize" as Dis-Stress.

This is part of the reason "why" so many Leaders Struggle to find Success.

Leaders are usually Focused on "Business Problems" when the vast majority of their Dis-Stress comes from other Psychophysiological Problems that exist.

If Leaders instead Focused on their overall Dis-Stress and Improved or Fixed other aspects of their Psychophysiology (ESPECIALLY Burnout!), they would find Life to be better and Success would be within reach.