ACE Health Coach Certification Practice Test

Which body language indicator may suggest a client is experiencing high tension?

1. Crossed arms

2. Biting the lip

3. Cracking knuckles

4. Rubbing the nose

The correct answer is: Biting the lip

Biting the lip can indicate that a client is experiencing high tension or anxiety. This behavior often occurs as a physiological response to stress, signaling that an individual is feeling nervous or uncertain. Biting the lip can be an unconscious way of coping with emotional discomfort, acting as a self-soothing mechanism when a person is under pressure or feels overwhelmed. In contrast, while crossed arms, cracking knuckles, and rubbing the nose may also be related to tension or discomfort, they can have more varied interpretations. Crossed arms might suggest defensiveness or a closed-off body posture rather than explicitly indicating high tension. Cracking knuckles is often a habitual action that can occur without any emotional context, and rubbing the nose may be a response related to allergies or other physical irritations, rather than a straightforward indicator of emotional state. Thus, biting the lip specifically illustrates a more direct association with high tension in emotional contexts.