Sitting Like This Can Bring Major Health Benefits As You Age

Maintaining your range of motion is important for many reasons — you’ll be better able to get around your house, do your errands, and play with children and grandchildren as your years increase.

“But I think one of the things that happens when we get older is … we become less flexible because we begin to slow down ― but we don’t have to be less flexible,” Bise said.

“And when you think about the treatments you’re going to receive from a physical therapist … one of the first things they’re going to do is assess both your joint mobility and your muscle flexibility for the muscles around your joints and see how they’re moving,” Bise continued. “And when we have bones and joints and muscles that are inflexible, that are stiffer, we’re not going to move as well or as efficiently as we could.”

Going from sitting on the ground, to the chair, to walking and exercising is a great way to keep yourself mobile and flexible. 

Plus, the ability to actually get into and out of a seated-on-the-floor posture is also important, Bise said. Older adults are prone to falls, he said, but if they have the ability to rise and lower to and from the floor, they’ll be more able to prevent falls in the future or get themselves up if need be.

Sitting on the ground can work your core, too.