Everything in moderation, as the old adage goes. As it turns out, that couldn't be more accurate, as research continues to shed light on how the modern world is damaging our health. We might be living longer today than our ancestors did, but the current era isn't as health-friendly as we might think.
老話說得好，凡事都有個度。事實證明，這句話十分準確，研究正持續揭露出現代社會是如何戕害我們的健康的。我們或許能比我們的祖先活得更久，但現在這個年代或許沒有我們想的那樣對健康多有益。
10.Feeling Guilty Can Damage Your Health
10.愧疚感能傷害你的身體
Every January, people around the world resolve to leave their bad habits behind and embark on a journey of self-improvement as the new year begins. Then, a few weeks later, everyone starts to feel a little guilty for not following through.
每年1月，全世界的人們都決心丟下他們的壞習慣并且在新年伊始時開始一場自我提升的旅程。接著，幾周以后，每個人都會為沒能做到而開始感到些許愧疚。
But while a little guilt can encourage someone to make positive changes, too much guilt is a different story. Feeling guilty isn't just unpleasant—it could be causing damage to your immune system. Researchers from Hull University found that people who felt guilty about their favorite activities had decreased levels of the antibody immunoglobulin A in their saliva. So if two people like to unwind with a box of wine and some trashy reality shows, but only one feels guilty about it, then the guilty person is more likely to catch viral and bacterial infections. That means your favorite "guilty pleasure" could be the reason you seem to catch colds more often than someone who just calls it "pleasure."
些許愧疚能鼓勵一個人做一些積極的改變，但太多的愧疚感則另當別論了。感到愧疚不只是令人不愉快——它還可能對你的免疫系統造成損害。赫爾大學的研究者們發現對自己喜歡的活動感到愧疚的人唾液中的抗體免疫球蛋白水平降低。所以如果有兩個人想用一箱葡萄酒和一些沒什么意思的真人秀節目來放松自己，但只有一個人對此感到愧疚，那么這個愧疚的人更有可能被病毒和細菌感染。那意味著你最喜歡的"有罪惡感的快樂"可能就是你比只是單純感到"快樂"的人更容易感冒的原因。
9.光污染
According to astronomers, the majority of Americans under 40 have never experienced true darkness. Urban areas experience a phenomenon called "sky glow," where artificial light is scattered by water droplets, creating a dome of light over the city. Even inside our own homes, the little lights on electronics like alarm clocks and televisions stay on 24/7—and our bodies just weren't built to handle that. In fact, light pollution in the developed world is now so bad that it's damaging our health. According to physicist Eric Vandernoot, the human body is hardwired for a cycle of light and darkness. Overuse of light in the evening is connected to a number of health problems, including increased risk of diabetes, obesity, depression, prostate cancer, and breast cancer.
根據天文學家的說法，大多數40歲以下的美國人都沒有體驗過真正的黑暗。城市地區有種現象叫"人工白晝"，人造光被水滴反射出去，在城市上空制造了一個光線的穹頂。即使是在我們自己的家里，從鬧鐘和電視這樣的電子產品中發出的微弱光線也一刻不停地照射著我們——而我們的身體可不是生來就能承受這些的。實際上，光污染在發達國家十分嚴重，它正侵蝕著我們的健康。根據物理學家Eric Vandernoot所說，人體天生適應光與暗的循環。在夜晚過度用光將導致一系列健康問題，包括增加患糖尿病、肥胖癥、抑郁癥、前列腺癌和乳腺癌的風險。
Sleep disorders are another big problem. In fact, light pollution may have actually changed the entire way we experience sleep. Before the industrial revolution, it was common for people to sleep for two periods of around four hours each, separated by one to three hours "of quiet wakefulness." Even today, studies have shown that people tend to revert back to this sleep pattern once light pollution is taken out of the equation. And even if you buy blackout curtains and cover those flashing LEDs, you might still be in danger from excess light, since the streetlights are still on outside. Turning streetlights off has actually been found to drastically reduce crime (even criminals need to be able to see). Of course, that might not be much comfort to anyone trying to find their way home in the pitch dark, but at least they won't get mugged.
睡眠障礙是另一個大問題。實際上，光污染可能已經改變了我們整個睡覺的方式。在工業革命以前，人們普遍有兩段睡眠期，每段約四小時左右，中間隔著1到3個小時的"安靜的清醒"時期。研究顯示，即使在今天，一旦光污染消失后人們也傾向于回到這種睡眠模式里去。而就算買了遮光布來擋住那些閃爍的LED燈光后，你可能還是會處在多余光照的危險下，因為外邊還是有路燈。人們發現關掉路燈實際上大幅減少了犯罪行為（就連犯罪行為也需要能看得見）。當然，這對那些在伸手不見五指的黑暗中想要找到回家的路的人來說不是件好事，但至少他們不會被搶劫了。
8.Added Sugar Is Worse Than You Realized
8.多加糖比你意識到的更糟糕
Sugar itself isn't bad for you—glucose is essential to powering the body, especially the brain. The problem is that people are now consuming more sugar than ever, and you can definitely have too much of a good thing. And while our ancestors got most of their sugar from fruits and grains, these days most of our sugar is added to various processed foods—the average American eats 27.5 teaspoons of added sugar a day. It's hard to cut back, too—the brain has a built-in trigger to let you know when you should stop eating and sugar consumption makes it less effective over time.
糖本身對你無害——葡萄糖給身體、特別是大腦提供的能量至關重要。問題在于人們現在正消耗比以往更多的糖分，而再好的東西用起來都該有個度。我們祖先的多數糖分都是從水果和谷物中獲取，而今天我們的多數糖都被加進了各種加工食品中——美國人一天中平均食用27.5匙的添加糖。減少食用量也很難——大腦有一套內置的機制，能讓你知道什么時候應該停止進食，而糖分的消耗讓它隨著時間推移而變得不那么有效了。
It's only relatively recently that we've started to realize just how bad too much sugar can be for you. In the 1970s, when the public became concerned about fat in foods, manufacturers simply replaced fat with sugar. Since then, sugar consumption has shot up worldwide. Which is unfortunate, since sugar is now linked to high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, premature aging of the skin, dementia, brain damage, poor metabolism, and liver damage. Added sugar might even be damaging to our very DNA. In fact, some scientists now regard sugar as a problem potentially as damaging as alcohol and tobacco.
直到不久前我們才開始意識到太多的糖分會對人造成多大的危害。在上世紀70年代，當公眾開始關心食物中的脂肪含量后，制造商僅僅是把脂肪換成了糖分。自那以后，全世界食糖量迅速上升。這挺不幸的，因為現在糖和高膽固醇、糖尿病、肥胖癥、皮膚過早老化、癡呆、腦損傷、藥物不良代謝以及肝損傷都有關。添加糖甚至對我們的DNA有害。實際上，一些科學家現在把糖看作是和酒精與煙草一樣具有潛在危害的東西。
7.氣候變化
We already know that global climate change is making Mother Earth sick, but it may also cause major health issues in humans. As our oceans get warmer, toxic algae blooms will increase in likelihood, area, and duration. Algae like Alexandrium catenella can contaminate seafood and cause everything from vomiting to death by paralysis.
我們已經知道全球氣候變化讓地球母親生病了，但它也可能會引起人類的重大健康危機。隨著我們的海洋變暖，有害藻類將有可能持續區域性的大量繁殖。像鏈狀亞歷山大藻這樣的藻類能夠污染海產品并且通過麻痹引起嘔吐甚至死亡等一系列反應。
Meanwhile, as the Earth gets drier, more dust will be blown into the ocean, spurring the growth of dangerous bacteria—poisoning caused by bacteria of the genus Vibrio in seafood is already up 85 percent since 1996. Rapid urban growth means that many sewer systems are already close to overflowing and contaminating our water sources—in Milwaukee, it currently only takes 4.3 centimeters (1.7 in) of rain a day for this to happen. As climate change makes flooding more likely, this could become a real problem. Between the flooding and the increased bacterial growth in the oceans, don't be surprised if water-borne diseases make a comeback in the developed world.
與此同時，隨著土地越發干旱，更多的塵土將被吹入海洋，激發危險的細菌生長——自1996年后由弧菌屬細菌致毒的海產品已經在85%以上。快速的城市發展意味著許多污水管道系統已接近外溢而污染我們的水源——在密爾沃基，現在只需每日4.3厘米（1.7英寸）的降雨量就會發生這件事。至于氣候變化使得發洪水的可能性更大，這將成為一個真正的問題。在思考洪水和海洋里增長的細菌的兩個問題時，別為發達國家里卷土重來的水源性傳染病感到驚訝。
6.睡眠的缺乏
It might be a cliche, but in our fast-paced modern world many people just don't get enough sleep. And researchers are increasingly concerned about just how dangerous that might be. In fact, men with chronic insomnia who sleep less than six hours per night are substantially more likely to die young than normal sleepers. In one study, 51.1 percent of male insomniacs were dead within 14 years, as opposed to just 9.1 percent of regular sleepers. Oddly, this only appears to affect men—women with chronic insomnia have only slightly higher mortality rates than average. That might be because men are more likely to suffer from severe insomnia than women, even though women are more likely to have insomnia overall.
這或許是陳詞濫調，但在我們快節奏的現代生活里，許多人都沒有得到充足的睡眠。研究者們越來越關心這會帶來怎樣的危害。實際上，每晚睡覺少于6小時的慢性失眠者大體上更有可能比擁有正常睡眠的人死得早。在一項研究中，51.1%的男性失眠癥患者在14年內死亡，與此相對照的是只有9.1%擁有正常睡眠的人死亡。古怪的是，這似乎只影響男性——患慢性失眠的女性死亡率只比平均水平高一點點。那可能是因為男性比女性更有可能患重度失眠癥，即使總的來說女性更可能患失眠癥。
While insomnia itself isn't deadly, it will slowly wear a person down by not allowing enough sleep for the body to rest, recover, and revitalize, and long-term sleep loss is now known to cause irreversible brain damage by killing off neurons. Even just working night shifts can badly damage your health. There is also no such thing as being able to "catch up on sleep"—taking naps on the weekend won't make up for lack of sleep during the week.
雖然失眠本身不致命，它卻會通過不允許身體由充足睡眠得到休息、恢復而慢慢拖垮一個人，并且現已知長期的睡眠缺失會通過殺死神經導致不可逆的腦損傷。即使只是值夜班也會大大危害你的健康。也不存在"補覺"的說法——在周末打個盹不能彌補這周缺失的睡眠。
評論
打印
