“Sitting on the floor corrects some of the pain-inducing compensatory positions our bodies adopt after prolonged sitting on a chair, couch, or in your car,” Kelly adds. “Our bodies are designed to sit in ground-based positions, so when you spend some time on the floor each day, you help ‘rewire’ your hip joints. Simply put, sitting on the floor in a variety of positions helps restore your hip range of motion and keeps your bones, joints, and tissues in top working order. Sitting on the floor will not only make it easier to get up and off the floor (because you’re practicing it), but it will also potentially address the musculoskeletal problems associated with so much time in a chair.”
Longevity indicator
The sit-to-stand test is one you may have heard of—and even tried. If not, here’s a summary: In a well-known 2014 study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, researchers asked men and women between the ages of 51 and 80 to do the sit-stand test to see if they could sit on the floor and stand up again without any support – in other words, without using their hands or holding on to a chair.
This simple exercise, the researchers concluded, could measure people’s flexibility and strength and indicate how long they will live.
To try the test yourself, Juliet and Kelly advise taking off your shoes, standing cross-legged in front of each other and without holding on to anything (unless you’re feeling unstable), bend your knees and lower yourself to the floor while re-sitting with legs crossed. Now, from the same position, bend forward with your arms extended in front of you and lift yourself off the floor without using your hands for support.
If you can’t do it, don’t worry, they say, but keep practicing. “Being able to do this is a sign that you’re less likely to have a debilitating fall in the years to come, and you’ll stay in better overall health,” Kelly says.
Healthy habits
Standing on the floor is also healthy, according to the authors, who point out that many young children do it often anyway: “Kids have no problem sitting on the floor, in different positions, for hours on end,” says Juliet. “And it’s no accident that they’re equally adept at getting back on their feet.” It’s so basic to the nature of childhood that we don’t even notice kids do it all the time.
And it’s not just kids: “Sitting in chairs all the time is also only embraced by one-third to one-half of the world,” Kelly says. “People in non-Western countries do things like squat while waiting for the bus or sit cross-legged while eating. This may explain why people in China, for example, have 80 to 90 percent fewer cases of arthritic hip pain than Westerners.
The bottom line, it seems, is this: sit in your chair less, practice the sit-stand test, and spend more time sitting on the floor. “We’re trying to change the narrative that sitting is bad or standing is good,” Kelly says. “Instead, just move, walk and change positions more throughout the day. We’re fans of standing desks, but if they’re not an option, avoid what we call “marathon sitting sessions” where you don’t get up or change your position for long periods.
“Your ultimate goal should be to sit on the floor for 30 minutes a day; but it is good to work gradually. Spend 10 minutes reading the newspaper or drinking tea,” he adds.
Finally, don’t limit yourself to a cross-legged position and sit in a different way, such as with your legs out in front of you or out to the side, to increase mobility.
“It will prepare your body for whatever comes its way, be it aging, injury, or just the physical aches and pains that can come from living in this chair-bound, tech-loving, caffeinated world of ours.”
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