Mark Ramirez, a senior executive at AOL, could work in the cushiest leather chair, if he wanted. No, thanks. He prefers to stand most of the day at a desk raised above stomach level.
"I've got my knees bent, I feel totally alive," he said. "It feels more natural to stand."
In the past few years, standing has become the new sitting for 10 percent of AOL employees at the firm's Virginia campus, part of a standing ovation among accountants, programmers, telemarketers and other office workers across the nation.
GeekDesk, a California firm that sells $800 desks raised by electric motors, says sales will triple this year.
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.)
But unknown to them, a debate is percolating among ergonomics experts and public-health researchers about whether all office workers should be encouraged to stand — to save lives.
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.
"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 cusp of a major revolution." He calls sitting "the new smoking."
Not so fast, other experts say. Standing too much at work will cause more long-term back injuries. Incidences of varicose veins among women will increase. The heart will have to pump more.
Hedge, the Cornell professor, isn't a fan of all this standing. "Making people stand all day is dumb," he said.
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.
美國(guó)在線公司的高級(jí)主管馬克•拉米瑞茨完全可以坐在最舒適的皮椅上工作——如果他愿意的話。但是，謝謝了。大部分時(shí)間他更喜歡站在一張桌面高于他的腹部的桌子前辦公。
他說(shuō)：“我的膝蓋可以彎曲，我覺得自己充滿活力。站著工作感覺更自然�！�
過(guò)去幾年來(lái)，在美國(guó)在線位于弗吉尼亞州的分公司中，10%的員工都采取站立這一新“坐姿”，除了他們以外，全國(guó)有許多會(huì)計(jì)人員、編程人員、電話營(yíng)銷人員和其它辦公室職員都開始流行站著工作。
總部位于加州的GeekDesk公司出售電動(dòng)辦公桌，價(jià)格可達(dá)800美元。該公司稱今年的銷售額預(yù)計(jì)將增長(zhǎng)兩倍。
站著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(qū)散睡意，而且就算他們只是在做瑣碎的工作，也會(huì)感覺自己像個(gè)將軍。(美國(guó)前國(guó)防部長(zhǎng)唐納德•拉姆斯菲爾德也是站著工作的。小說(shuō)家菲利普•羅斯也是如此。)
但他們并不知道，圍繞著是否應(yīng)該鼓勵(lì)所有辦公室職員都站著工作這一話題，在人類工程學(xué)專家和公共健康研究員當(dāng)中展開了一場(chǎng)以拯救生命為目的的辯論。
醫(yī)生們指出，新研究驚人的結(jié)果顯示，長(zhǎng)時(shí)間坐著工作的人患糖尿病、肥胖癥、心臟病甚至是死亡的幾率都比站立工作者要高�！睹绹�(guó)流行病學(xué)雜志》在今年早些時(shí)候發(fā)表的一項(xiàng)研究表明，在研究進(jìn)行期間，那些一天靜坐超過(guò)6個(gè)小時(shí)的人的死亡率，比那些靜坐時(shí)間少于3小時(shí)的人，高出至少18%。該研究在14年的時(shí)間內(nèi)對(duì)12.3萬(wàn)名成人進(jìn)行了跟蹤調(diào)查。
馬克•漢密爾頓是美國(guó)路易斯安那州彭寧頓生物醫(yī)學(xué)研究中心的權(quán)威研究人員，他的研究方向是缺乏運(yùn)動(dòng)狀態(tài)下的生理學(xué)。他說(shuō)：“我們有關(guān)久坐的每項(xiàng)研究結(jié)果都令人震驚。久坐是有害的，是危險(xiǎn)的。我們正處于一場(chǎng)重大變革的風(fēng)口浪尖�！彼麑⒕米Q為“一個(gè)像吸煙一樣有害的新殺手”。
但是，其他專家認(rèn)為，還不應(yīng)該過(guò)早下結(jié)論。工作中站立過(guò)久會(huì)導(dǎo)致更多的慢性背部損傷。而且女性靜脈曲張發(fā)病率會(huì)增加。心臟負(fù)荷也會(huì)加大。
康奈爾大學(xué)的海奇教授也不提倡站著工作。他說(shuō)：“讓人們整天站著工作是愚蠢的主張�！�
他認(rèn)為，一個(gè)合理且經(jīng)濟(jì)的方法就是，坐姿要適中，微微靠向椅背，將鍵盤放在高于膝蓋的托盤上。這個(gè)姿勢(shì)可以促進(jìn)血液循環(huán)。員工應(yīng)該不時(shí)地四處走動(dòng)，舒展一下身體，避免長(zhǎng)時(shí)間坐在辦公桌前。他說(shuō)，關(guān)鍵在于運(yùn)動(dòng)，而非站立。
Vocabulary:
cushy: very easy and pleasant; needing little or no effort(輕松愉快的;安逸的;不費(fèi)勁的)
ovation: enthusiastic clapping by an audience as a sign of their approval(熱烈鼓掌;熱烈歡迎)
take to one's feet: 在這里相當(dāng)于get to one's feet，意思是“站起來(lái)”。
push paper: 做瑣碎的工作
percolate: to gradually become known or spread through a group or society(逐漸流傳;傳開)
ergonomics: the study of working conditions, especially the design of equipment and furniture, in order to help people work more efficiently 工效學(xué)，人類工程學(xué)(研究如何改善工作條件，提高工作效率)
cusp: a pointed end where two curves meet (兩曲線相交的)尖點(diǎn)，會(huì)切點(diǎn)，交點(diǎn)
varicose veins: 靜脈曲張
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