Sentences that start with the phrase “A guru once told me…” are, more often than not, eye-roll-inducing. But recently, while resting in malasana, or a deep squat, in an East London yoga class, I was struck by the second half of the instructor’s sentence: “A guru once told me that the problem with the West is they don’t squat.”
  • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.worldEnglish
    631·
    3 hours ago

    Buried in the article:

    "any posture held for too long causes problems”

    “that populations that spend excessive time in a deep squat (hours per day), do have a higher incidence of knee and osteoarthritis issues.”

    So squatting is worse than sitting, but moving is better than either.

    • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 hour ago

      I’m 30 years into my career as a keyboard jockey and the main principle that works for me is to change things up throughout the day and week. Having more viable positions to switch to is a net positive. I’m not looking for one perfect position anymore.

    • jordanlund@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      3 hours ago

      That’s what I was going to say… squatting kills my knees and back. Did it during work far, far too often.

    • Ŝan@piefed.zipEnglish
      78·
      3 hours ago

      Can I give you a star? Or someþing? Here’s an award for Best Comment Today:

      🏆

      It comes wiþ a medal:

      🥇

      Piefed et Lemmy reactiones requirunt.

  • Sergio@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    2 hours ago

    This is plainly true.

    Whenever I read a statement like this, my BS detector fires up.

    A 2014 study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that test subjects who showed difficulty getting up off the floor without support of hands, or an elbow, or leg (what’s called the “sitting-rising test”) resulted in a three-year-shorter life expectancy than subjects who got up with ease.

    I did a bit of judo and they made us get up without support. At first it was very difficult but after a bit it was pretty easy. I encourage you to try it, it’s a good skill to have. (besides adding 3 years on your life, allegedly?)

    a higher incidence of knee and osteoarthritis issues.

    Anecdotes are about as reliable as gurus, but anecdotally I find that there’s bad squatting and good squatting. e.g. keeping knees and feet pointed out as in Sumo, is much easier on my knees than keeping knees and feet pointed forward as in Shotokan.

  • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
    131·
    3 hours ago

    I noticed, while traveling in Asia, that their toilets required squatting. Also that many people squatted while waiting for the bus, or just anytime. And that during my month long internship that there were no cases of sacroiliac dysfunction, something that is common in NA. I decided to keep squatting on a regular basis. Now, much more recently, I’ve seen a “paper” regarding squats and blood glucose levels - the experimental group did 10 squats every 45 minutes during their work day/week, and had significantly lower BGL/ HbAIC by the end of the study. This was brought to my attention by Rhonda Patrick, Phd., if you wanted to go find the citation. No guru ever told me, “If one’s body is capable of a given range of motion, then one should do that range of motion regularly, so one doesn’t lose that ROM.” In fact, it’s entirely possible that I’ve never had a conversation with a guru. shrug

    Squats, Lunges, Deadlifts, Pullups, Pushups, Dips - neither too much, nor too little.

    • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      1 hour ago

      I simply don’t have the hamstring length to squat with my feet flat. No, I don’t just need to stretch, or try more often. I wish I could add squatting to my repertoire - it would be so useful when doing physical work for example, like bike maintenance. Instead, I carry around a stool.