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A perennial grump? Always see the glass as half empty instead of half full? Might want to brighten up a bit – if, that is, you'd like to live longer. A new study says that the optimists among us may have a lower risk of heart disease and early death.
你是一個(gè)牢騷滿腹的人嗎？你往往只看到玻璃杯里的水是半空而不是半滿嗎？如果你想長(zhǎng)壽的話，你最好更樂觀一些。一項(xiàng)新的研究說樂觀主義者患心臟病的危險(xiǎn)可能要小一些，他們“英年早逝”的危險(xiǎn)也要小一些。
Researchers led by Hilary Tindle, an internist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, analyzed eight years of data on 97,253 women, age 50 and over, participating in the Women's Health Initiative, a 15-year study launched in 1991 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their findings, released this week at a conference of the American Psychosomatic Society in Chicago: the women who were most cheery were 30 percent less likely to die of heart disease and 14 percent less likely than their pessimistic peers to die from all causes during the study period. The results were even more striking among black women; the optimists among them were 38 percent less likely to die of heart disease and 33 percent less likely to die from all causes.
來自匹茲堡大學(xué)醫(yī)療中心（University of Pittsburgh Medical Center）的內(nèi)科醫(yī)生Hilary Tindle領(lǐng)導(dǎo)了一項(xiàng)研究，在這項(xiàng)研究中，共有97253名年齡在50歲以及以上的婦女參加了美國(guó)國(guó)家健康研究所（National Institutes of Health (NIH)）于1991年發(fā)起的為期15年的名為“婦女健康計(jì)劃”的研究，研究人員分析了其中8年的數(shù)據(jù)。他們的研究結(jié)果于本周在芝加哥的舉辦的“美國(guó)身心協(xié)會(huì)”（American Psychosomatic Society）的一次會(huì)議上公布。研究顯示：與那些悲觀的女性們相比，那些最樂觀的女性們死于心臟病的可能性要少30%，同時(shí)這些樂觀女性們?cè)谘芯科陂g死于所有其它因素的可能性少14%。對(duì)于黑人女性而言，結(jié)果更加突出；黑人女性中的樂觀者死于心臟病的可能性少了38%，而死于其它所有因素的可能性少了33%。
The researchers caution that their findings only show a link, not a cause-and-effect relationship, between optimism and health outcomes. So what is it about Pollyannas that may make them live longer? It could be that optimistic people tend to be healthier in general; they are more likely to be slim and physically active and less likely to smoke, Tindle says.
研究者們警告說，對(duì)于樂觀和健康結(jié)果之間的關(guān)系，他們的研究結(jié)果僅僅只表明了一種相關(guān)性，而不是“原因和結(jié)果”的關(guān)系。那么樂觀者們（譯者注：Pollyanna代指那些樂觀的人們）為什么更長(zhǎng)壽呢？Tindle說，這可能是因?yàn)闃酚^的人們總體上更健康一些；他們更苗條、參加更多的體育活動(dòng)，而且更少吸煙。
"Optimistic people seem to seek medical advice and follow it," she says, citing research showing that optimists are inclined to stick with diet programs prescribed by their docs. "They also have good social networks and strong social relationships," which could help them cope with chronic stress, a risk factor for heart disease.
研究顯示樂觀主義者傾向于堅(jiān)持醫(yī)生給他們開出的節(jié)食計(jì)劃，Tindle引述這些研究稱：“樂觀的人們似乎尋求醫(yī)生的建議而且不折不扣地實(shí)施下去，他們也具有良好的社會(huì)網(wǎng)絡(luò)和很強(qiáng)的人際關(guān)系。” 這些都能幫助他們對(duì)付慢性壓力，而慢性壓力是導(dǎo)致心臟病的一種風(fēng)險(xiǎn)因素。
So are pessimists doomed to die early? Not necessarily, Tindle says. This is just one study, and more research is needed to get to the bottom of that question.
那么悲觀主義者是否注定就會(huì)“英年早逝”呢？Tindle 說未必如此。這僅僅只是一個(gè)研究，要回答這個(gè)問題的本質(zhì)，還需要做很多的研究工作。
