I recently watched this show on Netflix about the blue zones – areas of the world where people live to 100+ or more regularly.

One that was of particular interest to me was Okinawa, a small island in southern Japan. I was interested to see what they found, because I’ve been to Okinawa before, and really enjoyed it. While there I also noticed they don’t have a typical “blue zone” diet. They eat pork or fish at almost every meal, and there are ice cream stores almost on every block.

So this guy travels to Okinawa and starts interviewing people and eating all the traditional foods to try and triangulate what makes Okinawans so long-living.

He eats the famous purple sweet potato, and the seaweed, and goes to various family traditions, but as he starts visiting these 100+ year olds in their homes, he notices something interesting:

They don’t have furniture.

Instead, most live in old traditional Japanese houses where they still sit on tatami mats on the floor.

At first, this might seem like nothing.

So they sit on the floor, so what?

But as he spends time in the house, he notices every time they sit down, they are required to lower themselves to the floor. And every time they stand up, they are required to lift themselves up off the floor.

If you’ve studied movement, you might know that lying down on the floor and then getting back up again is actually a fantastic exercise to practice mobility and flexibility – it requires the use of every single muscle in the body.

If you know someone in your family (or you!) who has a bad knee, bad back, or is simply getting old, ask them to sit down cross-legged on the floor and get back up again ten times.

They’ll likely be exhausted by the end of it (if they can do it at all!)

So let’s do some math.

Imagine they eat 3 meals a day – meaning they need to get down and get up 3 times daily.

Then imagine every day (at least once) they sit down to watch TV, sit down to read a book, and sit down to do some other hobby. Not to mention all the times they may need get up to visit the toilet, answer the door, answer the phone, get a drink etc.

So it’s fair to say they probably sit down on the floor and get back up again about 10 times per day.

Essentially, they’re doing the equivalent of 10 squats per day!

That’s 70 squats a week.

300 squats a month.

3,650 squats per year.

Now, imagine the difference in muscle mobility, atrophy and strength between an elderly person who does 3,000 squats per year and a person who does 40 or 50.

To take it one step further, imagine the difference when between the ages of 60 and 80, someone will do 73,000 squats, versus a person who will do maybe a few hundred.

Of course the prior will be healthier, stronger and more mobile!

Does that means it’s possible that you could live many years longer and healthier, simply by sitting on the floor to eat each day?

Of course!

And remember, like your stock portfolio, it all starts with one simple action, repeated with consistency over many years.

Sitting on the floor. Reading one page. Investing one dollar.

Once you see the world like this, it is impossible to see it any other way.

Compounding is the secret to everything.

Have you started yet?