即使是少量運動,也能帶來幸福感大綱

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

少量運動可能會造成極大幸福感。

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.

根據一項對良好情緒和身體活動的新研究綜述，每週即使只鍛鍊一次或每天只鍛鍊十分鐘的人會比從不鍛鍊的人更快樂。並且任何類型的鍛鍊可能都有用。

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.

運動能影響我們的情緒，這個觀點並不新鮮。我們許多人可能都會說，在慢跑或是去了健身房之後會感覺沒那麼煩躁，或者更加放鬆。

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，身體活躍的人出現抑鬱或焦慮的風險比不怎麼活動的人低得多。

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.

但那些研究關注的是鍛鍊和抑鬱或焦慮這些心理問題之間的關係。以往的研究很少探索身體活動和樂觀情緒之間的聯繫，尤其是對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動類型。

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，它們並不能告訴我們，多少運動量或哪些運動類型最能幫助我們提高情緒，抑或是否大多數人都可以通過經常性的鍛鍊來得到更大的幸福感，還是隻有某一類人可以。

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)上的這篇新綜述裏，密歇根大學(University of Michigan)的研究人員決定彙總並分析過去多個關於鍛鍊和幸福的研究。

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研究的研究數據庫，整理了自1980年以來發表的23篇文章。其中大多是觀察性的，即科學家們只是對一羣人進行了觀察，詢問他們的鍛鍊量，以及他們有多快樂。研究中也有一些是實驗性的——人們開始鍛鍊後，研究人員會測量他們鍛鍊前後的快樂程度。

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.

任何一項研究的參與人數通常都很少，但加起來佔了50多萬人，年齡分佈從青少年到老年都有，覆蓋了廣泛的種族範圍和社會經濟羣體範圍。

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

密歇根大學的研究人員發現，對其中大多數人來說，鍛鍊與幸福感之間都有着緊密聯繫。

“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.

“每一個觀察性研究都表現了身體活躍和快樂之間的正向聯繫，”密歇根大學(University of Michigan)人體運動學副教授陳蔚雲說，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.

鍛鍊的類型似乎並不重要。一些人走路或慢跑會感到快樂。另一些人則練習瑜伽或者做拉伸。

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.

而陳蔚雲說，要影響幸福感，所需的運動量很少。在一些研究中，每週運動一兩次的人表示他們比從不運動的人更快樂。在另一些研究中，一天10分鐘的身體活動也與愉悅的心情有關聯。

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.

但更多的運動量通常會帶來更大的幸福感。陳蔚雲說，如果人們按美國和歐洲推薦的健康標準建議，平常每天至少運動30分鐘，他們認爲自己快樂的可能性會比未達到這一指標的人高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.

“我認爲這些跡象顯然表明運動能帶來幸福感，雖然任何運動都有好處，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，因爲這篇論文綜述中的大部分研究都是觀察性的，所以，還不能確定是鍛鍊直接導致快樂感的改變，還是兩者碰巧經常同時發生。情況可能是，快樂的人比悲傷的人更可能進行鍛鍊並堅持下去。如果是這樣的話，那麼，不是鍛鍊幫助人們快樂，而是快樂幫助他們成了鍛鍊者。

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，一個人心目中的快樂對於另一個人來說可能是相對低落，所以我們很難推斷出，每個人在開始進行常規鍛鍊時情緒上的反應是怎樣的。

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

當然，這篇論文綜述沒有深入探究鍛鍊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，對某些人來說，社會因素可能是鍛鍊影響幸福感的中介因素，”陳蔚雲說。換句話說，健身課程或前往健身房途中發生的社交活動可能有助於改善人們的情緒。

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

鍛鍊也可能直接對身體產生影響，包括大腦。

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

“我們知道鍛鍊可以改善健康，”陳蔚雲說，“感覺更健康可能會讓人感覺更快樂。”

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.

鍛鍊有可能重塑大腦，例如促使大腦產生新的細胞，或促使大腦的化學物質發生變化，從而有助於產生積極情緒。

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.”

陳蔚雲希望未來的實驗能夠探索這些問題。但她表示，就目前而言，“我認爲，我們可以有把握地說，鍛鍊的人很可能會比不鍛鍊的人更快樂。”