Change The Way You Walk And Change The Way You Feel

Exercise can alter our physical and even mental health. But did you know that the way in which we walk could actually alter our mood as well?

Recent findings published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry reveal that walking tall and with shoulders back can help to put some in a happier mood than the slump-shouldered sad state.

"It is not surprising that our mood, the way we feel, affects how we walk, but we want to see whether the way we move also affects how we feel," says co-study author CIFAR Senior Fellow Nikolaus Troje (Queen's University), in a news release.

He and colleagues showed subjects a list of positive and negative words, including "pretty," "afraid," and "anxious" and then asked them to walk on a treadmill while they measured their gait and posture. A screen revealed how the subjects gauged their movement from left or right depending on whether their walking style was more depressed or happier. However, the subjects didn't know what the gauge was measuring yet they tried to move to the left while others were told to move to the right.

"They would learn very quickly to walk the way we wanted them to walk," Troje added.

Next they were asked to write down as many words as they could from earlier about positive and negative words. Those who had been walking in a depressed style remembered more negative words and were asked to recall suggestions about depressed walking styles that could actually depress mood.

The study builds on the idea that understanding mood can affect memory. Clinically depressed patients are known to remember negative events, particularly those about themselves, much more than positive life events, Troje says. And remembering the bad makes them feel even worse.

"If you can break that self-perpetuating cycle, you might have a strong therapeutic tool to work with depressive patients."