Member-only story
12 Reasons Why Sitting (in a Chair) is Bad for You
And what to do about it
There are three things I’ve hardly seen in my travels to Japan: Chairs, walking sticks, and wheelchairs.
There is a reason why.
Japan has the oldest population in the world, life expectancy is 84. Not only they live longer, they live better.
They keep physically and mentally active until the end and they engage in all sorts of voluntary activities and that requires fitness.
On my first visit to this amazing country I noticed many peculiarities about their culture. Most restaurants, hotels, or homes can do without one the most common pieces of furniture: the chair.
Park benches are also rarely seen, people prefer to do the Asian squat when they have a break, even the very elderly.
First I went there, I was in my late 20’s and quite fit, however, I could not keep up with the constant sitting on the floor, squatting and trying to maintain a good posture throughout. Some elderly gentlemen even make fun of me for my stiffness (I’ve never been very flexible)
All that made me wonder: Is there something we are not doing right in the west?
The way we sit down
The chair is a western thing, it was invented by the Egyptians 3000 years ago and soon became very popular in Europe. Sit down is synonymous with a chair. No one sits down on the floor in the west.
At first, the chair seems like the perfect solution: Simple, easy to make, removes you from the floor, makes sitting, and getting up easier, but it comes with its own problems.
Like anything in life it brings second-order effects:
Consequences of our love affair with the chair
1. Bad posture
The human body is not designed to sit in a chair, not for long anyway. After a short while sitting you become restless, you slouch, you keep changing your posture and crossing your legs. It’s like your body is…
