BENEFITS OF SITTING ON THE FLOOR AND EATING...
Eating at table and chair might be very comfortable, it might not necessarily be the best thing for your health. Sitting on the floor with legs crossed is an ancient Indian tradition and has its roots in yoga and Ayurveda. It is actually a food eating posture backed by scientific reasons. Here are some health benefits of sitting on the floor to eat.
1. HELPS IMPROVE YOUR DIGESTION
When you eat from a plate placed on the floor, you will have to naturally bend forward slightly and go back to your starting position to swallow. This constant back and forth movement is said to cause the muscles of your abdomen to get activated and leads to increased secretion of stomach acids, making it easier to digest food.
2. HELPS YOU LOSE WEIGHT
Sitting on the floor and eating has significant weight loss benefits too. When we sit down and eat, our body is better equipped to focus on the food we eat. Since this position makes you eat slower than you would while sitting on a table, it gives your stomach and brain time to cognate the signals of feeling full, which enables you to realise the hunger as also your satiety.
3. KEY TO LIVING LONGER
A study published in the Journal European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that people who sat on the floor in padmasana and were able to get up without any support were more likely to live longer. This is because being able to get up from that position takes a considerable amount of flexibility and lower body strength.
4. STRENGTHENS THE HEART BY IMPROVING CIRCULATION
Have you ever noticed that when you eat, you tend to feel warmer and in some cases even sweat? Well, that is because when we eat our stomach needs all the energy it can use to digest food. One of digestion’s most important element is good blood circulation. To keep up with this process, your heart tends to work overtime to help out your digestive system. When you sit cross-legged on the floor where your heart receives the benefit of better circulation.
5. RELAXES THE MIND AND CALMS THE NERVES
When we sit down to eat, we generally sit cross-legged which is also a posture in yoga known as sukhasana or padmasana. This postures calm the mind and relaxes tensed nerves.
6. IMPROVES THE BODY POSTURE
Sitting cross-legged in itself is a yoga ‘asana’ which means posture. When we sit on the floor our body posture is automatically corrected with our back straight, lengthening our spine and pushing our shoulders back, beating all the common pain and aches that are caused due to bad postures.