Sit-down habit is killing us
坐以待毙：久坐坏处多
How many hours do you spend
sitting in a chair every day? Eight hours in the office plus three hours in
front of the TV after work is the norm for many people.
你每天有几小时是坐在椅子上的？对很多人来说，标准答案就是上班时间再加上下班后在电视机前度过的三小时。
You probably don’t need an expert to tell you that sitting too much is not good for your health —from an increased risk of heart disease and obesity in the long term, to reduced cholesterol maintenance in the short term, not to mention the strain on your neck and spine.
你可能不用专家来告诉你久坐对于健康的危害——从长期来看，久坐会增加心脏病发病率并导致肥胖；短期来说，则会导致“好胆固醇”含量减少；更不用说它会压迫颈椎和脊椎这点了。
To make matters worse, a growing body of research suggests that the negative effects of sitting too much cannot be countered with a good diet and regular exercise, according to an article in The New York Times.
而更糟糕的是，据《纽约时报》报道称，越来越多的研究表明久坐带来的这些危害无法依靠健康饮食和规律锻炼来弥补。
The article reported that a 2010 study of nearly 9, 000 Australians found that for each additional hour of television a person watched per day, the risk of dying rose by 11 percent.
该报道指出，2010年时由约九千名澳大利亚人参与的一项研究表明，每天多看一小时电视，死亡风险就会增长11%。
Another study tracked the health of 123, 000 Americans between 1992 and 2006. The death rate for men who spent six hours or more per day sitting was about 20 percent higher than for men who sat for three hours or less. The death rate for women who sat for more than six hours a day was about 40 percent higher.
另一项研究则追踪记录了12.3万美国人在1992到2006年间的健康状况。结果显示，每天有6小时或更长时间坐着的男性，其死亡率比每天只有3小时或更少时间坐着的男性高出20%。女性的话，这个数据会高出约40%。
In other words, sitting is killing us.
换句话说，我们正在“坐以待毙”。
Stand up for health
为健康而“站”
So what can we do about it? Health experts suggest we break up those many hours spent sitting with more hours spent standing.
那么我们该怎么办？健康专家建议，应该把静坐时间拆分，多花些时间站着。
The BBC and the University of Chester in the UK conducted a simple experiment with a small group of 10 volunteers who usually spent most of the day sitting. They were asked to stand for at least three hours a day. The researchers took measurements on days when the volunteers stood, and when they sat around. When they looked at the data there were some striking differences, the BBC reported on Oct 16.
英国广播公司BBC和切斯特大学做了一个简单的小实验。他们找来十位身为久坐一族的志愿者，让他们一天至少站立3个小时。研究人员分别记录下他们每天站着和坐着的一些数据。10月16日BBC报道称，这组数据呈现出显著差异。
Blood glucose leveled off after a meal much quicker on the days when the study subjects stood compared with the days they spent in a chair. Standing also burned more calories —about 50 calories an hour. Over the course of a year that would add up to about 30, 000 extra calories, or around 3.63 kilograms of fat.
与坐在椅子上时相比，站着时，志愿者餐后血糖水平回降速度要快得多。而且站立可以燃烧更多卡路里——每小时约燃烧50卡路里。一年累计消耗多达3万卡路里之多，约合3.63千克脂肪。
“If you want to put that into activity levels, then that would be the equivalent of running about 10 marathons a year, ” said John Buckley, a member of the research team. “Just by standing up three or four hours in your day at work.”
“如果把该数据换算成运动量的话，就相当于一年跑了十次马拉松。”该研究小组成员约翰?巴克利说。“你只需要在日常工作时，选择站上3-4个小时。”
Buckley said that although doing exercise offers many proven benefits, our bodies also need the constant, almost imperceptible increase in muscle activity that standing provides. Simple movement helps us to keep our all-important blood sugar under control.
巴克利表示，尽管锻炼确实可以带来诸多好处，但人体十分需要站立所提供的这种不知不觉且持续增加的肌肉运动。简单动一动有助于控制血糖，这对人体至关重要。
The researchers believe that even small adjustments, like standing while talking on the phone, going over to talk to a colleague rather than sending an e-mail, or simply taking the stairs instead of the elevator, will help.
研究人员认为，甚至是站着接电话、不用邮件而走过去和同事面对面交流或者只是选择不坐电梯、爬爬楼梯这样小小的改变，都会对我们的健康有帮助。