What to Worry About, Sit on the Floor, Not a Chair, and Setting Expectations
Hi Folks! Connor and Nick here from Healthy Living With Nick and Connor. Thanks again for being on our email list, it means a lot, and we are excited to share our weekly email with you. We hope you enjoy it! Here is what we hope you take away from this one:
Stop worrying about things that are not within your control. Save your mental energy for things that you actually can control.
Put a stop to nagging back and knee injuries by choosing to sit on the floor instead of a chair. We know those chairs are pretty enticing, but we know you will thank yourself later for putting in some time on the floor instead of the chair.
Be real with yourself when it comes to your expectations.
Starter Mindset Tip: Don’t Worry About What You Cannot Control
How much time do you spend worrying about things you cannot control? An important skill to practice is learning to recognize when you are worrying about something out of your control, and then putting a stop to those thoughts. “Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: some things are within your control, and some things are not.” (Epictetus, p. 9) “Keep your business focused entirely on what is truly your own concern and be clear that what belongs to others is their business and none of yours.” (Epictetus, p. 11) If you can start focusing on these thoughts, you will reduce your stress, your anxiety, and you will free up some mental energy to tackle the truly important things in your life. We are allowed to have a little worry in our lives, but minimizing the unneeded worrying will bring you great benefits.
Health Recipe: Sit on the Floor, Not a Chair
Timing: Start with 5 minutes, grow from there
Level of Difficulty: Depends on how used to chairs you body is
Serving Size: Try to remember to do this at least once a day
Spiciness: Can get pretty spicy when your muscles have to relearn how to sit
INGREDIENTS
Yourself, and any ground you want
REASONING AND BENEFITS
Our modern world is built around sitting down in chairs. We sit in chairs to eat, at work, while we wait for things, while we drive, and while we relax at night. Our bodies were originally designed to sit in ground based positions, not in chairs. So if you can start fitting in some floor time, and get away from the many chairs that surround you in your life, then your body can start to work as it is supposed to. Using your hip joints as they are meant to be used will keep them healthy, increase your flexibility, increase your strength, and will decrease your nagging injuries. (Starrett, p. 30) You can hang out in a squat position, sit cross legged, kneel, sit with your legs out, whatever you want to get you out of your chair every now and then. Sitting in chairs can lead to knee and back pain due to the lack of stability between your leg and pelvis. “You can rewild your hips, but it takes conscious effort. Hip extension should be a primary focus in your program to have a major impact on cleaning up common issues and complaints with better pelvic alignment and less pain in the low back and knees… Getting your hips into extension is just good basic body maintenance and a way to offset the aging process.” (Starrett, p. 91/93) Remember when you were a kid and you could sit on the floor cross legged no problem? Let’s try and get back to that in order to save your back, your knees, and save your future self from debilitating injuries.
INSTRUCTIONS
Try this “Sit and Rise Test” from the book “Built to Move,” by Kelly and Juliet Starrett: Cross your feet, sit down into a cross legged sit, and get back up with your feet still crossed without touching anything. This will determine if you have a good range of motion in your hips, good balance, and coordination.
That test will create a good baseline for you to remember. Now focus on sitting on the floor during times that you would normally be sitting on a chair. Try this out while you are working, reading, watching TV, hanging with your kids, whenever it makes sense for you.
Start with little spurts, 5-10 minutes is all it takes to start making this a habit. While you are sitting on the floor, does your low back get sore, do your legs get stiff? If so, this is a great indicator to keep at it and feel how your body adapts as you do it more and more!
PRO TIP: Working on your hamstring and hip strength and flexibility will go a long way in helping you avoid injuries, and helping your future self from never saying “I wish I could still move like I could when I was younger.” Try out a roller for your hamstring, hamstring lock out, hip opener mobilizations, and elevated pigeon. (Starrett, p. 46)
* If you are going to sit in a chair on a regular basis, make that a chair with no back because you will turn on more musculature, build stability, and avoid the weakness that can lead to back pain. (Starrett, p. 30)
** We love doing this one while we read or watch TV at night. See how long you can go before your leg falls asleep! Then try and beat that time each time you get down there and sit.
*** The right angle seated position is only embraced by a third to half of the world. People in China for instance have 80-90% less occurrence of arthritic hip pain than Westerners. Using the hip joints as nature intended keeps them healthy and pain free. They squat, kneel, and sit cross legged. (Starrett, p. 36)
Dessert Quote:
“Your happiness depends on your expectations more than anything else. An important life skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving. It’s also one of the hardest.” — Morgan Housel, “Same as Ever.” p. 25
Now we want to hear from YOU! Please let us know what you think of today’s newsletter, and send us an example of how you applied the health recipe to your life! We would love to share how you introduced this week’s recipe into your life’s unique menu. Thanks and have a great Sunday!
Sources:
Learn more about living an intentional life:
Epictetus. (1994). A manual for living. Harper Collins.
Learn more about how to move properly:
Starrett, K., & Starrett, J. (2023). Built to move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully. National Geographic Books.
Learn more about your expectations, and thinking about what never changes:
Housel, M. (2023). Same as ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life. Harriman House Limited.
