“We have observed an increasing proportion of horizontal individuals bending their bodies to make words,” said study co-author Charlotte Meyer, who also noted a positive trend in the number of men conducting marriage proposals by spelling out “will you marry me?” on the ground with 20 close friends.

Contradicting previous assumptions that most people lying on the ground are just tired of standing, these findings reveal that the majority of people choose to lie down so that they can contort their bodies to spell out a word for a sporting event, stock image, or coworker bonding exercise.

“My friends and I thought that it would be nice to spread some positivity by spelling out the word ‘positivity’ with our bodies on the ground and posting it online,” said Jack DeMane, a 24-year-old participant in the study. “But that was pretty hard so we just went with ‘peace.’ Still a great message.”

When polled, 71 percent of people standing right now said they are only standing because they are not flexible enough to spell out words with their bodies on the ground.