每日英語跟讀 Ep.K272: About old age - Housework may promote health in old age, study suggests
Household chores might seem a drag, but researchers have suggested tasks like dusting, scrubbing floors and washing the windows might help adults to stay healthy into old age.
家務瑣事也許看似累贅，但研究人員指出，清理灰塵、拖地、擦窗等家務活動，可能有助於成年人到老年以後，保持身體健康。
Writing in the journal BMJ Open, a Singapore-based team of researchers said regular physical activity “improves physical and mental health, mitigates the risks and effects of chronic diseases, and reduces falls, immobility, dependency and mortality among older adults”.
該研究結果由一個新加坡研究團隊發表在《英國醫學期刊》（BMJ Open）上。研究報告指出，常做體力活動可以「改善身心健康，減輕慢性病的風險和影響，降低老年人跌倒、臥床不起、失去獨立生活能力和死亡的機率。」
After taking into account factors including age and sex, the team found cognitive scores and attention scores were 8% and 14% higher respectively for older adults doing high amounts of heavy housework – on average 131 minutes a week – compared with low levels, which appeared to amount to none at all.
在考慮年齡、性別等因素後，研究團隊發現，做大量重度家務（每週平均131分鐘）的老年人，認知功能和注意力得分比很少做家務的老年人分別高出8％和14％。
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Elderly people who exercise live five years longer 運動的老人多活5年
Regular exercise in old age has as powerful an effect on life expectancy as giving up smoking, researchers say. The analysis of 5,700 elderly men in Norway showed those doing three hours of exercise a week lived around five years longer than the sedentary.
研究人員說，老年規律運動對平均餘命影響之大，效果等同戒菸。在挪威分析5700名老人，顯示每週做3小時運動者，比久坐者多活約5年。
In the study - conducted by Oslo University Hospital - found both light and vigorous exercise extended life expectancy.
由奧斯陸大學醫院進行的研究發現，輕量與劇烈運動都可以增加平均餘命。
The trial tracking 68 to 77 year olds found that doing less than an hour a week of light exercise had no impact. But overall those putting in the equivalent of six, 30-minute sessions of any intensity, were 40% less likely to have died during the 11-year study.
研究追蹤68至77歲的樣本後發現，每週輕量運動不到1小時者沒有影響，但整體而言，不論做何種強度的運動6小時30分者，在這份11年的研究中，死亡率低40%。
The report said: "Even when men were 73 years of age on average at start of follow-up, active persons had five years longer expected lifetime than the sedentary." It added that physical activity was as "beneficial as smoking cessation" at reducing deaths.
這份報告說：「即便是追蹤開始時男性平均73歲，活躍的人還是比久坐者多活5年。」報告還說，身體活動對減少死亡而言，「和戒菸一樣好」。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1488512 ; http://iservice.ltn.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=886235&day=2015-06-04