The definitive establishment of a human group in a certain place is called sedentary lifestyle.
Sedentary lifestyle is the attitude of the subject who leads a sedentary life . Currently, the term is associated with physical sedentary lifestyle (lack of physical activity). In its original meaning, however, this word referred to the definitive establishment of a human community in a certain place .
In this last sense, sedentary is the opposite of nomad (one who moves from one place to another, without establishing a fixed residence). Human beings were nomadic in prehistoric times , as they moved to gather food or hunt. Starting with the agricultural revolution, about 10,000 years ago, humanity adopted a sedentary lifestyle.
Today, there are very few nomadic populations (there are some in the Mongolian desert, for example). When mentioning sedentary lifestyle, therefore, we speak of a social trend of modern times, linked to domestic leisure, the world of work and new technologies.
Sedentary lifestyle as lack of physical activity
A sedentary lifestyle is more common in cities, where technology is aimed at avoiding great physical exertion. Spending many hours a day watching television or sitting in front of a computer is a sign of sedentary lifestyle, which promotes obesity , weakens bones and increases the risk of heart disease.
A simple look at society shows us that the latest generations have a greater tendency to be sedentary than the elderly, given that they were born in a computerized era, with less free space to spread out and with a growing sense of insecurity on public roads that leads them to seek refuge in closed places. To combat lack of physical activity there is no magic formula; As in all cases, the key lies in the will .
Practicing a sport with some consistency can be very beneficial for your health, as long as it is not contrasted with entire days of poor nutrition and postures that are harmful to the body. Of course, this depends on each person's tastes; For this reason, many choose to go for a walk every morning. But in both cases, it is important to keep in mind that exercising without technique can be counterproductive.
A sedentary lifestyle, like a lack of physical activity, contributes to being overweight .
Need for contact with nature
In the search for a solution to flaccidity, an alarming truth is revealed: human beings are gradually losing our connection with nature. Contact with the countryside, with plants, with animals or the sea is compressed into vacation periods, or is adorned with a certain line of clothing and labeled according to fashion trends (see hiking , trekking or camping ).
Where was our sense of direction, our connection with the earth, with the leaves of the trees? Were we not, perhaps, once, just another species among the others? Sedentary lifestyle is an innocent headline that hides realities as serious and absurd as selling insecticide spray.
Types of sedentary lifestyle
Two classes of modern sedentary people can be distinguished: the worker who has adapted to new technologies, who needs a computer to carry out his tasks, since it represents both his source of information and resources and his means of carrying it out and delivering it to your boss (as happens with programmers, designers and editors, for example); individuals who don't find enough incentive to get out of bed and do something productive with their lives, who prefer to spend the entire day in front of the television with a can of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
Needless to say, the first group enjoys greater respect from the general public, given that it is considered productive , while the second receives all kinds of derogatory adjectives, alluding to its laziness . However, it is worrying to compare the endless walk of elephants in search of a miserable puddle of water, with the grumbling of someone who considers it exhausting to go from the living room to the kitchen to look for a glass of fresh water, whose temperature is regulated thanks to the exploitation of natural resources, the same exploitation that forces the former to travel increasingly greater distances.