Is Sitting on the Floor a Secret to Longevity?
I consider myself a ground person—I’ll take sitting and lying on the floor and the freedom to sprawl out over the couch or a bench. After watching the Netflix docuseries Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, I found out that being one with the ground has a potential connection with longevity and overall health. The Blue Zones, or areas in the world with the highest concentrations of centenarians (people over 100 years old), have recently gained more attention.
While you may have heard about certain Blue Zone characteristics like plant-based diets, a glass of red wine a day, or eating dinner with friends, the habit of sitting on the floor has largely flown under the radar, but it was a huge factor for a particular Blue Zone. In Okinawa, Japan, its inhabitants regularly sit on the floor. In the docuseries, longevity expert Dan Buettner (who is credited for the popularization of the Blue Zones) explained how the homes of 90 and 100-year-old Okinawans contained little furniture—just a table that was low to the ground and a tatami mat or Japanese floor mat. In Okinawa, it’s traditional to sit on the floor to eat, read, relax, or connect with others. Even the 103-year-olds he met would get up and down from the floor 30 times a day. Experts attribute this lifestyle factor to their unique longevity (along with other factors such as high-antioxidant foods and close communities). This practice seems so simple it’s almost too good to be true… We investigated.
Excerpted from The Everygirl
