ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2020
Sitting, squatting, and the evolutionary biology of human inactivity.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 91 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between sedentary behavior and dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Preclinical techniques to investigate exercise training in vascular pathophysiology.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2021Pooled it
- The impact of breaking up prolonged sitting with physical activity during simulated dayshifts and nightshifts on sleep architecture: a randomised controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Does Platycnemia Develop in Squatting Populations as a Response to Torsional Rotation Across the Subadult Growth Plate?American journal of biological anthropology · 2026Article
- Why Do Humans Exercise? A Neuro-Evolutionary Framework for Discretionary Physical Effort.Evolutionary anthropology · 2026Review
- Infants and Adults Are Sensitive to the Costs of Upright Versus Non-Upright Locomotion.Developmental science · 2026Article
- Floor-Hugging intervention: findings from an exploratory study of a novel floor-exposure and post-fall contingency program.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2026Article
- Low-to-Moderate Daytime Physical Activities Predicted Higher-Quality Sleep Among Habitually Active Agropastoralists.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Article
- Patterns of physical activity in hunter-gatherer children compared with US and UK children.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Inflammation and depression: an evolutionary framework for the role of physical activity and exercise.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Review
- Contemporary small-scale subsistence populations offer unique insights into human musculoskeletal health and aging.Science advances · 2024Review
- Standing in the shadows: is standing a tonic or a toxin for cardiometabolic health?British journal of sports medicine · 2024Article
- Sedentary behavior and lifespan brain health.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2024Review
- Measurement of Sedentary Behavior-The Outcomes of the Angle for Posture Estimation (APE) Method.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- The impact of bed rest on human skeletal muscle metabolism.Cell reports. Medicine · 2024Article
- Work conditions and determinants of health status among industrial shift workers: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Typical everyday movements cause specific patterns in heart rate.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Article
- Integrating the Thrifty Genotype and Evolutionary Mismatch Hypotheses to understand variation in cardiometabolic disease risk.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2024Review
- Article
- The 24-h activity cycle and cardiovascular outcomes: establishing biological plausibility using arterial stiffness as an intermediate outcome.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Recent work suggests human physiology is not well adapted to prolonged periods of inactivity, with time spent sitting increasing cardiovascular disease and mortality risk. Health risks from sitting are generally linked with reduced levels of muscle contractions in chair-sitting postures and associated reductions in muscle metabolism. These inactivity-associated health risks are somewhat paradoxical, since evolutionary pressures tend to favor energy-minimizing strategies, including rest. Here, we examined inactivity in a hunter-gatherer population (the Hadza of Tanzania) to understand how sedentary behaviors occur in a nonindustrial economic context more typical of humans' evolutionary history. We tested the hypothesis that nonambulatory rest in hunter-gatherers involves increased muscle activity that is different from chair-sitting sedentary postures used in industrialized populations. Using a combination of objectively measured inactivity from thigh-worn accelerometers, observational data, and electromygraphic data, we show that hunter-gatherers have high levels of total nonambulatory time (mean ± SD = 9.90 ± 2.36 h/d), similar to those found in industrialized populations. However, nonambulatory time in Hadza adults often occurs in postures like squatting, and we show that these "active rest" postures require higher levels of lower limb muscle activity than chair sitting. Based on our results, we introduce the Inactivity Mismatch Hypothesis and propose that human physiology is likely adapted to more consistently active muscles derived from both physical activity and from nonambulatory postures with higher levels of muscle contraction. Interventions built on this model may help reduce the negative health impacts of inactivity in industrialized populations.
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Registered trials
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