一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn),即便有鍛煉身體的習慣,坐在椅子上太長時間也會導致壽命縮短,該研究使用客觀的度量辦法尋找中老年人久坐與死亡之間的關聯(lián)。
More hopefully, the study also suggests that we might be able to take steps to reduce our risks by taking steps every half-hour or so.
好消息是,研究還表明,我們或許可以采取措施降低自身面臨的風險:每隔半小時左右就站起來走走。
Most of us almost certainly have heard by now that being seated and unmoving all day is unhealthy. Many past epidemiological studies have noted that the longer people sit on a daily basis, the likelier they are to develop various diseases, including obesity, diabetes and heart disease. They also are at heightened risk for premature death.
時至今日,我們大多數(shù)人幾乎一定聽說過,一整天坐在那里不動彈不利于健康。此前的很多流行病學研究都表明,人們每天坐得越久,就越有可能得各種各樣的病,包括肥胖、糖尿病和心臟病。他們還面臨著更高的過早死亡的風險。
This association between sitting and ill health generally remains, the past science shows, whether people exercise or not.
以往的科學研究表明,一般來說,不論人們是否鍛煉,久坐和糟糕的健康狀況之間都存在這種關聯(lián)。
But most of these studies have relied on people’s memories of how they spent their time on any given day, and our recall about such matters tends to be notoriously unreliable. The studies also usually have focused on the total number of hours that someone sits each day. Some scientists have begun to wonder whether our patterns of sitting — how long we sit at a stretch and whether, when, and how often we stand up and move — might also have health implications. And they have questioned whether gender, race or weight might alter how sitting affects us.
但此類研究大多要靠人去回憶自己的某一天是如何度過的,而我們關于這些事情的記憶往往非常不可靠。這類研究還常常聚焦于一個人每天總共坐多長時間。一些科學家已經在想,坐的規(guī)律——每次坐多長時間,何時站起來走動以及站起來走動的頻率——是否也會影響健康。他們還希望澄清坐對我們的影響是否與性別、種族或體重有關。
So for the new study, which was published this week in Annals of Internal Medicine, scientists from Columbia University in New York City and many other institutions turned to an extensive database of existing health information about tens of thousands of Caucasian and African-American men and women 45 or older who were part of a study of stroke risk.
因此,于本周發(fā)表在《內科醫(yī)學年鑒》(Annals of Internal Medicine)上的這項新研究中,來自紐約市哥倫比亞大學(Columbia University)以及其他很多機構的科學家選擇了一個詳盡的數(shù)據(jù)庫,里面有數(shù)萬名年齡在45歲或以上的白人和非裔美國男女的既有健康信息,這些人都參與過一項關于中風風險的研究。
The participants had undergone a battery of health tests and about 8,000 of them also had worn accelerometers for a week to track their daily movements.
參加者進行了一系列健康測試,其中約8000人還佩戴速度計一周,以追蹤他們的日?;顒?。
Accelerometers are, of course, an objective measure of how much and often someone sits, exercises or otherwise moves about. They do not hedge about those hours you spent sprawled on the couch binge-watching “30 Rock.”
速度計測量的當然是佩戴者坐、鍛煉或以其他方式運動的時間和頻率。它們無法限制你花多長時間癱在沙發(fā)上一集接一集地觀看《我為喜劇狂》(30 Rock)。
The scientists pulled the records for the accelerometer group.
科學家提取了佩戴速度計組的記錄。
They then stratified these participants into various groups, depending on how many hours per day each person had sat, as well as how long each of the bouts of sitting had continued, uninterrupted — 10 minutes? 30 minutes? 60 minutes? more? — and how much time, if any, they had spent exercising (mostly with walks).
然后,他們依據(jù)每人每天坐幾小時,每次會持續(xù)不間斷地坐多長時間——10分鐘?30分鐘?60分鐘?更多?——以及如果鍛煉的話會花多長時間(主要是散步),將這些參與者分成不同的小組。
Finally, they checked these records against mortality registries, looking for deaths that had occurred within about four years of the participants having worn the accelerometers and completed other health tests.
最后,他們將這些記錄與死亡登記數(shù)據(jù)對照,研究佩戴速度計并完成其他健康測試的參加者在大約四年之內的死亡情況。
Even in this short time frame, there were deaths. About 5 percent of the participants of all ages had died during the follow-up period. (The scientists discarded any data from people who had died within a year of their testing, since they might have had an underlying illness that increased their fatigue and prompted them to sit often.)
即使在這么短的時間內,也有人死去。在所有年齡段的參加者中,大約有5%的人在這段隨訪期內死亡。(科學家放棄了測試一年內死亡者的數(shù)據(jù),因為他們可能患有潛在疾病,令他們更加疲勞,所以他們經常坐著)。
The scientists then found strong statistical correlations between sitting and mortality. The men and women who sat for the most hours every day, according to their accelerometer data, had the highest risk for early death, especially if this sitting often continued for longer than 30 minutes at a stretch. The risk was unaffected by age, race, gender or body mass.
科學家們發(fā)現(xiàn),久坐和死亡率之間有很強的統(tǒng)計學相關性。根據(jù)速度計數(shù)據(jù),每天坐著時間最長的男性和女性死亡風險最高,特別是如果每次持續(xù)坐著的時間經常超過30分鐘。該風險不受年齡、種族、性別或體重影響。
It also was barely lowered if people exercised regularly.
就算定期鍛煉,這一風險也幾乎沒有降低。
But interestingly, the risk of early death did drop if sitting time was frequently interrupted. People whose time spent sitting usually lasted for less than 30 minutes at a stretch were less likely to have died than those whose sitting was more prolonged, even if the total hours of sitting time were the same.
但有趣的是,如果坐著的時間經常被打斷,早死的風險確實會出現(xiàn)下降。和持續(xù)坐著的時間通常不超過30分鐘的人相比,久坐時間更長的人死亡率更高,即便每天坐著的總時間相同。
In essence, the data showed that “both the total hours spent sitting each day and whether those hours are accrued in short or long bouts” of physical stillness influenced longevity, says Keith Diaz, an assistant professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University, who led the new study.
領導這項新研究的哥倫比亞大學(Columbia University)行為醫(yī)學副教授基思·迪亞茲(Keith Diaz)說:實質上,數(shù)據(jù)表明,“每天坐著的總時間,”以及這些時間是由“每次持續(xù)多久的身體靜止狀態(tài)”構成,都會對壽命有影響。
The results also indicate that if you must be chair-bound for much of the day, moving every 30 minutes or so might lessen any long-term deleterious effects, he says, a finding that adds scientific heft to the otherwise vague suggestion that we all should sit less and move more.
研究結果還表明,如果你每天必須花費大部分時間坐在椅子上,那么每隔30分鐘左右活動一下,就有可能減輕一切可能的長期有害影響,他說,關于人們應當少坐多動的建議本來是很模糊的,這一發(fā)現(xiàn)增加了它在科學上的份量。
This study was, however, associational. It cannot prove that too much sitting undermines health, only that the two were linked. It also used data about deaths from any cause, which might have included automobile or other accidents unlikely to have been affected by sedentary time. And the accelerometers could not readily distinguish between sitting and standing, Dr. Diaz says, so the “breaks” in sitting time in this study always involved walking about and not merely standing up.
然而,這只是一項相關性研究,不能證明久坐會損害健康,只能證明二者之間存在關系。它使用的死亡資料是把所有原因都包括在內的,其中可能包括車禍或其他不太可能受久坐影響的事故。迪亞茲還說,速度計尚無法區(qū)分坐姿和站立,所以在這個研究中,久坐的“間隔期”都是指走動,而不僅僅是站起來。
In future randomized experiments, Dr. Diaz and his colleagues hope to better parse how often and how much people need to move during breaks in order to lessen sitting’s risks, and whether standing by itself is effective or we must move about.
在未來的隨機實驗中,迪亞茲和他的同事們希望能夠更好地分析,為了減少久坐的風險,人們需要間隔多長時間起來活動一次,需要活動多久,以及站立是否有效,還是必須行走才可以。
In the meantime, consider setting an alert on your phone or computer to ping every half-hour and remind you that now would be a good time to get up and move. You might try to time your stand-up breaks as a chance to do something you wanted to do anyway — get a cup of coffee, grab something from the printer, or simply walk across the room to talk to a colleague face-to-face.
在此期間,請考慮在手機或電腦上設置半小時一次的提醒,告訴你現(xiàn)在最好起來活動一下。你可以試著利用這段起來休息的時間做一點想做的事——喝杯咖啡,去打印機那里拿東西,或者只是到房間另一頭與一個同事面對面地交談。