日常健康“七宗罪”，你也有吗？

Shower every day? Rinse after brushing teeth? These `healthy` habits could be devilishly bad for you.
每天洗澡？刷牙后漱口？这些看似健康的习惯可能会对你造成极大的伤害。

Could your daily routine be ruining your health? We all know that smoking, drinking and bingeing on junk food are behaviours to avoid if we want to keep fit — but an increasing amount of research is emerging to suggest other seemingly benign habits could also be bad for us.
你的日常生活习惯会损害你的健康吗？我们都知道如果想保持健康，应该避免吸烟、饮酒以及无节制地食用垃圾食品，但是越来越多的研究表明其他一些貌似良好的习惯也会损害我们的健康。

Here are the seven daily sins, and what we can do about them.
以下是损害健康的七宗罪以及应对方法。

Daily sin: shower every day
七宗罪之一：每天洗澡

The modern preoccupation with personal hygiene could be to the detriment of our skin, according to Dr Nick Lowe, consultant dermatologist at the Cranley Clinic in London.
伦敦克兰利诊所的皮肤科医生尼克•洛博士称，现代人对个人卫生的重视可能会损害我们的皮肤。

He says: “Using piping-hot water combined with harsh soaps can strip the skin of its oils, resulting in dryness, cracking and even infection.”
尼克•洛博士表示：“用很烫的水和刺激性很强的肥皂洗澡会洗去皮肤的油脂，导致皮肤干燥、开裂甚至感染。”

If the prospect of skipping a daily shower horrifies you, at least make sure you wash with cooler water, he says.
尼克•洛说：“如果不每天洗澡会让你难以接受，那你至少要确保用凉一点的水来洗。”

If you have a tendency towards dry skin, use a soap-free shower gel or aqueous cream.
如果你的皮肤比较容易干燥，就用不含皂剂的沐浴液或者水质乳剂。

Daily sin: sleeping eight hours a day
七宗罪之二：每日睡眠八小时

The notion of getting eight hours of solid sleep each night is a ‘modern convention’ that could leave you feeling more tired, says Professor Jim Horne, of Loughborough University’s Sleep Research Centre.
拉夫堡大学睡眠研究中心的吉姆•霍恩教授称，每晚八小时的深度睡眠是一种“现代习俗”，而这个习俗可能会让你感到更加疲惫。

‘A short four to 15-minute “power nap” can be as effective as an extra hour at night.’
“4到15分钟的短暂‘有效小睡’和晚上多睡一小时的效果一样好。”

He adds: ‘This modern notion that waking in the middle of the night is a bad thing can actually be destructive to the quality of our sleep.
霍恩补充道：“人们认为在半夜醒来是件坏事，这一现代观念实际上会损害我们的睡眠质量。”

‘For instance we wake at 3am and lie there becoming anxious about not sleeping, whereas we should simply get up and occupy our minds with something distracting but relaxing — such as doing a jigsaw or reading a book — until our bodies tell us we’re ready to sleep again.’
“比方讲，我们凌晨三点醒来，躺在那儿，开始因为睡不着而焦躁。其实这时候我们就应该起来，做一些能分散自己注意力而又轻松的事儿——比如拼图、看书——直到我们又想睡了为止。”

Daily sin: rising after brushing teeth
七宗罪之三：刷牙后漱口

Fight the urge to rinse after cleaning your teeth, says dentist Dr Phil Stemmer, from The Fresh Breath Centre in London.
伦敦口气清新中心的牙医菲尔•斯坦姆称，刷完牙后，不应急着漱口。

‘Rinsing washes away the protective flouride coating left by the toothpaste, which would otherwise add hours of protection.’
“漱口会冲走牙膏留下的氟化物保护层，而该保护层原本会有数小时的保护作用。”

And whatever you do don’t clean you teeth straight after eating, he says.
菲尔•斯坦姆表示：“无论怎样，都不要在吃完东西以后立即刷牙。”

‘The best routine is to brush your teeth before meals, and then freshen up after eating using an alcohol-free mouthwash.’
“最好的习惯就是在餐前刷牙，饭后用不含酒精的漱口水清洁口腔。”

Daily sin: sitting on the loo
七宗罪之四：坐马桶

A study published by Israeli scientists in the journal Digestive Diseases and Sciences revealed that squatting instead of sitting is a more natural position. This in turn reduces the risk of bowel problems such as haemorrhoids and diverticular disease.
以色列科学家刊登在《消化道疾病与科学》杂志上的研究表明，蹲这种姿势比坐更自然。蹲着上厕所会降低患痔疮、憩室症等肠道疾病的风险。

He advises patients who are having trouble with bowel movements to place something under their feet while seated on the toilet, as this helps to simulate the squatting position.
他建议排便有困难的患者坐在马桶上时，在脚下垫点儿东西，因为这样有助于模拟蹲着的姿势。

Daily sin: cleaning
七宗罪之五：做清洁

It’s the perfect excuse to unplug the vacuum and abandon the washing up — housework can actually be bad for your health, according to research published earlier this year.
拔掉吸尘器的插头，丢开脏碗碟有了完美的理由——今年早些时候发表的研究称，家务活实际上对健康有害。

Scientists in the U.S. found those who took on most of the responsibility for running the home had significantly higher blood pressure than those who left it to their partner.
美国科学家发现，包揽大部分家务活的人与把家务活留给配偶做的人相比，血压要高出很多。

Daily sin: breathing wrongly
七宗罪之六：错误的呼吸方式

Ask anyone to take in a deep breath and they will no doubt puff out their chest as they inhale — but this is wrong, says Neil Shah, psychotherapist and director of the Stress Management Society.
压力管理协会主任、心理医生尼尔•沙说：“随便找个人做深呼吸，他吸气时肯定是胸腔鼓起。但这种呼吸方式是错误的。”

‘This means that stale air lingers in the bottom of our lungs.Yet it’s the bottom section of the lungs that contains the warmest and wettest blood vessels — the most efficient for gas exchange and moving oxygen into the blood.’
“这就意味着浑浊的空气老是存留在肺的底部。但正是肺的底部含有温度最高、血流量最大的血管，最频繁的气体交换在这里进行，将氧气运送到血液中。”

Luckily, you can train your body to go back to breathing properly, he says.
尼尔•沙说，幸运的是，你可以通过训练自己来恢复恰当的呼吸方式。

To practice it, try to inflate your stomach as you breathe in, while keeping your chest relatively still — imagine a beach ball inflating in the space between your belly button and your spine, pushing your tummy out.
正确的训练方式是：吸气时保持腹部鼓起，而保持胸部相对静止不动，想象你的肚脐和脊椎之间有一个大型充气球正在膨胀，正在把你的胃推出去。

Then contract your abdominal muscles on the exhale.
接下来呼气时要收缩腹肌。

Just a few minutes each day practising can have a huge effect — it can help combat stress and even lower blood pressure.
每天只需练习几分钟就会有显著的效果。恰当的呼吸方式可以减少压力，甚至可以降低血压。

Daily sin: relaxing after dinner
七宗罪之七：饭后即刻放松

We’ve all been there — after a busy day you whip up a quick supper before relaxing on the sofa for an hour and then head towards your bed.
忙碌了一天，匆匆吃过晚饭，就在沙发上瘫坐一小时，然后去睡觉，这样的情况我们都有过。

‘If you’re inactive during the evening, or you eat just before bed, your body’s more likely to lay down that food as fat,’ says Claire MacEvilly, nutritionist at the Human Nutrition Research laboratory at Cambridge University.
剑桥大学人类营养研究实验室的营养学家克莱尔•麦可艾弗里称：“如果你晚上不怎么活动，或是吃完就睡的话，身体就更容易把摄入的食物转换成脂肪积攒下来。”

‘But taking a brisk 20-minute walk after dinner means there’s no reason why eating your evening meal at 8pm, or even 9pm should make you put on any weight.’
“但如果饭后散步20分钟的话，就算你晚上8点甚至9点吃饭，也不会长胖。