Sitting On The Floor Can Help You Live To 100, Says A Longevity Expert

Growing up, I used to do my homework on the floor. I played games on the floor, I gabbed to my friends on the floor, and sometimes I ate my meals on the floor. As I reflect now, I probably gravitated toward the ground because it, well, grounded me (I am a proud Earth sign, after all). 

Buettner starts by validating what we've been talking about on mindbodygreen for years: "One of the biggest killers of older people is falls," he says on the mindbodygreen podcast. Let us remind you that if you're over 65, there's a one in four chance that you'll fall, and if you do, studies show your chances of falling again double. If you fall and break your hip1, there is a 30 to 40% chance2 that you will die within a year (not necessarily from the fall itself, but perhaps from other complications related to the accident).

How can you prevent these statistics from becoming reality? You focus on maintaining muscle mass as you age. "Keep an eye on your muscle mass. Treat it like it is literally gold," mobility pioneers Kelly and Juliet Starrett shared on another mindbodygreen podcast episode.

See, having low muscle mass has previously been associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline3, insulin resistance4, and high inflammatory markers5. "The data are pretty unambiguous about the longevity and health benefits of having adequate muscle mass," longevity-focused doctor Peter Attia, M.D., asserts during his mbg podcast episode.

And, look, there are various exercises you can do—like resistance training and jump rope—to strengthen your muscles and joint health supplements you can take to support mobility, but frequent everyday habits are what will actually help you reach centenarian status, says Buettner. 

"When you're sitting on the floor, you're [likely] getting up and down off the floor 30 times a day," he shares, which inherently trains your balance and lower-body strength. "Lo and behold, in Okinawa, [they have] far fewer falls," Buettner continues. 

That doesn't mean you must toss every single piece of furniture in your home. "In the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, they're sitting on furniture, but they're also in their gardens," he adds. "When they're in their gardens, they're on their knees, they're bending over, [they're using] the same sort of muscles that we never use when we're sitting in our offices, watching TV, and so on."