Benefits of floor sitting
Why the practice of floor-sitting is linked to health, mobility and longevity
As the days start to shorten and we begin to spend more time indoors curled up on the sofa with family, friends, or with a book, phone or TV to entertain us, it is still possible to strengthen and mobilise our bodies.
Swapping the sofa or chair for the floor is a simple solution for adding more movement to your day.
Okinawa, Japan is one of the 5 ‘blue zones’ where people live exceptionally long and healthy lives and is home to the world’s longest-lived women. In Okinawa, people traditionally sit on the floor to read, eat, talk, and relax instead of sitting in chairs. They sit and get up from the floor hundreds of times per day. This exercises their legs, back, and core in a natural way as they get up and down all day long. Sitting on the floor also improves posture and increases overall strength, flexibility, and mobility.
Studies correlate the ability to ‘sit and rise from the floor without support’ with a longer life expectancy. Sitting on the floor also develops musculoskeletal fitness.
People that live in the ‘blue zones’ of the world move every 20 minutes because their environments are set up that way. Their environments literally move them.
In our chair-dwelling culture, most of our bodies no longer move enough at the ankles, knees, hips, and spine to accommodate a variety of floor-sitting positions. Good news, though! We can restore these motions with a gradual, supportive practice.
Adjust your environment for more dynamic sitting
I am gradually reducing the number of chairs in my home. I made these changes for the same kind of reasons people get rid of the junk food in their house when they want to eat better. I move more and in different ways when the standard chair isn’t available, and in this way, my environment moves me.
I have mats and cushions readily available and in eye-sight to both remind me and to use. And the beauty of floor sitting is that every 15-20 minutes or so, your body tells you to change position and move.
There is a Danish twin study that concluded that the average person’s lifespan is 20% determined by genetics and 80% determined by environment and lifestyle. This is great news for us as it puts us very much in the driving seat of our future. We are not at the mercy of our genes as we may have originally thought, and by making small changes to our environment we can make positive changes to our health.
Watch the free instructional 5 minute video I have put together for you with lots of ideas and modifications for floor sitting.
If you are intrigued by the concept of ‘Blue Zones’ and want to know more about how to improve your health and longevity, visit Dan Buettner’s website