健康生活:上班族站着工作更健康

Standers give various reasons for taking to their feet: It makes them feel more focused, prevents drowsiness, makes them feel like a general even if they just push paper. (Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld works standing up. So does novelist Philip Roth.)

站着工作的人給出了選擇站立的各種理由：站立可以使他們注意力更集中，驅散睡意，而且就算他們只是在做瑣碎的工作，也會感覺自己像個將軍。（美國前國防部長唐納德 拉姆斯菲爾德也是站着工作的。小說家菲利普 羅斯也是如此。）

But unknown to them, a debate is percolatingamong ergonomicsexperts and public-health researchers about whether all office workers should be encouraged to stand — to save lives.

但他們並不知道，圍繞着是否應該鼓勵所有辦公室職員都站着工作這一話題，在人類工程學專家和公共健康研究員當中展開了一場以拯救生命爲目的的辯論。

Doctors point to surprising new research showing higher rates of diabetes, obesity, heart disease and even mortality among people who sit for long stretches. A study earlier this year in the American Journal of Epidemiology showed that among 123,000 adults followed over 14 years, those who sat more than six hours a day were at least 18 percent more likely to die during the time period studied than those who sat less than three hours a day.

醫生們指出，新研究驚人的結果顯示，長時間坐着工作的人患糖尿病、肥胖症、心臟病甚至是死亡的機率都比站立工作者要高。《美國流行病學雜誌》在今年早些時候發表的一項研究表明，在研究進行期間，那些一天靜坐超過6個小時的人的死亡率，比那些靜坐時間少於3小時的人，高出至少18%。該研究在14年的時間內對12.3萬名成人進行了跟蹤調查。

　　"Every rock we turn over when it comes to sitting is stunning," said Marc Hamilton, a leading researcher on inactivity physiology at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana. "Sitting is hazardous. It's dangerous. We are on the cuspof a major revolution." He calls sitting "the new smoking."

馬克 漢密爾頓是美國路易斯安那州彭寧頓生物醫學研究中心的權威研究人員，他的研究方向是缺乏運動狀態下的生理學。他說：“我們有關久坐的每項研究結果都令人震驚。久坐是有害的，是危險的。我們正處於一場重大變革的風口浪尖。”他將久坐稱爲“一個像吸菸一樣有害的新殺手”。

Not so fast, other experts say. Standing too much at work will cause more long-term back injuries. Incidences of varicose veinsamong women will increase. The heart will have to pump more.

但是，其他專家認爲，還不應該過早下結論。工作中站立過久會導致更多的慢性背部損傷。而且女性靜脈曲張發病率會增加。心臟負荷也會加大。

Hedge, the Cornell professor, isn't a fan of all this standing. "Making people stand all day is dumb," he said.

康奈爾大學的海奇教授也不提倡站着工作。他說：“讓人們整天站着工作是愚蠢的主張。”

The sensible and most cost-effective strategy, he said, is to sit in a neutral posture, slightly reclined, with the keyboard on a tray above the lap. This position promotes positive blood flow. Workers should occasionally walk around, stretch and avoid prolonged periods at the desk. The key, he said, is movement, not standing.

他認爲，一個合理且經濟的方法就是，坐姿要適中，微微靠向椅背，將鍵盤放在高於膝蓋的托盤上。這個姿勢可以促進血液循環。員工應該不時地四處走動，舒展一下身體，避免長時間坐在辦公桌前。他說，關鍵在於運動，而非站立。