新概念雙語：站著辦公可能讓你更聰明

This is an odd admission for a psychiatrist to make, but I’ve never been very good at sitting still. I’m antsy in my chair and jump at any opportunity to escape it. When I’m trying to work out a difficult problem, I often stand and move about the office.

一個精神科醫(yī)生說這個顯得挺奇怪的，但我從不擅長于安穩(wěn)坐著。在椅子上的我總是坐立不安，能逃則逃。當(dāng)我想解決一個困難的問題時，我通常會站起來，在辦公室里走動。

We’ve known for a while that sitting for long stretches of every day has myriad health consequences, like a higher risk of heart disease and diabetes, that culminate in a higher mortality rate. But now a new study has found that sitting is also bad for your brain. And it might be the case that lots of exercise is not enough to save you if you’re a couch potato the rest of the time.

我們早就知道，每天長時間地坐著對健康會有許多影響，比如，心臟病和糖尿病的風(fēng)險會更高，最終導(dǎo)致更高的死亡率。但現(xiàn)在，一項新研究證明了坐姿對你的大腦也有害。如果你的其余時間都坐在沙發(fā)上，那么可能大量的運動也不足以拯救你。

A study published last week, conducted by Dr. Prabha Siddarth at the University of California at Los Angeles, showed that sedentary behavior is associated with reduced thickness of the medial temporal lobe, which contains the hippocampus, a brain region that is critical to learning and memory.

加州大學(xué)洛杉磯分校(University of California at Los Angeles)的普拉巴.希達斯(Prabha Siddarth)博士進行的一項研究表明，久坐行為與大腦內(nèi)顳葉的厚度減少有關(guān)，大腦內(nèi)顳葉中含有的海馬體是學(xué)習(xí)和記憶的關(guān)鍵區(qū)域。該研究于上周發(fā)表。

The researchers asked a group of 35 healthy people, ages 45 to 70, about their activity levels and the average number of hours each day spent sitting and then scanned their brains with M.R.I. They found that the thickness of their medial temporal lobe was inversely correlated with how sedentary they were; the subjects who reported sitting for longer periods had the thinnest medial temporal lobes.

研究人員向35名年齡在45到70歲之間的健康人士詢問了他們的活動水平和每天坐著的平均小時數(shù)，然后使用MRI對他們的大腦進行了掃描。研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們大腦內(nèi)顳葉的厚度與他們久坐的程度負(fù)相關(guān);報告自己坐著的時間較長的研究對象大腦內(nèi)顳葉最薄。

The implication is that the more time you spend in a chair the worse it is for your brain health, resulting in possible impairment in learning and memory.

這意味著，你在椅子上坐的時間越久，就越不利于你的大腦健康，可能會導(dǎo)致學(xué)習(xí)和記憶受損。

Of course, the study cannot prove that this link is causal. It’s possible that people with pre-existing cognitive problems might just be more sedentary. Still, the researchers screened the subjects to rule out major medical and psychiatric disorders, so this explanation is unlikely.

當(dāng)然，這項研究不能證明這種聯(lián)系的因果性。前期存在認(rèn)知問題的人也有可能會坐得更久。但研究人員對受試者進行了篩選，排除了重大醫(yī)療和精神疾病，因此這種解釋的可能性不大。

What’s also intriguing is that this study did not find a significant association between the level of physical activity and thickness of this brain region, suggesting that exercise, even strenuous exercise, may not be enough to protect you from the harmful effects of sitting.

同樣有趣的是，這項研究并沒有在體育活動水平和大腦這塊區(qū)域的厚度之間發(fā)現(xiàn)顯著的相關(guān)性，這就表明，運動--甚至是劇烈運動--可能不足以使你免受久坐的危害。

This all puts me in mind of the Peripatetics, followers of Aristotle, who conducted their philosophical inquiries while strolling about the Lyceum in ancient Athens. Sounds as if they were on to something.

這一切都讓我想起了逍遙學(xué)派--這是追隨亞里士多德的學(xué)派，他們會一邊進行哲學(xué)探討，一邊在古希臘的萊森學(xué)園(Lyceum)中漫步。聽起來他們這樣好像有點道理。

But what is it about walking - besides increased blood flow to the brain - that might facilitate thinking? Perhaps it’s the fact that you are constantly bombarded by new stimuli and inputs as you move about, which helps derail linear thinking and encourages a more associative, unfocused thought process.

但是除了增進了血液向大腦的流動，是什么讓步行促進了思考?或許是因為當(dāng)你在四處走動時，你會不斷地接收新的刺激和輸入，幫助你脫離了線性思維，并助長了更富有聯(lián)想的、分散的思維過程。

I remember once forgetting the combination to my lock in the gym. Standing there naked, dripping wet and in a panic that I would be late to an important meeting, I tried one wrong combination after another. When that didn’t work, I walked around the locker room in a daze for a few minutes, came back to the lock and - voila - opened it instantly.

記得有一次，我忘了健身房儲物柜的密碼。我赤身裸體站在那里大汗淋漓，擔(dān)心自己會趕不上一個重要會議，不禁驚恐萬分。我試了一個又一個錯誤的密碼，全都失敗了。我不知所措地在更衣室里轉(zhuǎn)了幾分鐘，然后回到儲物柜--哇--一下就打開了。

Intriguingly, you don’t even have to move much to enhance cognition; just standing will do the trick. For example, two groups of subjects were asked to complete a test while either sitting or standing. The test - called Stroop - measures selective attention. Participants are presented with conflicting stimuli, like the word “green” printed in blue ink, and asked to name the color. Subjects thinking on their feet beat those who sat by a 32-millisecond margin.

有趣的是，你甚至不需要為增強認(rèn)知而做太多動作。只要站著就可以做到這一點。例如，兩組受試者被要求在坐著或站立時完成測試。該測試名為Stroop，是用來測試選擇性注意力的。參與者看到相互沖突的刺激物，比如用藍色墨水印出的“綠色”字樣，并被要求說出這種顏色的名稱。站著思考的受試者比坐著的受試者快32毫秒。

The cognitive benefits of strenuous physical exercise are well known. But the possibility that the minimal exertion of standing more and sitting less improves brain health could lower the bar for everyone.

劇烈運動對認(rèn)知的益處是眾所周知的。但是，盡量多站少坐，這樣的微小努力也可以改善大腦健康，這種可能性可以幫助所有人降低鍛煉標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。

It’s also yet another good argument for getting rid of sitting desks in favor of standing desks for most people. For example, one study assigned a group of 34 high school freshman to a standing desk for 27 weeks. The researchers found significant improvement in executive function and working memory by the end of the study. (True, there was no control group of students using a seated desk, but it’s unlikely that this change was a result of brain maturation, given the short study period.)

這也是大多數(shù)人擺脫坐式辦公桌，轉(zhuǎn)向立式辦公桌的又一個好理由。例如，一項研究讓34名高一學(xué)生使用站立式書桌學(xué)習(xí)27周。研究結(jié)束時，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)他們的執(zhí)行功能和工作記憶得到顯著改善。(研究中的確沒有使用坐式書桌的對照組，但考慮到研究時間較短，這種改變不太可能是大腦發(fā)育成熟的結(jié)果。)

I know, this all runs counter to received notions about deep thought, from our grade-school teachers, who told us to sit down and focus, to Rodin’s famous “Thinker,” seated with chin on hand.

我知道，這與我們從小學(xué)老師那里得到的關(guān)于深思的想法背道而馳，他們讓我們坐下來，專心致志，一手托腮，就像羅丹著名的雕塑《思考者》那樣。

They were wrong. You can now all stand up.

他們錯了。現(xiàn)在你可以站起來了。