Feeling down? Feeling elated? What are you wearing? Depending on your answer, you may find that your emotional state changes based on these very choices.

We’re all born naked, but that doesn’t dismiss the powerful effect clothing has on how we perceive ourselves, others, and the world around us. In fact, what we wear has become almost like a set of armour that sends messages to our subconscious, and to the individuals we interact with (or avoid) everyday. Not only do outfits seem to correlate with a current emotional state, but they can alter it, as well. 

How Clothing Affects Moods

1. Lifts Your Mood

Dressing up may take extra effort, but the impact it can have on elevating your emotional state is arguably worth the process. A small study conducted on 100 women demonstrated the positive impact wearing a favorite dress, jewelry, and jeans had on participants versus those who put little to no effort into their morning routines. Because we often dress like how we are feeling, as opposed to dressing to change our mood, the first thing we reach for could signal one’s true emotional state. Next time you’re feeling down, need a boost of confidence, or or want to reinforce your positive vibes, choose something from your closet that will lift your mood.

2. May Indicate Depression

Conversely, they way we dress may also indicate depression. The same small study of 100 women also indicated that those who chose baggy tops and jeans may be in a depressed or sad state of mind. Jeans were a big factor in both happy and depressed moods, but how the wearer styled them seemed to say more overall. “In the study, 51 percent of women would wear jeans when they felt sad or depressed, and only 33 percent of women would wear jeans when they felt happy or positive,” though these findings did not take into account the typical dressing styles and habits of more than just the participants. What this indicates is that a woman who normally reaches for figure flattering garments who slowly or abruptly switches over to baggy items may be suffering from an altered emotional state.

3. Improves Deal Making

Although this study used men as participants, we think the same principles would apply to women in negotiations, and could improve the outcome of such. For this particular experiment, some guys were asked to wear suits, which they deemed “upper-class,” while other guys were asked to wear sweatpants, deemed “lower-class,” before negotiating with a subject who was not told anything about the clothing. The upper-class clothing induced dominance in the wearer, garnering a more favorable outcome, and elicited an acquiescent response from the other unknowing subject participating in the negotiations. Bottom line: it may pay to dress a little sharper before asking for a raise, buying a car, or doing anything else that involves making a deal.

4. Boosts Physical Performance

Choosing the color red before working out could potentially boost your performance during your sweat session. The participants who exercised in red were shown to have higher heart rates and lift heavier weights than those wearing blue, although they reported similar rates of exertion. Athletes wearing red in the 2004 Olympics won more games, though this study did not support those results. Participants in red did not win more often than those wearing blue. Ultimately, it’s up to you to determine how well this color improves your physical performance. Need some motivation to actually workout? Researchers believe that wearing your workout gear first thing in the morning could motivate you to hit the gym.

5. Help You Trim Down

Fitness expert Valerie Orsoni told Reader’s Digest that French women are rumored to wear a ribbon around their waist before going out to dinner. This keeps them conscious of the midsection, and less likely to overeat. Although we’re not necessarily condoning this, and you should always consult a professional before adopting extreme weight loss measures, the theory is that the act of binding your body (wearing tight pants, tightening your belt, or tying a ribbon around your waist) will help you eat less and lose more.

6. Increase Deception

Thinking about buying those knock-off sunglasses or fake designer handbag? Beyond the obvious reasons, one study would urge you to rethink those choices based on the emotional state it may elicit. According to researchers, people who buy counterfeit designer duds are more likely to behave dishonestly and believe that others are being deceptive. Some participants wore fake sunglasses, while others wore authentic sunglasses. The individuals wearing fakes cheated across multiple tasks, and were more suspicious of others.

7. Heighten Brain Function

According to one study, participants wearing a white lab coat designed for a doctor, versus a white smock designed for a painter, had significantly improved cognitive function and selective attention when asked to perform on tests. This further emphasizes the notion that one should dress for the part (or for the job they want). When you have your exterior persona in check, it can significantly improve your emotional state. In other words, bust out that pantsuit, girl, and go make some waves!

Do any of these theories hold true for you? Share your thoughts on clothing and emotional state with us on the EcoSalon Facebook page!

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Learning to chill out and deal with painful emotions is a huge step toward peace and balance. More importantly, realizing that your emotions are a part of you, but they aren’t all of you.

Our emotions are closely tied to our feelings and when they come on strong they can be overwhelming. We can begin to think in extremes without repercussions, hurting ourselves through impulsive behavior like overindulging on vino, slamming a bag of Reese’s pieces, maxing out our credit cards, or worse.

Learn to Deal with Emotional Pain

1. Don’t forget the basics.

If you’re uncomfortable, you’re more likely to fly off the handle, so make sure you get enough sleep, nourishment, and leisure time. It’s easier to take what’s thrown at you when you start on balanced ground.

2. Breathe before responding.

Don’t let your emotions hijack your relationships. When you get into a heated spat, take a few breaths before responding with bitter anger or tear-filled rants. Gain your composure and go from there.

When emotions get heated that’s when you say things that you don’t mean and it just makes the problem worse. In these situations, consider keeping quiet. That way you don’t have to take something back later.

3. Consider the Eight Worldly Dharmas.

Much of our emotional instability in life is based on the classic Buddhist teaching about the Eight Worldly Dharmas. These are four pairs of opposites: four pairs of things that we like and become attached to and four pairs of things that we don’t like and try to avoid. We like pleasure and are attached to it while we don’t like pain and try to avoid it. Second, we like praise and are attached to it while we don’t like criticism. Third, we like fame and dislike disgrace. And finally, we like to gain and we don’t like to lose. Basically, when we’re feeling good our thoughts are pleasure, praise, fame, or gain and when we’re feeling bad our thoughts are pain, criticism, disgrace, or loss.

While at first you might see eradicating these emotions as the only way to alleviate the roller coaster that they cause, but that’s impossible. According to Pema Chödrön, it’s best to see how they hook us, how they color our reality, and then realize that they are not real. In meditation, you can start to see how closely these emotions are tied to thoughts and begin not reacting to them quite so much. Start to label the Worldly Dharmas for what they are.

4. Cut the judgement.

Don’t judge your emotions. By judging them you begin to get caught up in the drama. Instead, just notice how they come in and go out. Feel the emotions as you sit with them without reaction or judgement. After a time, you’ll begin to notice now quickly they change. In the end, emotions are constantly changing like clouds in the sky. The more you practice detaching from these emotions, the more you can find freedom from emotional pain.

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There are a lot of people my age who yammer on endlessly about the demise of snail mail. These people love to wax nostalgic about the superiority of old-timey letters written on paper –  as if the simple act of using a Bic ballpoint automatically imbues writers with the eloquence of Charlotte Bronte. I could not disagree more, but I happen to love email – it’s fast and practical and also paper-free, which is good news for the rain forests.

And email is better than ever now, thanks to a new program that lets you know if your email message is projecting a negative tone. This program will alert users if their emails sound angry, insulting or unfriendly. There are those who will object to this software, and rail against it as censorship or corporate control, or some such nonsense. But I think it’s a great idea. Writing is hard and people need all the help they can get – if using this software means you’ll antagonize fewer friends and colleagues, then what’s the harm?  Similar software has been developed to detect sarcasm in outgoing emails; again, this is terrific, but why stop there? I think technology should help us all it can – the following are other ways computers should be rigged to save us from ourselves:

• If you are over the age of twelve and you attempt to make a smiley-face emoticon out of punctuation marks, your computer should seize up and turn itself off in protest. The same holds true if you try to forward a video of cats playing the piano.
• If you are bragging endlessly about your kids, your job, or your beachfront property, a scolding message should appear on the screen, warning you that no one wants to hear it.
• If you are breaking up with someone via email, your computer should sadly inform you that you are simply not fit to live.
• When you’ve wasted an entire day playing Solitaire or Googling people from high school, a pop-up image should appear on your screen, sternly advising you to get a life.
• Computers should come equipped with some sort of virtual sodium pentothal that prevents people from blatantly misrepresenting themselves on eharmony, Match.com and other dating websites.
• If you are married and you try to contact an old boyfriend on Facebook, an ominous stick-figure of someone playing with fire should appear and warn you that you’re about to ruin your life.
• If you attempt to forward an email chain letter, a hand should reach out from your keyboard and bitch-slap you till you come to your senses. If the letter warns that breaking the chain will result in bad luck, illness or monetary loss, the computer should deliver a quick but intensely painful electric shock.
• On the other hand, I think all email providers should embed in every single email message this video by comedian Merril Markoe. It is a two minute clip (which is entirely in French for no good reason) and shows Markoe faking a heart attack while her dogs look on, sweetly and stupidly oblivious, happily depositing chew toys on her limp and lifeless body. The video is goofy and subversively warmhearted, and if everyone watched it several times every day, the world would be a happier place. Now that computers rule the world, they should be obligated to spread cheer wherever they can. Really, it’s the least they can do.

Editor’s Note: Susan Goldberg is a slightly lapsed treehugger. Although known to overuse paper products, she has the best of intentions – and a really small SUV. Catch her column, The Goldberg Variations, each week here at EcoSalon.

Image: Ed Yourdon

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I’ve just discovered this satellite radio channel called 1st Wave. It plays alternative ’80s rock that’s mined right out of my undergrad years. The Cure, REM, The Smiths, Pretenders, The Clash. I guess it’s kind of like my oldies station. (I can’t believe I even have an oldies station.) I drive around listening to this stuff and the memories pour in. Not just where or when I heard a song (read: what party, with whom and how wasted), but deeply visceral sensations, echoes of entire swaths of time and their accompanying gestalts – i.e., that summer of love or that winter of discontent. It’s about memories, yes, but it’s more than that. These songs actually reproduce a mood. It’s an odd sensation that I’ve chalked up to some kind of clinical nostalgia.

But maybe not. My editor just sent me this story from the BBC: “Study to develop ‘musical prescriptions’ for patients.”

Turns out these scientists at Glasgow Caledonian University are using a “mixture of psychology and audio engineering” to see how music can elicit specific responses. The plan is to analyze everything from tone, to pitch, to lyrics and even “associated thoughts” to accurately chart listeners responses and perhaps one day create music regimens that can take care of emotional needs. The potential here is to write music prescriptions to “help those suffering physical pain or conditions like depression.”

It isn’t any secret that our environment affects our moods. And if you pollute your ears, your mind will surly follow (sorry). So, in some ways there’s a No Sh*t Sherlock factor to this story. The BBC itself reported not too long ago stories such as “Music therapy ‘restores vision‘” and “‘Music helped me recover from stroke.'” Of course, too, there’s the Washington Post reporting  just last month that “single French women were more likely to accept the advances of an average-looking man after listening to a romantic song.” And not to put too fine a point on it, there was another nifty story just the other day called “Five ways to have better sex through music.” Indeed.

The goal of the study is to “develop a mathematical model that explains music’s ability to communicate different emotions.” In the future, computer programs might be able to identify very specific sound packages that will have very specific effects on our states of mind.

“Music expresses emotion as a result of many factors,” says Audio engineer Dr Don Knox, who is leading the study. “These include the tone, structure and other technical characteristics of a piece. Lyrics can have a big impact too.” Indeed, the BBC story points out, some online music stores and services use terms like “happy” and “sad” to describe a piece of music objectively, like musicovery. Of course, memories also play a role, and our subjective perceptions also factor into a response.

What form could an Rx take? Of course, there would be the free prescription that costs a couple hundred an hour. “Listen to this and call me in the morning.” But programming presentation descriptors – think iTunes happy section or Pandora mellow music – could soon have a real scientific basis to them. Mood Music. No, really.

Next time you’re jamming to some tune, your mood swaying to and fro along with the rest of you, know that somebody’s looking into it. And who knows, maybe one day Pfizer will wonder why sales are slumping and there’s dancing in the streets. Maybe The Cure were, in fact “¦

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