邊走路邊發短信爲什麼更容易摔跤大綱

The cognitive challenges of walking while texting are well known, both to scientists and to those of us who have ambled into a light pole or a fellow pedestrian or have been on the receiving end of someone else's distracted Movements. Strolling while talking on the phone — or, more particular, texting — ties up the brain's relatively limited working attentional resources, most researchers would agree, much as those activities do when you are driving.
邊走邊發短信會帶來認知挑戰，這一點不僅僅爲科學家，也爲那些曾經一頭撞上電線杆或者別的路人，或者曾被走神的人撞上的人來說所熟知。邊走邊使用電話——或者更具體地說，發短信——涉及到的工作記憶資源相對有限，至少不會超過你開車時發短信涉及的大腦資源，對此大部分研究人員都認同。

But walking is not driving. In some ways, it's more demanding. You sit while you drive. Walking requires a multitude of orchestrated actions and reactions. But whether and how using a phone affects the physical process of walking and whether those impacts might have health costs have been little explored.
但走路跟開車不同。在某種角度來說，它提出的要求更高。開車時你是坐着的，而走路需要多種行爲和反應協調一致。不過，用手機是否或如何影響走路這種生理過程，以及這種影響是否會產生健康損害，這些還甚少得到研究。

So researchers at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, rounded up 26 healthy adults for a study, published last month in PLOS One, and sent them strolling repeatedly along a 28-foot stretch of hallway while cameras captured their steps. In one setup, the volunteers walked without a phone; in another, they read a long text on a phone's screen; and in a third, they texted "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." The volunteers were told to hold the phone and type as they usually would. They were also asked to try to walk as normally as possible.
澳大利亞布里斯班的昆士蘭大學(University of Queensland)研究人員因此做了一項試驗，徵集了26名健康成人，並請他們在一條長爲28英尺的走廊上反覆行走，用攝像機記錄下他們的腳步。一次安排這些志願者在走路時不拿手機；另一次邊走邊在手機上看一條長長的短信；第三次則是邊走邊發短信，內容爲：敏捷的褐色狐狸跳過了懶狗。志願者需要手持手機，用習慣的方式來編輯短信內容，同時需要走起路來儘量跟平常一樣。這份研究上月發表在《公共科學圖書館·綜合》(PLOS One)上。

As it turned out, texting significantly distorted their gait and walking form, whether they intended to contort themselves or not. Most noticeable, the volunteers began to walk with a more upright and rigid body position. Their heads froze into cocked and largely unchanging positions, eyes on the screen, chins bent toward their chests. Their necks and lower back joints had significantly less range of motion. They displayed "tighter mechanical constraint" in their upper bodies and midsections, according to the researchers; arms stopped swinging loosely and were bent and locked into place. The pelvic joints likewise stiffened, making leg motion jerkier. In general, the texters moved "like robots," said Siobhan Schabrun, an honorary senior fellow at the University of Queensland, who led the study.
研究發現，不管人們是否會有意識地加以控制，發短信都會顯著扭曲人們的姿勢和步態。最值得注意的是，這些志願者走起路來時，身體的姿勢變得更爲挺直、僵硬。他們的頭歪了起來，而且角度沒怎麼變化，眼睛盯着屏幕，下巴垂到胸前。他們的脖子和後腰關節活動範圍顯著變小。據研究人員說，這些參試人員的上半身和腰腹部出現了“更緊張的力學約束”，上臂不再鬆弛擺動，而是彎了起來，固定在身體兩側。骨盆關節同樣僵硬，這令雙腿動作變得不再穩定。這項研究的領導者、昆士蘭大學榮譽資深研究員西沃恩·斯格布蘭(Siobhan Schabrun)介紹說，總的來看，發短信的人走起路來“像是機器人”。

Simultaneously, their gait patterns changed. Texters took significantly shorter steps, and their pace slowed. They also "deviated more from a straight line," the study's authors wrote, meaning that with almost every step, they set their feet farther to the side.
與此同時，他們的步態模式也改變了。發短信的人走的步伐明顯變小，速度放慢。研究的作者在論文中指出，他們同時“常常偏離直線”，這指的是參試人員每走一步，步子都會往路邊湊近一點。

These adjustments, although relatively slight, could result in both immediate and longer-term physical consequences, Dr. Schabrun said. In the short term, they increase the likelihood that you will trip, and not merely because you neglect to look where you are going while texting. "Previous studies, many in elderly populations, have shown that a more rigid posture, such as this, can put you at greater risk of falling," Dr. Schabrun said.
斯格布蘭博士說，這些調整儘管較爲微妙，但可能會產生即時和遠期的生理後果。短期來說，這會加劇人們絆倒的可能性，而且這不僅僅是因爲你在走路時沒看路。“此前很多在年長人羣中進行的研究已經顯示，出現這一類僵硬體態，更容易加大你摔跤的危險，”斯格布蘭說。

Frequent peripatetic texting also may cause or worsen neck and shoulder pain, Dr. Schabrun suggested, by reducing the neck joint's natural range of motion. If you walk and text, occasionally move out of pedestrian traffic and gently tilt your head forward and back, an easy exercise to combat neck stiffness.
斯格布蘭博士還認爲，頻繁在走路時發短信會限制脖子的自然活動範圍，引發或加劇脖子和肩膀疼痛。如果你非得走路時發短信，那麼最好是能不時離開人行道，輕輕地前後扭動頭部，這種簡單運動可以應對脖子僵硬。

This brief intermission from texting may also reorient your body's relationship with space, Dr. Schabrun said. Normally, the body prioritizes maintaining balance over almost all other demands, she pointed out. But in perhaps the most significant implication of her study, her volunteers' bodies and brains appeared to be "prioritizing texting."
斯格布蘭說，發短信時短暫休息下，還有可能讓你的身體調整與空間的關係。她指出，我們的身體通常把保持平衡放在其他所有需求之上，但在她的研究中，一個最重要的發現也許在於，參試者的身體和大腦似乎把“發短信視爲重中之重”。