When you stress your body is in HYPER ALERT MODE. Your nervous system releases a flood of adrenaline and cortisol, which prepares the body for EMERGENCY ACTION.

Your heart pounds faster, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, breath quickens, and your senses become sharper. These physical changes increase your strength and stamina, speed up your reaction time, and enhance your focus—preparing you to either fight or flee from the danger at hand.

And just like any other emotion, stress changes your physiology even the way your voice sounds – if someone is happy, sad, or tired, you will hear it in their voice and you will most certainly see it in their body too.

Stress increases overall muscle tension and triggers defensive muscular patterns to protect yourself from harm. This can result in what’s known as Hyperkyphotic Posture. Kyphotic Posture is often caused by the distress response where the abdominals are hyper contracted and they pull your chest, rib cage, and shoulders down into a rounded posture (think of the fetal position).

It works very simply, you see, the brain only sends your muscles signals to contract; it does not signal muscles to relax. Therefore, the ability for muscles to relax is dependent on both the frequency with which the brain sends the contract signal and also your own ability to relax. 

If the contract signal is sent too frequently then relaxation won’t happen fully and muscle tension builds up. If this occurs you won’t even be able to maintain “proper posture”

If this continues, you’ll develop problems and chronic pain if the WRONG movements become patterns and the WRONG postures become the norm.

This happens because your body likes to be as efficient as possible, and adapts to stress that is continuously placed upon it. Or in certain cases, stress that is no longer placed upon it.