Avoid This Summer Mistake: Here’s the Correct Way to Sit in Adirondack Chairs

There's a good chance you'll incorrectly sit on an Adirondack chair this spring and summer.

In fact, most of us have been using them incorrectly while we sit outside, enjoying the elements. Here's how we have be doing it wrong for all these years.

What Is An Adirondack Chair?

Even if you have no idea what the heck an Adirondack chair is, you likely at least have seen one if you've spent any time in someone's backyard. You might have even walked past a colorful stack of the chairs in the garden department at Walmart.

Adirondack chairs tend to be made of plastic, wood or a composite of materials. They are designed to have a high, wide seat back with a deep sitting area.

The depth of the chair is what makes it uncomfortable for some people. I happen to enjoy sitting in a slouch like my body is slowly melting off the chair on its way down into a heaping pile on the ground.

It's OK if that doesn't sound comfortable to you since I apparently don't know how to properly use an Adirondack chair.

How To Correctly Use An Adirondack Chair

There are two prevailing origin stories that attempt to explain the Adirondack chair's unique design.

The first is actually rooted in disease. According to Smithsonian Magazine, the chairs were originally used at sanatoriums located in the Adirondack Mountains in the early 1900s where patients were being treated for tuberculosis.

READ MORE: Why Your Mom Was Wrong About Catching A Cold From Wet Hair In Winter

The deadly lung disease was rampant at that time as patients sought a healing environment in the mountains that Smithsonian Magazine called the "wilderness cure." Tuberculosis sufferers needed a chair where they could sit for long periods while enjoying the mountain air.

The second part of how Adirondack chairs came to be has to do with the environment. Many believe the design has to do with the incline of the mountainous terrain.

A recent viral TikTok video recommends placing Adirondack chairs in an area of your yard that is not flat to increase comfort.

The back legs are shorter than the front legs so you can be sitting upright," TikTok user @watchautumn says in a video as she demonstrates how the chair can easily sit on a hill.

It's a convincing argument that has already been viewed more than 530,000 times.

Look, I'll always be on Team Slouch for this one (not to mention my yard is as flat as a pancake). But it does make me want to find a hill to try out the theory.