Sitting Like Our Ancestors28 June 2024

Episode 358: Sitting Like Our Ancestors: The Key to Musculoskeletal Well-Being

1Frameworks

5Insights

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Frameworks in this episode

Self-Mastery4 steps

Hips-Above-Knees Sitting Rule

Raise your hips above your knees to let your spine settle efficiently

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Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Myth Buster· 1

Myth Buster05:00

Why the Creator of RICE Reconsidered Ice

Alexander says the doctor behind the RICE protocol later reconsidered icing injuries. His account favours supporting the inflammatory response with warmth, elevation, movement, and staying out of pain rather than slowing it with ice.

RICE originally meant rest, ice, compression, and elevation
Alexander says the protocol's creator later recalled the ice recommendation
Inflammation should be supported and kept circulating rather than automatically suppressed
Movement should remain within a pain-free range

“it used to be uh rice rest ice compression elevation”
Aaron Alexander · 05:00

“you don't want to slow down the inflammatory response and and and and and um stop that action you want to actually support it you…”
Aaron Alexander · 05:30

#injury recovery#rice protocol#inflammation#movement

Hot Take· 1

Hot Take10:00

The Chair Is Not the Problem—Stillness Is

When asked whether moving in a chair can provide similar benefits to floor sitting, Alexander rejects treating the chair itself as inherently bad. He points to the rocking and shifting of healthy children as useful proprioceptive activity and emphasises how a person behaves in the chair.

A chair is a neutral object rather than a moral problem
Rocking and shifting engage the proprioceptive system
Natural movement matters more than maintaining one ideal pose
Chair sitting can include healthy movement

“that's how a healthy kid would sit in a chair they'd Rock back on the chair they go on the left side they go on…”
Aaron Alexander · 10:00

“there's a chair chair is just a thing it doesn't matter it's just who are you in the chair”
Aaron Alexander · 10:30

#chair sitting#proprioception#movement#posture

Explainer· 2

Explainer02:00

Why Floor Sitting Changes More Than Posture

Aaron Alexander argues that floor sitting repeatedly moves the hips and knees through wider ranges than chair sitting. He connects those position changes with joint fluid circulation, lymphatic movement, digestion, and less blood pooling in the lower body.

Floor positions take hips and knees through fuller ranges of motion
Muscular contraction helps circulate lymphatic fluid
Keeping the legs closer to the heart may reduce lower-body blood pooling
There is no single best floor-sitting position

“just going through those ranges of motion it heals the joints it brings new fluids to the joints and it's just it's good for them…”
Aaron Alexander · 02:30

“the way that you circulate lymphatic fluid is through muscular contraction”
Aaron Alexander · 06:00

#floor sitting#joint health#circulation#digestion

Explainer06:30

The Movement That Happens Outside Your Workouts

The discussion reframes small, spontaneous movements as non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT. Alexander argues that the many hours outside formal workouts matter more than treating three or four weekly exercise sessions as the whole movement picture.

NEAT means non-exercise activity thermogenesis
Small shifts and wiggles add movement throughout the day
Formal exercise occupies only a small fraction of the week
Daily resting and working positions shape total activity

“there's a fancy term for those Wiggles called neat uh it's it's um what is it called non-exercise activity thermogenesis”
Aaron Alexander · 06:30

“the rest of the day is all I'm really interested in”
Aaron Alexander · 07:00

#neat#daily movement#exercise#metabolism

Takeaway· 1

Takeaway08:00

Ancestral Cultures Rest as Much—but Rest Differently

Alexander cites movement research in Northern Tanzania suggesting hunter-gatherers spend roughly as much time resting as industrialised people. The difference, he says, is that their rest happens in kneeling, squatting, and varied floor positions that continue to engage the body instead of outsourcing all support to a chair.

The cited group rested about 9.82 hours per day
Resting time was similar to industrialised cultures
Kneeling, squatting, and floor sitting made the rest mechanically active
Outsourcing support can contribute to physical atrophy

“on average it was it was like the exact number was 9.82 hours per day if I remember correctly”
Aaron Alexander · 08:30

“they're actually they're they're actively um engaging in their resting positions it's not just Outsourcing all of their mechanical efficiency to you know a device…”
Aaron Alexander · 09:30

#active rest#ancestral movement#squatting#floor sitting