Stop for a second and notice the way you are sitting. Back curved, shoulders slumped, maybe legs crossed? For people who spend the day staring at a computer screen, this position is fairly typical. But what is it doing to your spine, if anything? Do we need to sit up straight to focus, like that mean math teacher once insisted? Here’s some straight talk from one expert, Mladen Golubic, medical director for the Center for Lifestyle Medicine at Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute.
停下手里的事情，注意一下你的坐姿吧！驼背、缩肩，说不定还翘着二郎腿？对于整天盯着电脑屏幕的人来说，这个姿势相当典型。然而，如果这种坐姿会伤害你的脊柱呢？另外，我们真的必须坐直了才能集中精力吗，就像小时候严厉的数学老师要求的那样？克里夫兰诊所健康协会(Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute)生活方式医疗中心(Center for Lifestyle Medicine)的医学主任穆雷登•戈卢比奇(Mladen Golubic)就坐姿问题畅谈了自己的看法。
Degrees of Comfort
舒适的坐姿角度
Little research has been done on the best way to sit upright. One American meta study in 1999 concluded that sitting at an angle of 110 to 130 degrees was optimal for spine comfort. A Scottish study published in 2007 found that leaning back at 135 degrees is ideal to prevent back strain. While interesting, this sort of precision may be impractical for most people, Dr. Golubic says.
至今，围绕最佳坐姿的研究仍寥寥可数。美国的一项于1999年进行的整合分析研究指出，身体躯干和大腿呈100度至130度角的坐姿最能令脊柱放松。苏格兰的一项于2007年发表了论文的研究发现，角度为135度的后仰坐姿对防止背部酸痛最为有利。戈卢比奇博士表示，虽然这些研究令人颇感兴趣，但对于大多数人来讲，如此精确地拿捏坐姿角度或许并不可行。
Sitting to Death?
久坐伤身
His clinic sees patients with multiple chronic illnesses. Nearly all of them sit for long periods each day. The term Sedentary Death Syndrome was coined by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in 2002 to address the growing consequences of a seated lifestyle. ‘There are studies on Sedentary Death Syndrome that show that sitting for hours can cause anything from lower back pain to high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity,’ he says. In other words, no matter what position you’re sitting in all day, it is pretty bad for you.
克里夫兰诊所治疗过患有多种慢性疾病的病人。几乎所有这类患者都是每天久坐不动。2002年，美国总统健康及运动委员会(President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports)为应对久坐的生活方式所带来的日益严峻的问题创造了一个新词──体力活动缺乏综合症(Sedentary Death Syndrome)。戈卢比奇博士称：“有关体力活动缺乏综合症的研究表明，久坐数个小时可能引发腰痛、高胆固醇、糖尿病及肥胖症等多种疾病。”换句话说，不管用哪种坐姿整天坐着，对你的身体都颇为有害。
The Perfect Pose
最佳坐姿
Body posture determines the efficiency of your breathing. ‘Relaxed, straight sitting’ — with the core strong, shoulder blades active but not tight and spine erect — ‘expands your chest, allowing you to take in a larger breath . . . and you’ll have more energy and focus,’ Dr. Golubic says. To achieve this, sit away from the back of your chair so you don’t slump, with your feet placed firmly on the ground. He sometimes sends patients home with a blue dot to put on their computer screens as a reminder to sit up straight and stretch and take a deep breath when they feel pain. There is also an app called PostureTrack that alerts users when they’re slumping.
身体姿势是对呼吸效果起决定性作用的因素。戈卢比奇博士说，“放松，坐直”──保持身体核心稳定、打开但别绷紧肩胛骨并挺直脊柱──“挺胸，深呼吸……你会感觉到更有活力，更能集中精力”。为保持这样的坐姿，你需要和椅背保持一定距离，以防止自己瘫靠在椅子上，同时你的双脚应该稳稳地踩在地上。有些时候，他会让患者把一个蓝色的圆点贴纸带回家贴到电脑上，以此提醒患者在感觉到酸痛时，应该坐直、舒展身体并深呼吸。另外，有一款名为PostureTrack的应用程序可以在用户弯腰驼背时发出警报。
Slump to a Hump
弯腰驼背的害处
It’s not as though slouching will give you a hunchback in a day, but ‘if you do this day after day, and your muscles are not strong, the whole skeleton changes,’ Dr. Golubic says. ‘I’m not aware of any studies that look at the changes in the volume of organs like the liver and spleen when you sit straight or slump forward. But we do know that when you slouch, you project an attitude of depression and low motivation.’ When you sit up straight, he adds, ‘psychologically, your attitude is better.’
并不是说坐没坐相会让你在一天之内变成驼背，但戈卢比奇博士称：“如果长此以往，你的肌肉又不够强壮，你全身的骨骼就会变形。据我所知，还没有哪项课题就人坐直时和驼背时内脏（如肝脏和脾脏）的体积变化进行过研究。但是我们知道的是，当你驼背时，你会传递出令人感觉你萎靡不振和情绪低落的信号。”他补充道，当你坐直时，“给人感觉你的心理状态比较好”。
Core Message
腰痛发出的信号
If you’re not used to sitting up straight, you may feel lower back pain — an indicator that you need to strengthen your core and work on general fitness. Dr. Golubic almost always advises his patients to start yoga: ‘The first thing we learn in yoga is how to sit properly.’
如果你还不习惯于直坐，你可能会感觉到腰痛──这说明你需要进行核心力量训练并提高身体的综合素质。基本上，戈卢比奇会建议所有的患者开始练习瑜伽：“在瑜伽课上，我们最先学习的就是正确的坐姿。”
Walk, Don’t Sit
多走并避免久坐
The bottom line: How you sit is less important than how long you sit, Dr. Golubic says. He tries to get up from his desk often, doing ‘walking meetings’ with colleagues and taking phone calls outdoors. ‘If you cannot walk,’ he says, ‘At least stand.’
底线：戈卢比奇博士称，坐姿如何远不及坐的时间长短对身体的影响大。他本人会尽可能频繁地离开书桌，和同事们“边走路边开会”，并到室外接打电话。他说：“如果你没有条件走动，至少该多站站。”