即使是少量運(yùn)動(dòng)，也能帶來幸福感

Small amounts of exercise could have an outsize effect on happiness.

少量運(yùn)動(dòng)可能會(huì)造成極大幸福感。

According to a new review of research about good moods and physical activity, people who work out even once a week or for as little as 10 minutes a day tend to be more cheerful than those who never exercise. And any type of exercise may be helpful.

根據(jù)一項(xiàng)對(duì)良好情緒和身體活動(dòng)的新研究綜述，每周即使只鍛煉一次或每天只鍛煉十分鐘的人會(huì)比從不鍛煉的人更快樂。并且任何類型的鍛煉可能都有用。

The idea that moving can affect our moods is not new. Many of us would probably say that we feel less cranky or more relaxed after a jog or visit to the gym.

運(yùn)動(dòng)能影響我們的情緒，這個(gè)觀點(diǎn)并不新鮮。我們?cè)S多人可能都會(huì)說，在慢跑或是去了健身房之后會(huì)感覺沒那么煩躁，或者更加放松。

Science would generally agree with us. A number of past studies have noted that physically active people have much lower risks of developing depression and anxiety than people who rarely move.

科學(xué)大體上也站在我們這邊。過去一些研究指出，身體活躍的人出現(xiàn)抑郁或焦慮的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)比不怎么活動(dòng)的人低得多。

But that research centered on the relationships between exercise and psychological problems like depression and anxiety. Fewer past studies explored links between physical activity and upbeat emotions, especially in people who already were psychologically healthy, and those studies often looked at a single age group or type of exercise.

但那些研究關(guān)注的是鍛煉和抑郁或焦慮這些心理問題之間的關(guān)系。以往的研究很少探索身體活動(dòng)和樂觀情緒之間的聯(lián)系，尤其是對(duì)那些心理本來就健康的人。而且以往那些研究通常只看單一年齡組或某一運(yùn)動(dòng)類型。

On their own, they do not tell us much about the amounts or types of exercise that might best lift our moods, or whether most of us might expect to find greater happiness with regular exercise or only certain groups of people.

單一地看，它們并不能告訴我們，多少運(yùn)動(dòng)量或哪些運(yùn)動(dòng)類型最能幫助我們提高情緒，抑或是否大多數(shù)人都可以通過經(jīng)常性的鍛煉來得到更大的幸福感，還是只有某一類人可以。

So for the new review, in The Journal of Happiness Studies, researchers at the University of Michigan decided to aggregate and analyze multiple past studies of working out and happiness.

因此，在《幸福研究期刊》(Journal of Happiness Studies)上的這篇新綜述里，密歇根大學(xué)(University of Michigan)的研究人員決定匯總并分析過去多個(gè)關(guān)于鍛煉和幸福的研究。

They began by combing research databases for relevant studies and wound up with 23 published since 1980. Most of those were observational, meaning that the scientists simply looked at a group of people, asking them how much they worked out and how happy they were. A few of the studies were experiments in which people started exercising and researchers measured their happiness before and after.

他們首先梳理了相關(guān)研究的研究數(shù)據(jù)庫，整理了自1980年以來發(fā)表的23篇文章。其中大多是觀察性的，即科學(xué)家們只是對(duì)一群人進(jìn)行了觀察，詢問他們的鍛煉量，以及他們有多快樂。研究中也有一些是實(shí)驗(yàn)性的——人們開始鍛煉后，研究人員會(huì)測(cè)量他們鍛煉前后的快樂程度。

The number of participants in any one study was often small, but together, they represented more than 500,000 people ranging in age from adolescents to the very old and covering a broad range of ethnic and socioeconomic groups.

任何一項(xiàng)研究的參與人數(shù)通常都很少，但加起來占了50多萬人，年齡分布從青少年到老年都有，覆蓋了廣泛的種族范圍和社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)群體范圍。

And for most of them, the Michigan researchers found, exercise was strongly linked to happiness.

密歇根大學(xué)的研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，對(duì)其中大多數(shù)人來說，鍛煉與幸福感之間都有著緊密聯(lián)系。

“Every one of the observational studies showed a beneficial relationship between being physically active and being happy,” says Weiyun Chen, an associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Michigan, who, with her graduate student Zhanjia Zhang, wrote the review.

“每一個(gè)觀察性研究都表現(xiàn)了身體活躍和快樂之間的正向聯(lián)系，”密歇根大學(xué)(University of Michigan)人體運(yùn)動(dòng)學(xué)副教授陳蔚云說，她和她的研究生張展嘉一起撰寫了這篇綜述。

The type of exercise did not seem to matter. Some happy people walked or jogged. Others practiced yoga-style posing and stretching.

鍛煉的類型似乎并不重要。一些人走路或慢跑會(huì)感到快樂。另一些人則練習(xí)瑜伽或者做拉伸。

And the amount of exercise needed to influence happiness was slight, Dr. Chen says. In several studies, people who worked out only once or twice a week said they felt much happier than those who never exercised. In other studies, 10 minutes a day of physical activity was linked with buoyant moods.

而陳蔚云說，要影響幸福感，所需的運(yùn)動(dòng)量很少。在一些研究中，每周運(yùn)動(dòng)一兩次的人表示他們比從不運(yùn)動(dòng)的人更快樂。在另一些研究中，一天10分鐘的身體活動(dòng)也與愉悅的心情有關(guān)聯(lián)。

But more movement generally contributed to greater happiness. If people exercised for at least 30 minutes on most days, which is the standard American and European recommendation for good health, Dr. Chen says, they were about 30 percent more likely to consider themselves happy than people who did not meet the guidelines.

但更多的運(yùn)動(dòng)量通常會(huì)帶來更大的幸福感。陳蔚云說，如果人們按美國和歐洲推薦的健康標(biāo)準(zhǔn)建議，平常每天至少運(yùn)動(dòng)30分鐘，他們認(rèn)為自己快樂的可能性會(huì)比未達(dá)到這一指標(biāo)的人高30%。

“I think the indications are strong that exercise can contribute to happiness and, while anything helps, a bit more is probably better,” she says.

“我認(rèn)為這些跡象顯然表明運(yùn)動(dòng)能帶來幸福感，雖然任何運(yùn)動(dòng)都有好處，但多做一些可能更好，”她說。

But because most of the studies in this review were observational, she says, it is not possible yet to establish whether exercise directly causes changes in happiness or if the two just happen to occur together often. It could be that happy people are more likely to take up exercise and continue with it than people who feel sad. In that case, exercise would not have helped to make people happy; rather, their happiness would have helped to make them exercisers.

但她表示，因?yàn)檫@篇論文綜述中的大部分研究都是觀察性的，所以，還不能確定是鍛煉直接導(dǎo)致快樂感的改變，還是兩者碰巧經(jīng)常同時(shí)發(fā)生。情況可能是，快樂的人比悲傷的人更可能進(jìn)行鍛煉并堅(jiān)持下去。如果是這樣的話，那么，不是鍛煉幫助人們快樂，而是快樂幫助他們成了鍛煉者。

Happiness also is an inherently subjective, squishy concept. The studies analyzed in the review asked people how happy they felt. But one person’s happiness could be another’s relative gloom, making it difficult to generalize about how any of us might react, emotionally, to starting an exercise routine.

快樂也是一種本質(zhì)上主觀、模糊的概念。論文綜述中分析的研究詢問人們感覺自己有多快樂。但是，一個(gè)人心目中的快樂對(duì)于另一個(gè)人來說可能是相對(duì)低落，所以我們很難推斷出，每個(gè)人在開始進(jìn)行常規(guī)鍛煉時(shí)情緒上的反應(yīng)是怎樣的。

And, of course, the review did not delve into how exercise could be influencing happiness.

當(dāng)然，這篇論文綜述沒有深入探究鍛煉是怎樣影響幸福感的。

“There are indications that social factors could mediate the effects of exercise on happiness for some people,” Dr. Chen says. In other words, the social interactions that occur during an exercise class or trip to the gym might help to elevate people’s moods.

“有跡象表明，對(duì)某些人來說，社會(huì)因素可能是鍛煉影響幸福感的中介因素，”陳蔚云說。換句話說，健身課程或前往健身房途中發(fā)生的社交活動(dòng)可能有助于改善人們的情緒。

Or exercise could more directly change the body, including the brain.

鍛煉也可能直接對(duì)身體產(chǎn)生影響，包括大腦。

“We know that exercise improves health,” Dr. Chen says, “and feeling healthier might make people feel happier.”

“我們知道鍛煉可以改善健康，”陳蔚云說，“感覺更健康可能會(huì)讓人感覺更快樂。”

Exercise might also remodel the brain, for example, by prompting the creation of new brain cells or inducing changes in brain chemicals, in ways that contribute to positive emotions.

鍛煉有可能重塑大腦，例如促使大腦產(chǎn)生新的細(xì)胞，或促使大腦的化學(xué)物質(zhì)發(fā)生變化，從而有助于產(chǎn)生積極情緒。

Dr. Chen hopes that future experiments will explore these issues. But for now, she says, “I think that we can safely say that people who exercise are probably going to be happier than people who don’t.”

陳蔚云希望未來的實(shí)驗(yàn)?zāi)軌蛱剿鬟@些問題。但她表示，就目前而言，“我認(rèn)為，我們可以有把握地說，鍛煉的人很可能會(huì)比不鍛煉的人更快樂。”