“Thoughts Under Pressure—Literally” delves into the cognitive dynamics experienced when faced with challenging situations requiring swift decision-making and adaptability. The mind-body connection is continuing to take us by surprise. Recent research has found that being under stress immediately impacts the body and its’ performance, even down to the spine.
A team of researchers from Ohio State University tested what happens to the body during lifting when working through information that is contrary to what the participants believed. This type of mental stress is related to the effects of working through cognitive dissonance, which is the phenomenon that occurs when people have to think about things which don’t match what they believe or is in conflict with behaviors they exhibit.
This sounds like a large concept, but cognitive dissonance can be easily understood with one of the examples the researchers put the test. They had participants perform lifting and lowering a box in the lab while measuring effects on their necks and lower backs. At first, they told the participants they were doing a great job—then they told the participants that they were doing much more poorly. After being told information contrary to what they believed by the previous statements of the research team, this created conflict and mental stress. The participants were encountering cognitive dissonance.
Neck and Back Strain
Neck and lower back workload surged immediately with cognitive dissonance, increasing in proportion to the intensity of dissonance felt. This research expands on previous findings showing that mental stress affects spinal movement, with arguments increasing spinal load up to 35%.
This time, researchers employed sensors and motion-capture technology to track spine compression, shear movement, and front-to-back motions. After negative feedback was given to participants, the neck load increased up to 19.3% in side-to-side shear. The lower back compression increased by 1.7% in vertebral compression and 2.2% in side-to-side shear.
The experiment underscores the significant impact of thoughts and how quickly negative ones affect the body. Physical fitness didn’t shield participants, aged 19-44, from negative thinking’s impact, despite their good health. It’s a great reason to make sure that when you’re weightlifting you’re thinking positively. But an even greater reminder to make sure you think positively even when not exercising. Even if the face of information that goes against what you’ve been told or understand as true.
Further Reading
Eric B. Weston, Afton L. Hassett, Safdar N. Khan, Tristan E. Weaver, William S. Marras. Cognitive dissonance increases spine loading in the neck and low back. Ergonomics, 2023; 1 DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2023.2186323
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