On your knees to beat sedentary lifestyle

Scientists say alternatives to sitting still could help in the battle against longterm health conditions

Squatting or kneeling at work instead of sitting could help stave off chronic diseases, anthropologists suggest. Scientists from Californian universities found that the Hadza people of Tanzania, who do not use furniture, were less likely to suffer from chronic ailments. Despite remaining in “resting postures” such as sitting and kneeling for up to 10 hours a day, the hunter-gatherers did not show signs of the health conditions associated with a sedentary lifestyle.

THE heads of colleagues bobbing above their adjustable standing desks may have become a common sight across UK offices.

Yet anthropologists claim that those keen to stave off chronic diseases should consider going one step further – by replacing desks with squatting or kneeling postures to combat inactivity.

After studying a remote Tanzanian tribe – who in contrast to “industrialised societies” do not use furniture – scientists from Californian universities found that the Hadza people were less likely to suffer from chronic diseases.

The researchers discovered that despite being sedentary for almost 10 hours each day, the Hadza people of Tanzania appeared to lack the markers of chronic diseases usually associated with long periods of sitting.

Despite remaining in “resting postures” such as sitting and kneeling for long periods of time, the hunter-gatherers did not show signs of the health conditions associated with a sedentary lifestyle – in contrast to their counterparts in industrialised communities.

The scientists said that replacing chairs with “more sustained active rest postures” should be explored as a way of replicating their good health.

Writing in their paper, Sitting, Squatting, and the Evolutionary Biology of Human Inactivity, published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, the researchers concluded: “Replacing chair-sitting and associated muscular inactivity with more sustained active rest postures may represent a behavioural paradigm that should be explored in future experimental work. While squatting is not a likely alternative, spending more time in postures that elicit low-level muscle activity could lead to more beneficial health outcomes.”

Dr David Raichlen, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Southern California’s Dornsife College and lead author, added: “Even though there were long periods of inactivity, one of the key differences we noticed is that the Hadza are often resting in postures that require their muscles to maintain light levels of activity – either in a squat or kneeling.”

“Being a couch potato – or even sitting in an office chair – requires less muscle activity than squatting or kneeling,” he said.

“Since light levels of muscle activity require fuel, which generally means burning fats, then squatting and kneeling postures may not be as harmful as sitting in chairs.”

Prolonged sitting has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death, but according to the researchers, this contradicts the evolutionary aspect which favours strategies that conserve energy.

The researchers looked at the data from 28 Hadza adults who wore devices for eight days and compared it with the information from previous studies that measured inactivity in modern working populations.

The Hadza people are considered one of the last hunter-gatherer tribes in Africa and comprise approximately 1,300 individuals. The Hadza remain an important focus area for anthropologists, as they represent a link to ways of survival largely abandoned by most of modern humanity.

‘Being a couch potato or even sitting in an office chair requires less muscle activity than squatting’

In Tanzania, about 300 Hadza people live their immemorial life – the men foraging for game, fruit and honey, the women for baobab fruit, berries and tubers. It is a hard life in the sense that a generation ago life expectancy at birth was only 33. But there is a lot of sitting around – perhaps 10 hours a day. Yet those who survive beyond what we call middle age do not show chronic diseases associated in the West with sitting on office chairs. The Hadza do not work in offices and use no chairs of any kind. Instead they kneel or squat, entailing light muscle activity. Scientists in California have been speculating that office workers could learn from the Hadza. Squatting at a computer screen might not seem an easy option, but it can hardly be denied that some in the average office hierarchy would welcome a kneeling posture for others.