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A flexible work life such as telecommuting, is good for your health, researchers said.
They found that if people have the ability to work from home and to compress work weeks, they are more likely to make healthier lifestyle choices, to exercise more and to sleep better.
"Perhaps it gives people the time to fit in healthier lifestyle into their everyday regimen or maybe it just enables people to better manage their time,"
Professor Joseph G. Grzywacz, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, said in an interview.
While the primary driver behind the flexibility movement was to help people, especially women, combine work and family, evidence suggests this is clearly not only a women's issue, Grzywacz, who reported the findings in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, said.
The researchers looked at Health Risk Appraisals from employees in jobs ranging from warehouse and production workers to executives at a large multinational pharmaceutical company.
The firm used for the study is consistently recognized by Working Mother magazine as among the most family-friendly employers in the United States.
"This isn't just about high-level office workers, these people perform a wide variety of tasks within the company," Grzywacz explained.
He said the research shows public health departments and organizations that they could get something out of giving their employees more flexibility.
But, he added, further research was needed to assess the long-term benefits.
研究人员称，远程办公等弹性工作模式有益于身体健康。
研究人员发现，如果人们有条件在家工作，压缩工作周的时间，那么他们就可以选择更为健康的生活方式，锻炼身体的机会增多，睡眠也会更好。
威克森林大学医学院的约瑟夫•G•格雷兹瓦兹教授在接受采访时说：“可能弹性工作模式让人们能有更充裕的时间来实现健康的生活方式，或者是它让人们能更好地安排自己的时间。”
格雷兹瓦兹教授说，弹性工作制最初是为了帮助人们（尤其是女性）同时兼顾工作和家庭，但有关证据表明这显然不仅仅是女性的问题。该研究报告在《职业与环境医学》期刊上发表。
研究人员对一家大型跨国医药公司职员的“健康风险评估”进行了研究分析，职员涉及仓储、生产和管理等多个不同的岗位。
该公司连续被《职业妈妈》杂志评为美国最关心员工家庭的几大公司之一。
格雷兹瓦兹解释说：“这并不仅仅针对管理层，而是涉及到公司各个岗位的员工。”
格雷兹瓦兹说，该研究能让公共卫生部门和相关机构认识到，给员工更多的自由其实能带来很多益处。
但他说，要评估弹性工作制的长期益处还需要开展进一步研究。
Vocabulary:
work from home:在家工作
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