孤獨(dú)，是否與長期炎癥有關(guān)

Being lonely or socially isolated can negatively affect your wellbeing. There is even research showing that it increases the risk of illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, dementia and depression.

孤獨(dú)或社會(huì)孤立會(huì)對你的健康產(chǎn)生負(fù)面影響。甚至有研究表明，它會(huì)增加患心血管疾病、癡呆癥和抑郁癥等疾病的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。

Some researchers suggest that loneliness and social isolation lead to poorer health because they increase inflammation. Inflammation is when your body tells your immune system to produce chemicals to fight off infection or injury. It can also occur when you experience psychological or social stress.

一些研究者認(rèn)為孤獨(dú)和社會(huì)孤立會(huì)導(dǎo)致健康狀況惡化，因?yàn)樗鼈儠?huì)增加炎癥。炎癥是指你的身體告訴你的免疫系統(tǒng)產(chǎn)生化學(xué)物質(zhì)來抵抗感染或傷害。當(dāng)你經(jīng)歷心理或社會(huì)壓力時(shí)，也會(huì)發(fā)生這種情況。

Short-term, local inflammation – such as when you accidentally cut your finger – can be helpful, but having slightly elevated long-term inflammation is associated with poor health. Researchers propose that loneliness and social isolation are linked to this elevated long-term inflammation.

短期的局部炎癥——比如你不小心割傷了手指——可能會(huì)有幫助，但長期炎癥輕微升高與健康狀況不佳有關(guān)。研究人員認(rèn)為孤獨(dú)和社會(huì)孤立與這種長期炎癥升高有關(guān)。

In our latest study, we wanted to see if loneliness (the subjective state of feeling alone) and social isolation (the objective state of being alone) are linked to long-term inflammation.

在我們最新的研究中，我們想看看孤獨(dú)(感覺孤獨(dú)的主觀狀態(tài))和社會(huì)孤立(孤獨(dú)的客觀狀態(tài))是否與長期炎癥有關(guān)。

To do this, we searched for all published studies that looked at loneliness with inflammation or social isolation with inflammation. We found 14 studies that examined loneliness and 16 that examined social isolation.

為了做到這一點(diǎn)，我們搜索了所有發(fā)表的研究，這些研究都是關(guān)于炎癥引起的孤獨(dú)或炎癥引起的社交孤立。我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了14項(xiàng)關(guān)于孤獨(dú)的研究和16項(xiàng)關(guān)于社交孤立的研究。

Our analysis revealed that people who are more socially isolated have higher levels of two inflammatory chemicals: C-reactive protein and fibrinogen. C-reactive protein is commonly used as an indicator of inflammation and high levels are associated with poor health.

我們的分析顯示，社會(huì)孤立程度越高的人，兩種炎性化學(xué)物質(zhì)的水平越高:c反應(yīng)蛋白和纖維蛋白原。c反應(yīng)蛋白常被用作炎癥指標(biāo)，高水平的c反應(yīng)蛋白與不良健康狀況有關(guān)。

Fibrinogen increases blood clotting and is higher when people have an injury or trauma. When people have long-term increased levels of these inflammatory markers, it can lead to an increased risk of poorer health over time.

纖維蛋白原增加血液凝結(jié)，當(dāng)人們受到傷害或創(chuàng)傷時(shí)，纖維蛋白原含量更高。當(dāng)人們長期增加這些炎癥標(biāo)志物的水平時(shí)，隨著時(shí)間的推移，可能導(dǎo)致健康狀況惡化的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)增加。

An evolved response?

進(jìn)化的反應(yīng)?

Social isolation could be linked to higher levels of inflammation for several reasons. It could be that social isolation leads to inflammation. We have evolved to be a social species, so being socially isolated could be a source of stress. And stress has a direct effect on the immune system.

社會(huì)孤立可能與更高水平的炎癥有關(guān)，原因有幾個(gè)?？赡苁巧鐣?huì)孤立導(dǎo)致炎癥。我們已經(jīng)進(jìn)化成一個(gè)社會(huì)物種，所以被社會(huì)孤立可能是壓力的來源。壓力對免疫系統(tǒng)有直接影響。

It is also possible that we evolved to turn on our immune response when we are isolated. This is because when alone we could be at a greater risk of being injured. Our immune system may have learned to turn itself on to prepare for this greater risk.

當(dāng)我們被孤立的時(shí)候，我們也有可能進(jìn)化來開啟我們的免疫反應(yīng)。這是因?yàn)楫?dāng)我們獨(dú)自一人時(shí)，可能會(huì)有更大的受傷風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。我們的免疫系統(tǒng)可能已經(jīng)學(xué)會(huì)了打開自己，為這種更大的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)做準(zhǔn)備。

It is also possible that inflammation leads to social isolation. People who are ill and have higher levels of inflammation can feel like they don't want to be around other people. This could be because we have evolved to want to isolate ourselves so we don't infect other people.

炎癥也有可能導(dǎo)致社會(huì)孤立。生病和炎癥程度更高的人會(huì)覺得自己不想和別人在一起。這可能是因?yàn)槲覀冞M(jìn)化到想要孤立自己，這樣我們就不會(huì)感染其他人。

People who have lots of physical illnesses also have higher levels of inflammation. Those people who have lots of physical illnesses are sometimes not as able to get around and could become socially isolated because of this.

有很多身體疾病的人也有更高水平的炎癥。那些有很多身體疾病的人有時(shí)不能四處走動(dòng)，因此可能會(huì)在社會(huì)上變得孤立。

The evidence linking loneliness with inflammation was less convincing. We found some evidence that loneliness was linked to an inflammatory chemical called interleukin-6. But this was not a consistent finding and was based on only two studies.

把孤獨(dú)和炎癥聯(lián)系起來的證據(jù)不那么令人信服。我們發(fā)現(xiàn)一些證據(jù)表明，孤獨(dú)與一種叫做白細(xì)胞介素-6的炎癥化學(xué)物質(zhì)有關(guān)。但這并不是一個(gè)統(tǒng)一的科學(xué)發(fā)現(xiàn)，而且只基于兩項(xiàng)研究。

This suggests that there may not be a direct effect of loneliness on inflammation. Instead, loneliness may change how our body responds to stress. There is research showing that lonely people are more likely to have an enhanced inflammatory response to stress.

這表明孤獨(dú)感對炎癥可能沒有直接影響。相反，孤獨(dú)可能會(huì)改變我們的身體對壓力的反應(yīng)。有研究表明，孤獨(dú)的人更有可能對壓力有更強(qiáng)烈的炎癥反應(yīng)。

Our study provides some evidence of a link between social isolation and inflammation. But we think that the link between loneliness and social isolation with poor health is a lot more complex than inflammation.

我們的研究為社交孤立和炎癥之間的聯(lián)系提供了一些證據(jù)。但我們認(rèn)為，孤獨(dú)和社交孤立與健康不良之間的聯(lián)系要比炎癥復(fù)雜得多。