Did you know many adults sit down for more than nine hours a day – maybe you're one of them! Whether it's working at a desk, sitting motionless in a car, bus or train or lounging on the sofa watching TV, we have a much more sedentary lifestyle than our parents and grandparents did. The question that this raises is just what is it doing to our bodies? 

您知道吗，许多成年人每天坐着的时间超过九个小时——也许您就是其中之一！ 无论是在办公桌前工作，一动不动地坐在汽车、公共汽车或火车上，还是躺在沙发上看电视，我们的生活方式比我们的父母和祖父母要久坐得多。 这就提出了一个问题：它对我们的身体有什么影响？ 

The news isn't good. A study carried out in the 1950s compared bus drivers with the conductors, who walked around the bus selling tickets. It showed that drivers, who spent many hours sat at the wheel, were twice as likely to have heart attacks than the more active conductors. In fact, prolonged sitting has been associated with a number of different conditions, even in people who otherwise take regular exercise. If you sit down all day, you burn far fewer calories than someone with a more active job. There are suggestions that it slows your metabolism and makes it harder for your body to regulate blood sugar levels, increasing the risk of diabetes. 

消息不太好。 20 世纪 50 年代进行的一项研究将公交车司机与在公交车周围走动售票的售票员进行了比较。 研究表明，长时间坐在方向盘上的司机患心脏病的可能性是比较活跃的乘务员的两倍。 事实上，长时间坐着与许多不同的状况有关，即使对于那些经常锻炼的人也是如此。 如果你整天坐着，你燃烧的卡路里比那些从事更活跃工作的人要少得多。 有人建议，它会减慢新陈代谢，使身体更难调节血糖水平，从而增加患糖尿病的风险。 

One possible answer to this problem is for desk workers to use standing desks, to spend at least part of their day on their feet. One small study showed that office workers who stood for three hours after lunch had a much smaller increase in blood sugar levels, while another suggested that by standing for three or four hours a day over the period of a year, people would burn as many calories as if they had run ten marathons. 

解决这个问题的一个可能的办法是让办公桌工作人员使用站立式办公桌，每天至少有一部分时间是站着的。 一项小型研究表明，午饭后站立三个小时的上班族血糖水平增幅要小得多，而另一项研究表明，在一年内每天站立三到四个小时，人们会燃烧同样多的卡路里 就好像他们跑了十场马拉松一样。 

Other experts question this figure and point out that standing all day can also have negative impacts, such as leg or back pain, recommending that if people do want to use standing desks, they should gradually increase the amount of time that they spend on their feet. Crucially, they also point out that there are many alternatives to sitting, and that their impact is unlikely to be the same: walking, for example, burns far more calories than standing. 

其他专家对这个数字提出质疑，并指出整天站立也会产生负面影响，例如腿部或背部疼痛，建议如果人们确实想使用站立式办公桌，应该逐渐增加站立的时间 。 至关重要的是，他们还指出，除了坐着之外，还有很多其他选择，而且它们的影响不太可能相同：例如，步行比站立燃烧的卡路里要多得多。 

词汇表

sit down 坐下，坐着
motionless 静止不动的
lounge 休息，闲散地坐着
sedentary lifestyle 缺乏运动的生活方式
sit at the wheel 坐在方向盘前，驾车
heart attack 心脏病发作
prolonged sitting 久坐
burn calories 消耗热量
active 身体活动的，经常运动的
metabolism 新陈代谢
regulate blood sugar levels 调节血糖水平
diabetes 糖尿病
desk worker 伏案工作者
standing desk 站立式办公桌
on someone's feet 站着
stand 站立，站着
walking 走路，步行