The Effects of a Postural Intervention Using the Lumo Lift on Mood

Abstract

Embodiment theories propose a bi-directional relationship between posture and mood as well as cognition. It has been shown that an upright posture is associated with positive mood whereas slumped posture is associated with negative mood. Studies have shown that application of physiotherapy tape can improve both posture and mood, but this is an impractical method of doing so. The Lumo Lift is a new practical and comfortable wearable electronic device for posture. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether a postural intervention using the Lumo Lift could improve mood. Eighty-two healthy individuals completed baseline measures of demographics, depression, mood, self-esteem, power, and relaxation. Participants were randomly assigned to either an upright or slumped condition using the Lumo Lift to maintain their posture. They completed a storytelling task and underwent an interview followed by another measure of relaxation. Participants then completed an explicit memory task to assess memory bias. Thereafter, they were given measures of mood, self-esteem, power, and relaxation to complete as well as questions on their thoughts about the Lumo Lift. The Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program was used to analyse language use during the storytelling task and interview. Results found a significant difference of neck and shoulder angle between groups, indicating that the Lumo Lift successfully maintained participants’ assigned posture. Participants in the upright condition recalled a significantly greater number of positive words than the slumped group in a memory task. Participants in the slumped condition reported significantly lower arousal compared to the upright group. Exploratory analyses found that the upright group utilized significantly more function and exclusion words in the interview. Most participants reported the device was acceptable and unobtrusive. The Lumo Lift appears to be a practical and acceptable device to help improve posture, mood, and cognition in the short term. The findings of this study largely support the theory of embodied cognition. However, future studies need to replicate these findings in a larger sample size and over a longer time period.