From the early morning, I sit, glued to the chair in front of my computer, even for hours sometimes. But one thing I try to do every day is take a ten-minute walk around midday.
Walking at lunchtime is a smart thing to do, a new study finds. This doesn’t seem like news. After all, we’ve known forever that doing exercise is good for us. But as The New York Times points out, those fitness studies typically looked at the effects of exercise plans in the long run. This new study looks at changes that happen more quickly, from one day to the next or even from this hour to the next hour.
A group of office workers who almost sit got involved in the research, all out of shape, but otherwise emotionally and physically healthy. Researchers asked them to take 30-minute lunchtime walks, three days a week for 10 weeks. The volunteers were also asked to install apps on their phones, so that the researchers could send the volunteers questions after they walked. Then the researchers used those answers to judge how the volunteers were feeling about life and work, and to measure their feelings about everything from stress and tension to motivation.
When the researchers compared the volunteers’ answers on the afternoons when they walked to those on the afternoons they didn’t walk, there was quite a difference. On the days when they had a lunchtime walk, the volunteers said they felt less stressed, more energetic and more relaxed versus(与……相对) on the days when they didn’t walk.
Unfortunately, many of the volunteers weren’t confident that they’d continue walking after the study, mainly because they were expected to work through their lunch breaks. Understandable, sad.
【小题1】How does the new study differ from other fitness studies?| A．It focuses on the short-term effects of walking. |
| B．It calls on people to have a walk after lunch. |
| C．It mainly pays attention to office workers. |
| D．It aims at studying the relationship between exercise and health. |
| A．To chart their time spent online. | B．To know how long they walked. |
| C．To respond to the researchers’ questions. | D．To prevent them from getting lost. |
| A．Office workers usually have little time to go for a walk. |
| B．Walking brings more advantages to people than other exercise. |
| C．A long-time-to-sit lifestyle is linked to an increased risk of disease. |
| D．Lunchtime walks contribute to quickly boosting people’s mood. |
| A．They will spend more time walking. |
| B．Some of them tend to be more outgoing. |
| C．Most of them will perform better at work. |
| D．They may stop lunchtime walks due to work pressure. |
