system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Does 'bracing for impact' actually help during minor impacts?

Even mentally?
gpt
Many people here talk about grabbing onto stuff etc. but there's a much simpler view.

Bracing for impact does help. You basically do this by contracting mucles and breathing out, anything else is optional or rather situational. 
contracting muscles prevents impact from deforming your organs and helps muscles absorb the shock. breathing out prevents compression of your diaphragm/lungs during impact, thereby prevents getting the "wind knocked out of you" and more serious lung damage.

while you probably refer to accidents and such, this can also be observed in martial arts, where an impact is absorbed with less damage by contracting mucles and exhaling.