Deconstructing Sedentary

How to Outsmart Sitting

As a little boy growing up, in school I fidgeted in my chair, gazing out the window, daydreaming about all the fun things to do outside, running, climbing trees. It didn’t take decades of peer-reviewed research to tell me, sitting all day was killing me. And this was just the beginning–of basically a lifetime of being confined to a chair.

But as probably you and every other child were forced to sit in a chair during the years of compulsory education–while our bodies were learning uninformed and destructive movement patterns that we would carry with us the rest of our lives, we did everything we could to annoy the teachers. If you were allowing your healthy and natural instincts….you fidgeted, wiggled, giggled, and did whatever you could to disrupt the jail sentence.

There is a dominant paradigm orientation in western culture that believes it is better to drive than to walk, and it is better to sit on a couch than on the floor. Americans spend an average of 9.1 hours per day sitting. The fitness industry probably arose as a search for some way to remedy this sedentary lifestyle instigated by the Industrial Revolution that moved people from farming to sitting.  By making life so easy using technology to take physical work (healthy movement) out of the picture…we have destroyed a critical factor in health. 

Recent research from a variety of places has confirmed my own instinctual minimalist orientation. Dr. Verticos, NASA scientist and author of Sitting Kills, says, “Exercise is no remedy for chronic sitting. Our body needs perpetual motion….The key to lifelong health is to rediscover a lifestyle of constant, natural, low intensity, non-exercise movement that uses the gravity vector throughout the day.” 

What she means by the gravity vector is the act of going from the floor to standing, or from a chair to standing and back. This is extremely beneficial. The gravity vector is also used when walking up or down stairs or jumping or anything that is moving from up to down or back down. Her point is that when we sit in a chair for long periods we are in a similar state as astronauts in space who are away from the beneficial effects of gravity. One of the main reasons astronauts age rapidly is due to lack of gravity. Modern conveniences deliver  whatever we need with no work. Furniture which rises off the floor, like beds and chairs, deprives us of the opportunity to bend over or get up off the ground.

Another researcher, Katy Bowman has turned up startling research that further supports the “sitting is bad for you” hypothesis. Her book Move Your DNA, spells out in detail the catastrophe of the modern sit down lifestyle. She says movement is more important than exercise. And exercise is not movement. Exercise, the kind of thing you do once a day because it is good for you, does not replace what is more important, and is missing from our lives–constant movement in a variety of directions all day long. Without it the body breaks down on every level, including the DNA. You can’t get around it…the effects of sitting for hours per day cannot be undone by an exercise session at another time. Katy coined the term “Movement Nutrition” to describe her concept. Exercise is too much or too few movements.

Moving the same way over and over in the same way for too long as in treadmills, bicycles, and other exercise equipment actually causes its own problems. It is better than sitting alone, but it does not lead to optimal health. The solution is to do a variety of movements such as squatting and kneeling on the floor, bending over to pick things up or gather berries, climbing trees, running and jumping on logs and rocks. The body has been shaped by years of using it in a way that leads to a progressive humping of the back and jutting forward of the head. This comes with several names such as “upper-crossed syndrome”, “front loading,” “c-shaped slump”. What starts out as an imperceptible reshaping of the body often leads to:

  • Chronic and debilitating pain  (80% of Americans will experience chair-related back pain in their lifetime.)
  • Herniated and bulging discs in the lower back
  • The muscles needed to do things like bend and sit are atrophied
  • The muscles which hold us in the right angled seated position are tight and locked into place.

An individual often cannot just suddenly make the transition to healthy movement without some guidance. This is why I have created The Footloose Method of Integrated Office Fitness. The Footloose Method offers a number of positions that can gently awaken the innate wisdom of the body. It offers four distinct approaches to customize your own working environment. Just like transitioning from shoes to barefoot is best done with education and guidance–so too–basic movements like getting up and down to the floor and squatting and kneeling would be out of the question for many. 

Standing, or any position that you hold chronically with inactivity is just as bad as sitting.

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What we need is a movement-friendly environment and habits which integrate movement into the actual act of ‘sitting’ and allows each person to tweak their own system to fit their needs and abilities and moods at any particular time. Most recommendations tell us to get up and take a break every so often and set a timer. 

This requires a rethinking of your built environment. Conventional furniture keeps us in limited body use patterns. What we need is an environment that encourages a wide range of movement from up to down. So you look at the day as a kinesthetic adventure in movement. You are going to the office to work, same as before, but the whole office is interactive. It is okay to kneel, squat, bend over, stand, dance, wiggle, fidget, and lounge. You can take what you have already learned in yoga class, pilates, physical therapy, cross-fit training, etc. and start applying this knowledge in places that before were literally unreachable. You can take your yoga practice to work with you–they call it ‘off the mat’.

There are a variety of stand up desks, active sitting chairs, and exercise equipment devices on the market. In an ideal situation, such as an enlightened office or a home office–anything goes. Sometimes the props support your body in a variety of constructive ways. Sometimes they support your laptop and keyboard to fit to where your body needs it for any one of the positions at any given time. 

Show above is the EcoBackrest work station offer. Get it here. https://zafu.net/product/floor-lounge-chair

Principles of the Footloose Method

The Footloose Method works like this: a set of props that act as training wheels for your body to adapt to more natural ancestral ways of moving. You actually interact with these props in creative and healthy ways. These props move easily because they are lightweight and small. So you look at the day as a kinesthetic adventure in movement. You are going to the office to work, same as before, but the whole office is interactive. It is okay to kneel, squat, bend over, stand, dance, wiggle, fidget.

1–Barefoot (or minimalist shoes) There is no other way to start building natural alignment. It starts with the feet! Also, some foot therapy tools and classes would be recommended. Of course most offices are not going to allow barefoot working. So that is where minimalist shoes come in.

2–Four basic positions with infinite variety in-between

a–Standing,

b–Active Sitting at a desk (with a sloped sitting surface)

c–Floor Sitting (perching, squatting, kneeling, cross-legged)

d–Lounging and Laying down.

3–Intermittent movement or load bearing or stretching.

When you stand, you can wiggle, dance or whatever, sometimes even while typing. When you sit on the floor, you can stretch in different ways that the floor allows. I just go by instinct. I may stand 30 minutes, kneel/squat 30 minutes, stand again, or chill out in the EcoBackrestâ„¢. Or I may chill in the Ecobackrestâ„¢ an hour or even two, if I had a big adventure the day before. Or I may stand all day and do floor stretches and lift weights while I’m watching the screen. It depends on how I feel and what I’m doing. Sometimes talking on the phone, listening to a podcast or watching a video, allows for all kinds of movement treats.

4–Constructive Rest

Resting means taking the load (use) off of one part of the body that has become fatigued, while putting the body in an aligned spine neutral position. Some examples are: leaning against something like a wall or prop, laying down flat or against some kind of backrest or lounge chair, or using the wall. This supports the back in a spine neutral position so it can recover from all the new stress and strains–i.e.resistance–you have introduced it to. Resting while you work is new. We usually wait until we get home, and then the resting positions (like a couch) are often keeping us in our slumped posture. But optimally, resting should be incorporated intermitantly any time an individual feels they like it. Even Native people had backrests.

5–Adaptable/evolvable. Your environment is not fixed–it changes as you change. You can constantly shape and reshape your set up. As you increase your flexibility, muscle tone, energy and alignment, you will find yourself using different positions and movements that feel right for where you are at. You will constantly discover new things you can do that feel good and bring out the best in your work.

The Movement Friendly Lifestyle is a complete reboot. This is a step by step process of relearning the natural ways of moving in the world.  You are changing what you are doing, the way you are doing it, and reshaping your body and your environment. You can take it as far as you want, with big changes or small changes. This is a multifaceted approach to optimal health and avoiding the problems with back pain and aging that are the norm in our society. You aren’t going to get there overnight. But the good news is, you can start right away. And the smallest changes make huge improvements.

The Footloose Method offers  a simple jumping off place for your new movement friendly journey. You tweak as you go. The Footloose Method is a platform where you can engage the movement teachings from other places and create an integrated work habitat. You incorporate other movement techniques and fitness modalities with the simple props that provide interactive workstations in a variety of alternating positions.

Our culture ASSUMES we should not do work. We should use a machine to do what our body normally does.

And also, the assumption, we should not bend down to the floor or sit on the floor. Like fish don’t realize they are swimming in water.

Recent research from a variety of places has confirmed, exercise is no remedy for chronic sitting. Dr. Verticos, NASA scientist and author of Sitting Kills, says,

“Our body needs perpetual motion.”

“The key to lifelong health is to rediscover a lifestyle of constant, natural, low intensity, non-exercise movement that uses the gravity vector throughout the day.”

In the other direction–the realm of ancestral health–startling research has been turning up that further supports the new health and fitness revolution.

Katy Bowman’s recent book: Move Your DNA, spells out in detail the catastrophe of the modern sit down lifestyle. Some of her key points are:

Movement is more important than exercise. And exercise is not movement.

Exercise, the kind of thing you do once a day because it is good for you, does not replace what is more important, and is missing from our lives–constant movement in a variety of directions all day long. Without it the body breaks down on every level, including the DNA.

You can’t get around it…the effects of sitting for hours per day cannot be undone by an exercise session at another time.

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There is a worldwide epidemic which can be described as “diseases of captivity”–and sometimes referred to as “sitting disease” and “metabolic syndrome”.

What we are captive to–is the sit down environment.

It is likened to an animal in a cage. We do not move. We sit at work, in the car, at home. We sit on average 9.1 hours per day, which is more than the 7.3 hours we sleep. Animals in captivity are notorious for compromised conditions and shorter lives.

The conveniences of modernity have taken away our need to move to survive. So without the natural impulse to move–we don’t. Walking, jogging, biking, etc. do not replace the same nutrient dense movement nutrition of our ancestors.  They were always on the move, walking miles per day barefoot or clad in moccasins, carrying babies, belongings, fresh game on their backs, bending, squatting, running, and resting a lot too.

Push button everything delivers  whatever we need with no work. And furniture raised off the floor, like beds and chairs, deprive us of the opportunity to bend over or get up off the ground.

We don’t know we are surrounded by a cage.

We have trapped ourselves inside a cage and we do not see the bars of the cage. Our bodies have been shaped in a distorted fashion that we don’t notice, because everyone is that way…except native peoples. We are basically shaped the same as our cage–which is the chair. We have lost the ability to move effectively and so now, the floor is considered unhealthy.

Professional ergonomics researchers try to take away as much movement as possible.  

So even the people we look up to for advice on health are completely lost. This problem has been lurking behind our field of vision for so long, we are now trapped. Our neuro-pathways, our cultural norms, our body’s muscles, joints and ligaments and even cells and DNA are all shaped in a contorted, debilitating pattern.

So how do we get out?  The body has been shaped by years of using it in a way that leads to a progressive humping of the back and jutting forward of the head.

This comes with several names such as “upper-crossed syndrome”, “front loading,” “c-shaped slump”. What starts out as an imperceptible reshaping of the body often leads to:

  • Chronic and debilitating pain  (80% of Americans will experience chair-related back pain in their lifetime.)
  • Herniated and bulging discs in the lower back
  • The muscles needed to do things like bend and sit are atrophied
  • The muscles which hold us in the right angled seated position are tight and locked into place.

An individual often cannot just suddenly make the transition to healthy movement without some guidance.

Just like transitioning from shoes to barefoot is best done with education and guidance–so too–basic movements like getting up and down to the floor and squatting and kneeling would be out of the question for many.

Standing, or any position that you hold chronically with inactivity is just as bad as sitting.

Fortunately there are many resources available that can get you started right away. I have my own take on it as well. Let’s look at the office environment. Whether you are sitting at home, the local hot spot, school or the office, you are pretty much doing the same thing. You are looking at your screen and typing, reading a book, or shuffling papers. Some of these experts teach how to get up  from your chair or stand up desk every so often and do some sort of movement time out break. However, I have a solution that puts movement into the act of actually doing the work.

My idea is to integrate movement into the actual act of ‘sitting’. What we call ‘sitting’ that is. So you actually don’t need to get up and take a break because you are already at once taking a break (that is getting movement) as well as working (reading, computing, texting, etc.). Now when I am saying ‘movement’ I am referring to Katy Bowman’s definition. In this sense, movement is loading the body in a variety of balanced and constructive ways that simulates what our ancestors did. So movement is standing, shifting, fidgeting, wiggling, twisting, stretching, bending, dancing, changing. You can be sitting and there is movement as long as the sitting is Active Sitting and you wiggle or shift or switch positions ever so often.

Constructive Resting is different from chronic inactivity. Resting means taking the load (use) off of one part of the body that has become fatigued, while putting the body in an aligned spine neutral position. While chronic long term inactivity is not the answer, neither is becoming fatigued. We are aiming for optimal vitality alignment and performance.

Some options are: leaning against something like a wall or prop, laying down flat or against some kind of backrest or lounge chair, or using the wall. This supports the back in a spine neutral position so it can recover from all the new stress and strains–i.e.resistance–you have introduced it to.

Resting while you work is new. We usually wait until we get home, and then the resting positions (like a couch) are often keeping us in our slumped posture. But optimally, resting should be incorporated intermittently any time an individual feels they like it. Even Native people had backrests.

In the Rewilding wellness philosophy, rest and sleep are considered good things. So let’s put it inside the office. We need ways to move and not move, and to be able to use our instincts to create our own rhythms and routines. It is an individual process.

The Footloose Method offers  a simple jumping off place for your new movement friendly journey. You tweak as you go. The Footloose Method is a platform where you can engage the movement teachings from other places and create an integrated work habitat. You incorporate other movement techniques and fitness modalities with the simple props that provide interactive workstations in a variety of alternating positions.

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