為了健康，請放下

(HealthDay)—The advice to "let go" of negative feelings is repeated in yoga classes and self-help books. Now a new study suggests it really brings a lasting health benefit.

些雞湯文甚至是瑜伽課都會告訴你，要學著放下負面情緒。而現(xiàn)在的確有新研究表明，放下負面情緒確實對身體健康有長久的益處。

The study, of more than 1,100 middle-aged adults, found that those who had a hard time getting over daily stressors typically had more physical health problems a decade later.

此次研究對象為1000多名中年人，研究人員針對他們每天的焦慮程度和一個星期以后的情緒作了記錄，還包括十年后他們的身體狀況。結果發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些曾經很難應對日常壓力的人在若干年后身體的毛病會更多一些。

And it wasn't just that people who were less healthy to begin with had more negative emotions.

此外，研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，即使是身體好一點的人，也開始有了更多的負面情緒。

The researchers accounted for any physical health conditions study participants had at the outset—and the ability to "let go" was still tied to better health 10 years later.

研究人員解釋了實驗之初參與者的身體狀況，并指出：在十年后，懂得放手的人身體的確更好一些。

The findings, published recently in the journal Psychological Science, don't prove that getting over a bad mood will boost your physical well-being.

這篇發(fā)表在《心理科學》上的文章還表明，克服消極情緒也并沒有給你的身體帶來什么益處。

But they do add to evidence that our reactions to stress take a physical toll, said James Maddux, a researcher who was not involved in the study.

詹姆斯 · 馬德克斯(James Maddux)是 喬治梅森大學“提升幸福感中心”的資深學者，雖然他沒有參與本次研究。

"What's interesting here is that the researchers looked at the 'day-after' effects," said Maddux. He is a senior scholar at George Mason University's Center for the Advancement of Well-Being in Fairfax, Va.

他說：“這次實驗使我們更加明確了一點，即我們對壓力的處理方式若有不妥，勢必會對身體造成傷害。本次研究的特別之處在于，研究人員考慮了‘日后影響’。”

If you tend to ruminate over daily hassles—running through every "what if" and "if only"—it amplifies the impact of a minor event, Maddux said.

馬德克斯說，如果你每天都因為一件小事不斷地想“如果這樣，后果會怎樣”、“要是我當時那么做就好了”，那這無形之中就會放大這件微不足道的小事的負面影響。

"You probably find you feel even worse after a night of ruminating," he said.If that cycle is repeated over time,"there's an accumulation of physiological responses that will wear you down," Maddux explained.

馬德克斯說，如果你每天都因為一件小事不斷地想“如果這樣，后果會怎樣”、“要是我當時那么做就好了”，那這無形之中就會放大這件微不足道的小事的負面影響。你甚至還會發(fā)現(xiàn)，即使你思考了一夜，焦慮之情并沒有緩解半分，感覺反而更糟了。“一系列生理反應都會讓你疲憊不堪。”他說。

The study results are based on 1,155 people who took part in a national health study. They kept track of their daily hassles and their emotional responses to them for about a week.Each day, participants described their mood changes over the past 24 hours—estimating how much time they spent feeling nervous, sad, angry or upset, for example. So the researchers were able to look at whether people were still out of sorts the day after an everyday stressor, like an argument or a bad day at work.Ten years later, participants rated their physical well-being—including whether they had chronic health conditions, trouble exercising or limitations in daily tasks, such as climbing stairs or carrying groceries.

實驗中，參與者每天都會描述在過去的24小時內他們的情緒——如焦慮、緊張、沮喪等，并對這些情緒到底維持了多長時間做了估計。因此，研究人員也就能估計在頭一天的負面情緒后，第二天是否仍然情緒低落。十年后，研究人員再次評估了他們的身體狀況，包括他們是否患有慢性疾病、每天工作時是否會力不從心、運動是否困難，例如爬樓梯、搬搬東西這樣的事兒。

Those issues were common: By the 10-year mark, only 17 percent of study participants were free of physical health conditions, and only 20 percent had no complaints about physical limitations.

答案似乎很一致：只有17%的人身體還比較硬朗，而只有20%的人沒有抱怨身體不如從前。

But those problems were more common among people who had reported letting negative emotions linger in response to daily hassles, the findings showed.

但研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些在日常生活中遇到負面情緒的人更容易出現(xiàn)這些問題。

And it's the "lingering" part—versus short-lived aggravation—that's key, according to lead researcher Kate Leger. She is a doctoral student in psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine.

首席研究員凱特·萊格(Kate Leger)表示, 這種影響不是暫時的，而是"揮之不去的"的。她是加利福尼亞大學歐文分校的心理學和社會行為學的博士生。

People can be prone to prolonged bad moods for various reasons, Leger said. For some, anxiety or depression could be driving it. Many others naturally have a more-anxious disposition or are drawn to ruminate.

她說，人們可能因為各種原因而心情一直都不好，對有些人來說，焦慮或抑郁是長期心情不好的原因之一，還有一些人則是天生就容易犯焦慮。

But even if it's your nature to hold onto negative vibes, that can be changed, she suggested.

但她認為，哪怕你生來悲觀，也是可以改變的。

"Yes, it's hard to 'let go,' " Leger said. But, she added, people can cultivate that skill through practices like "mindfulness" and meditation, in which you train the mind to focus on the present, rather than worries about the past.

“我知道讓負面情緒順其自然很難。”萊格說。但她補充到，我們可以借助“正念”或是“冥想”等手段以培養(yǎng)這項技能。在練習中，你可以試著讓大腦專注于現(xiàn)在，而不是擔心過去。

"Focusing on the present, especially on things you are grateful for, has been shown to have several benefits, including improved mood and well-being," Leger said.

“活在當下，為你所擁有的而感恩，這樣做十分有益，還能改善情緒和提升幸福感。”

Maddux agreed that meditation can help. Plus, he said, the premise behind standard mental health "talk therapies" is that people can, in fact, learn to change ingrained ways of thinking.

馬德克斯補充到，冥想也會有用。因為解決心理問題的“談話療法”的前提就是，人們都可以改變自己根深蒂固的思想方式。

"Some people believe that worrying can actually prevent bad things from happening," Maddux said. So it can be hard for them to see that same mindset as a source of problems, rather than solutions. But, he said, it's possible.

他說，有的人認為只要心里感到憂慮擔心，壞事就不會發(fā)生，但他們沒意識到，同樣的心態(tài)正是問題的根源。

"You can start to see that maybe the problem is in the way that you think—and not in what other people are doing," he said. "Anyone can learn to better manage their emotions."

“你會明白，真正重要的不是別人怎么做了，而是你自己怎么想了。任何人都可以成為自己情緒的主人。”他說。