TED演講：如何讓壓力成為朋友

I have a confession to make, but first, I want you to make a little confession to me. In the past year, I want you to just raise your hand

我要坦白一個事實 但是首先，我希望你們 能夠?qū)ξ易龀鲆稽c坦白。 在過去的一年里，只要舉手就好

if you've experienced relatively little stress. Anyone?

你們是否經(jīng)歷過相對較小的壓力。 有人嗎?

How about a moderate amount of stress?

那么中等量的壓力呢?

Who has experienced a lot of stress? Yeah. Me too.

誰又經(jīng)歷過很多的壓力呢? 好的。我也一樣。

But that is not my confession. My confession is this: I am a health psychologist, and my mission is to help people be happier and healthier. But I fear that something I've been teaching for the last 10 years is doing more harm than good, and it has to do with stress. For years I've been telling people, stress makes you sick. It increases the risk of everything from the common cold to cardiovascular disease. Basically, I've turned stress into the enemy. But I have changed my mind about stress, and today, I want to change yours.

但是那不是我要坦白的。 我要坦誠的是：我是一個健康心理學(xué)家， 我的任務(wù)是使人們更加的開心和健康。 但是，我恐怕過去十年我一直所教授的 帶來的壞處要超過好處， 這些都與壓力有關(guān)。 多年以來，我一直告訴人們，壓力能夠使你們變得脆弱。 壓力能夠增加患上很多疾病的風(fēng)險：從普通感冒到心血管疾病等 到心血管疾病。 事實上，我把壓力看作敵人。 但是，我已經(jīng)改變了我對壓力的看法， 而且今天，我也要改變你們對壓力的看法。

Let me start with the study that made me rethink my whole approach to stress. This study tracked 30,000 adults in the United States for eight years, and they started by asking people, "How much stress have you experienced in the last year?" They also asked, "Do you believe that stress is harmful for your health?" And then they used public death records to find out who died.

讓我以一個使我重新思考我所有對壓力看法的 研究開始。 這個研究追蹤了30，000 個美國成年人 8 年，研究以問這些被研究者 “在過去的一年里，你們經(jīng)歷過多少的壓力”開始 同時，他們也被問到：“ 你們相信 壓力對你們的健康是有害的嗎? 之后，研究者使用公眾死亡記錄 來確定誰死亡了。

(Laughter)

(笑)

Okay. Some bad news first. People who experienced a lot of stress in the previous year had a 43 percent increased risk of dying. But that was only true for the people who also believed that stress is harmful for your health. (Laughter) People who experienced a lot of stress but did not view stress as harmful were no more likely to die. In fact, they had the lowest risk of dying of anyone in the study, including people who had relatively little stress.

首先是一些壞的消息， 那些在過去的一年經(jīng)歷較多壓力的人們 死亡的風(fēng)險增加了43%。 但是這只是針對那些 相信壓力對健康有害的人們。 (笑) 而那些經(jīng)歷較多壓力 但是并不認為壓力對身體有害的人們 并不容易死亡。 實際上，他們的死亡風(fēng)險在 這個研究的所有測試者，包括那些經(jīng)歷相對較少壓力的人們中 是最低的。

Now the researchers estimated that over the eight years they were tracking deaths, 182,000 Americans died prematurely, not from stress, but from the belief that stress is bad for you. (Laughter) That is over 20,000 deaths a year. Now, if that estimate is correct, that would make believing stress is bad for you the 15th largest cause of death in the United States last year, killing more people than skin cancer, HIV/AIDS and homicide.

目前，研究者們估計在過去他們追蹤死亡的8 年當(dāng)中， 追蹤死亡的8年當(dāng)中， 有182，000 個美國人過早的死亡了， 但是并不是因為壓力，而是因為相信 壓力對他們的健康是有害的。(笑) 這表明，每年會有超過20，000的死亡者。 目前，如果這一估計數(shù)字正確的話， 將會使相信壓力對身體有害這一觀念 成為過去一年中 美國第十五大死亡因素， 多于皮膚癌， 艾滋病和被謀殺的死亡人數(shù)。

(Laughter)

(笑)

You can see why this study freaked me out. Here I've been spending so much energy telling people stress is bad for your health.

這些你們知道為什么這一研究使我抓狂了吧。 過去，我一直花費大量的經(jīng)歷告訴人們壓力有害于你們的健康。

So this study got me wondering: Can changing how you think about stress make you healthier? And here the science says yes. When you change your mind about stress, you can change your body's response to stress.

因此，這一研究使我覺得疑惑： 是否改變對壓力的態(tài)度 能夠使人們更健康?科學(xué)告訴我們確實如此。 當(dāng)你改變你對壓力的觀念 你便能改變你身體對于壓力的反應(yīng)。

Now to explain how this works, I want you all to pretend that you are participants in a study designed to stress you out. It's called the social stress test. You come into the laboratory, and you're told you have to give a five-minute impromptu speech on your personal weaknesses to a panel of expert evaluators sitting right in front of you, and to make sure you feel the pressure, there are bright lights and a camera in your face, kind of like this. And the evaluators have been trained to give you discouraging, non-verbal feedback like this.

現(xiàn)在，我來解釋一下這一原理， 我希望你們都假設(shè)自己參與 一個設(shè)計使你們感覺到壓力的研究中。 這一研究叫做社會壓力測試。 你們進入一個實驗室， 被告訴你必須對著坐在你面前的專家評委 做一個五分鐘的 事先無準備的關(guān)于你性格弱點的演講， 同時為了確保你感受到壓力 會有明亮的燈光和攝像機打在你的臉上， 就像這樣。 而這些評委，則事先訓(xùn)練好 給予你消極的非語言上的反饋，就像這樣。

(Laughter)

(笑)

Now that you're sufficiently demoralized, time for part two: a math test. And unbeknownst to you, the experimenter has been trained to harass you during it. Now we're going to all do this together. It's going to be fun. For me.

現(xiàn)在，你已經(jīng)足夠的失落， 然后進入到第二部分：數(shù)學(xué)測驗。 令你措手不及的是 實驗人員在這個過程中不斷的打擾你。 現(xiàn)在讓我們一起來做這個實驗。 這將很有意思。 對于我來說。

Okay. I want you all to count backwards from 996 in increments of seven. You're going to do this out loud as fast as you can, starting with 996. Go! Audience: (Counting) Go faster. Faster please. You're going too slow. Stop. Stop, stop, stop.

我希望你們所有人倒數(shù)數(shù)字 從996 開始以7遞減。 你們必須大聲的說出來 盡可能的快，從996開始。 開始! 聽眾(數(shù)數(shù)) 快點?？禳c。 你們太慢了。 停。停，停，停。 這位男士錯了 我們必須從新開始。

That guy made a mistake. We are going to have to start all over again. (Laughter) You're not very good at this, are you? Okay, so you get the idea. Now, if you were actually in this study, you'd probably be a little stressed out. Your heart might be pounding, you might be breathing faster, maybe breaking out into a sweat. And normally, we interpret these physical changes as anxiety or signs that we aren't coping very well with the pressure.

你們并不擅長于此，對吧? 因此，你們知道那種感覺了吧。 如果你們真的參與到這個研究當(dāng)中， 你們應(yīng)該會有一些壓力。 你的心臟也許會砰砰直跳， 你也許會呼吸加快，也許會一頭汗水。 正常情況下，我們會解釋這種身體的改變 為焦慮或者我們不能很好應(yīng)對這種壓力的信號。

But what if you viewed them instead as signs that your body was energized, was preparing you to meet this challenge? Now that is exactly what participants were told in a study conducted at Harvard University.

但是如果你們把這些看作為你們身體充滿活力并準備好應(yīng)對這一壓力的信號又會怎樣? 這些話實際上正是參與者在哈佛大學(xué)參與這項研究時所告知的。

Before they went through the social stress test, they were taught to rethink their stress response as helpful. That pounding heart is preparing you for action. If you're breathing faster, it's no problem. It's getting more oxygen to your brain. And participants who learned to view the stress response as helpful for their performance, well, they were less stressed out, less anxious, more confident, but the most fascinating finding to me was how their physical stress response changed. Now, in a typical stress response, your heart rate goes up, and your blood vessels constrict like this.

在他們通過社會壓力測試之前， 他們被教會認定這些對于壓力的反應(yīng)是有利的。 砰砰直跳的心臟是在為你的行動所做準備。 如果你呼吸加快，沒有問題。 這將使你的大腦獲得更多的氧氣。 那些學(xué)會將壓力視為 對他們的表現(xiàn)有幫助的參與者 他們所感受到的壓力大大降低， 少了一份焦慮，多了一份自信， 但是對于我來說更加令人欣喜的發(fā)現(xiàn)是 他們身體對于壓力的改變。 現(xiàn)在，對于一定的壓力， 你的心率會加快， 你的血管像這樣緊縮。 這也是慢性壓力與 心血管疾病有關(guān)的原因之一。 持續(xù)在這樣的狀態(tài)下對身體沒有好處。

And this is one of the reasons that chronic stress is sometimes associated with cardiovascular disease. It's not really healthy to be in this state all the time. But in the study, when participants viewed their stress response as helpful, their blood vessels stayed relaxed like this. Their heart was still pounding, but this is a much healthier cardiovascular profile. It actually looks a lot like what happens in moments of joy and courage. Over a lifetime of stressful experiences, this one biological change could be the difference between a stress-induced heart attack at age 50 and living well into your 90s. And this is really what the new science of stress reveals, that how you think about stress matters.

但是，在這項研究當(dāng)中，當(dāng)參與者 認為他們對于壓力的反應(yīng)有利， 他們的血管保持松弛，就像這樣。 他們的心臟仍然在砰砰直跳， 但這種跳躍實一種更健康的心血管系統(tǒng)活動方式。 它實際上就和你 開心和受到鼓舞時的跳動方式相似。 在你一生經(jīng)歷的壓力性事件中， 這一生理變化 會有不同 也許會是在50歲時由壓力導(dǎo)致心臟病發(fā)作 或者直到90歲還活的很好。 這就是壓力，這一新的科學(xué)所要揭示的， 你怎樣看待壓力性事件。

So my goal as a health psychologist has changed. I no longer want to get rid of your stress. I want to make you better at stress. And we just did a little intervention. If you raised your hand and said you'd had a lot of stress in the last year, we could have saved your life, because hopefully the next time your heart is pounding from stress, you're going to remember this talk and you're going to think to yourself, this is my body helping me rise to this challenge. And when you view stress in that way, your body believes you, and your stress response becomes healthier.

因此，作為一個健康心理學(xué)家我的目標也發(fā)生了變化。 我不在想清除你們的壓力。 我想讓你們在壓力面前變得更好。 而我們只是做了一點點干預(yù)。 如果你舉起你的手說 在過去的一年當(dāng)中你感受到了很大的壓力， 我們也許能救你的命 因為可能下一次 你的心跳因為壓力而加速， 你會記得這次演說 然后告訴自己， 這是我的身體在幫助我應(yīng)對挑戰(zhàn)。 當(dāng)你以那種方式看待壓力， 你的身體信任你， 你身體對于壓力的反應(yīng)便得更加健康。

Now I said I have over a decade of demonizing stress to redeem myself from, so we are going to do one more intervention. I want to tell you about one of the most under-appreciated aspects of the stress response, and the idea is this: Stress makes you social.

我剛才說過，在過去的十年當(dāng)中我一直將壓力妖魔化并試圖從中挽回自己， 因為我們打算做更多地干預(yù)。 我想告訴你們對于壓力反應(yīng)最 被低估的一個方面， 那就是： 壓力可以使得你更社會化。

To understand this side of stress, we need to talk about a hormone, oxytocin, and I know oxytocin has already gotten as much hype as a hormone can get. It even has its own cute nickname, the cuddle hormone, because it's released when you hug someone. But this is a very small part of what oxytocin is involved in. Oxytocin is a neuro-hormone. It fine-tunes your brain's social instincts. It primes you to do things that strengthen close relationships. Oxytocin makes you crave physical contact with your friends and family. It enhances your empathy. It even makes you more willing to help and support the people you care about.

為了了解壓力的這一作用， 我們需要談?wù)勔环N激素，催產(chǎn)素， 我知道催產(chǎn)素已經(jīng)得到一種激素 應(yīng)該得到的最多的宣傳。 催產(chǎn)素甚至有一個可愛的別名，擁抱激素， 因為當(dāng)你擁抱某個人時，催產(chǎn)素將會釋放。 但是這僅僅是催產(chǎn)素作用的很小一部分。 催產(chǎn)素是一種神經(jīng)激素。 它可以很好的調(diào)節(jié)大腦的社會本能。 催產(chǎn)素能夠促使你做一些 能夠加強與別人聯(lián)系的事情。 催產(chǎn)素使你渴望與 朋友和家人有身體上的接觸。 催產(chǎn)素能夠增加你的情感。 它甚至能夠使你更愿意幫助和支持 那些你關(guān)心的人們。

Some people have even suggested we should snort oxytocin to become more compassionate and caring. But here's what most people don't understand about oxytocin. It's a stress hormone. Your pituitary gland pumps this stuff out as part of the stress response. It's as much a part of your stress response as the adrenaline that makes your heart pound. And when oxytocin is released in the stress response, it is motivating you to seek support. Your biological stress response is nudging you to tell someone how you feel instead of bottling it up. Your stress response wants to make sure you notice when someone else in your life is struggling so that you can support each other. When life is difficult, your stress response wants you to be surrounded by people who care about you.

有些人甚至提議 我們應(yīng)該鼻吸催產(chǎn)素 以使我們變得更加富有同情心和愛心。 但是這正表明大部分的人們并不了解 催產(chǎn)素。 它是一個壓力性激素。 你的腦垂體釋放這種物質(zhì) 作為對壓力反應(yīng)的一部分。 它就像機體對于壓力反饋性的釋放 腎上腺素以使心跳加快一樣。 當(dāng)機體應(yīng)對壓力釋放催產(chǎn)素時， 它能夠促使你去尋找支持。 機體應(yīng)對壓力的這些生理性變化 促使你告訴別人你的感受 而不是隱藏在心理。 你的這些應(yīng)對壓力的反應(yīng)試圖確保你注意 你生活當(dāng)中的人，以使當(dāng)他們遇到困難的時候 你可以互相幫助。 當(dāng)生活變得困難的時候，你的這些對于壓力的反應(yīng)是你 處在那些關(guān)心你的人周圍。

Okay, so how is knowing this side of stress going to make you healthier? Well, oxytocin doesn't only act on your brain. It also acts on your body, and one of its main roles in your body is to protect your cardiovascular system from the effects of stress. It's a natural anti-inflammatory. It also helps your blood vessels stay relaxed during stress. But my favorite effect on the body is actually on the heart.

因此，你們應(yīng)該知道壓力的這一作用為什么能使你們更健康了吧? 催產(chǎn)素并不僅僅作用于你的大腦。 它同樣作用于你的身體， 它對于機體的重要作用之一是保護你的心血管功能避免 壓力帶來的傷害。 催產(chǎn)素是天然的抗炎物。 它能幫助你的血管在應(yīng)對壓力時保持放松。 但是我最感興趣的對于機體的作用實際上是心臟。

Your heart has receptors for this hormone, and oxytocin helps heart cells regenerate and heal from any stress-induced damage. This stress hormone strengthens your heart, and the cool thing is that all of these physical benefits of oxytocin are enhanced by social contact and social support, so when you reach out to others under stress, either to seek support or to help someone else, you release more of this hormone, your stress response becomes healthier, and you actually recover faster from stress. I find this amazing, that your stress response has a built-in mechanism for stress resilience, and that mechanism is human connection.

你的心臟有催產(chǎn)素受體，它能幫助心肌細胞在再生 和從壓力導(dǎo)致的損傷中恢復(fù)。 這一壓力性激素能夠強化你的心臟， 更酷的事情是催產(chǎn)素對于機體的這些好處 來源于社會化的聯(lián)系， 和社會化的支持， 因此，當(dāng)你對于處于壓力狀態(tài)下的人伸出雙手，無論你是在尋找?guī)椭€是幫助別人 你的機體都會釋放更多的催產(chǎn)素， 你對于壓力的反應(yīng)變得更健康， 而你也能從壓力中快速的恢復(fù)。 我發(fā)現(xiàn)這非常的神奇， 你機體對于壓力的反應(yīng)建立了一種 釋放壓力的內(nèi)在機制， 而這一機制便是人類聯(lián)系。

I want to finish by telling you about one more study. And listen up, because this study could also save a life. This study tracked about 1,000 adults in the United States, and they ranged in age from 34 to 93, and they started the study by asking, "How much stress have you experienced in the last year?" They also asked, "How much time have you spent helping out friends, neighbors, people in your community?" And then they used public records for the next five years to find out who died.

我想通過另一個故事來結(jié)束我的演講。 仔細聽，因為這一研究也許能夠挽救你的生命。 這一研究追蹤了大約1000位美國成年人， 他們的年齡在34歲到93歲之間， 這一研究開始時問他們： ”在過去的一年里你經(jīng)歷多少壓力?“ 他們同樣被問到，”你們花費多少時間來 幫助朋友，鄰居“ 和你社區(qū)里的人?“ 然后他們使用公共記錄去發(fā)現(xiàn)在接下來五年 內(nèi)死亡的參與者。

Okay, so the bad news first: For every major stressful life experience, like financial difficulties or family crisis, that increased the risk of dying by 30 percent. But -- and I hope you are expecting a but by now -- but that wasn't true for everyone. People who spent time caring for others showed absolutely no stress-related increase in dying. Zero. Caring created resilience. And so we see once again that the harmful effects of stress on your health are not inevitable.

首先還是壞消息： 對于每一個經(jīng)歷較多壓力的參與者， 比如經(jīng)濟困難或者家庭危機， 壓力能夠增加30%的死亡風(fēng)險。 但是…我希望你們一直在期盼這個但是… 但是這并不是對于每一個人都是正確的。 那些花費較多時間關(guān)心別人的人 在死亡風(fēng)險上并沒有實質(zhì)上的增加 —— 0! 關(guān)心能夠避免壓力帶來的傷害。 然后，我們再一次看到 壓力對于健康的有害作用并不是 并不是必然的。

How you think and how you act can transform your experience of stress. When you choose to view your stress response as helpful, you create the biology of courage. And when you choose to connect with others under stress, you can create resilience. Now I wouldn't necessarily ask for more stressful experiences in my life, but this science has given me a whole new appreciation for stress.

你如何思考及如何應(yīng)對壓力 能夠轉(zhuǎn)變你對壓力的反應(yīng)。 當(dāng)你選擇將機體對于壓力的反應(yīng) 視為一種有利因素， 你便建立的一種生理性激勵。 而當(dāng)你選擇在壓力狀態(tài)下與別人交流， 你便能夠建立保護機制。 我并不需要在我的生活中 需求更多的壓力性經(jīng)歷， 但是這一科學(xué)使得我 對于壓力有一種全新的認識。

Stress gives us access to our hearts. The compassionate heart that finds joy and meaning in connecting with others, and yes, your pounding physical heart, working so hard to give you strength and energy, and when you choose to view stress in this way, you're not just getting better at stress, you're actually making a pretty profound statement. You're saying that you can trust yourself to handle life's challenges, and you're remembering that you don't have to face them alone.

壓力使得我們接觸到心臟。 充滿同情的心臟能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)而去及與 別人聯(lián)系的意義 你那不斷跳躍的心臟， 如此的辛苦工作以給予你力量和能量， 當(dāng)你選擇以這種方式看待壓力時， 你不僅能夠在壓力下做的更好， 實際上你正在創(chuàng)在一個高深的境界。 你告訴你的身體去相信你自己 能夠應(yīng)對生活的挑戰(zhàn)， 你時刻銘記 你不需要一個人去面對。

Thank you.

謝謝

(Applause)

鼓掌

Chris Anderson: This is kind of amazing, what you're telling us. It seems amazing to me that a belief about stress can make so much difference to someone's life expectancy. How would that extend to advice, like, if someone is making a lifestyle choice between, say, a stressful job and a non-stressful job, does it matter which way they go? It's equally wise to go for the stressful job so long as you believe that you can handle it, in some sense?

Chris Anderson： 你告訴我們的這些真的很神奇。 對于我來說相信壓力能夠?qū)τ谝粋€人的 壽命產(chǎn)生如此不同的影響同樣很神奇。 我們是否可以從這去建議 比如：那些正在面臨在壓力性工作及無壓力工作之間選擇 的人 他們應(yīng)該選擇怎么樣的生活方式? 在某種程度上，它是否等同于只要你 相信你可以解決好壓力，那聰明的選擇便是有壓力的工作?

Kelly McGonigal: Yeah, and one thing we know for certain is that chasing meaning is better for your health than trying to avoid discomfort. And so I would say that's really the best way to make decisions, is go after what it is that creates meaning in your life and then trust yourself to handle the stress that follows.

是的，我們能夠確信的一事實便是 追夢的意義要比逃避不適對于 你的身體更有好處。 因此，我想說那是做出決定的最好方式， 跟隨那些能夠?qū)δ愕纳钣幸饬x的事情 然后相信自己能夠處理伴隨的壓力。

CA: Thank you so much, Kelly. It's pretty cool. KM: Thank you.

非常感謝，kelly。這非常的酷。

(Applause)

鼓掌。