美国国家公共电台 NPR High Stress Drives Up Your Risk Of A Heart Attack. Here's How To Chill Out

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

It's well-known that a bad diet can contribute to heart disease, right? Well, now there's increasing evidence that your emotional health can drive the risk of heart attacks and strokes, as well. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports on what scientists have learned from a new study of Swedish siblings¹.

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE²: Our bodies are equipped with sophisticated systems to handle stress. And the most common one you've probably heard of, the fight-or-flight response. Researcher Simon Bacon of Concordia University says we've all experienced it.

SIMON BACON: You can imagine you're walking down the street, and someone jumps out in front of you and gives you a scare. You have that sort of immediate³ activation⁴.

AUBREY: Your heart rate increases. Your blood pressure goes up. And in the short-term, this is good. It gives you what you need to run away. But for some people, these fight-or-flight reactions begin to happen all the time, even when there's no imminent⁵ threat.

BACON: The problem is, is when people have stress disorders⁶, these systems are being activated⁸ at all the wrong times. Quite often, with things like PTSD, for example, you can get these very exaggerated stress responses just thinking about something that happened.

AUBREY: This can take its toll⁹ on your mental health and your physical health, driving up the risk of heart attacks and other types of heart disease. The latest evidence comes from a study of tens of thousands of siblings in Sweden. Here's researcher Unnur Valdimarsdottir.

UNNUR VALDIMARSDOTTIR: In the Nordic countries and in Sweden, we have these registers where we can follow the total population.

AUBREY: Now, using these registries, Valdimarsdottir and her colleagues identified about 130,000 people who'd been diagnosed with a stress disorder⁷. Many of them had acute stress following a traumatic event such as the death of a loved one or a violent episode. Then they identified about 170,000 of their brothers and sisters who did not have stress disorders. Then they compared the risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks, strokes, cardiac arrest and blood clots¹⁰.

VALDIMARSDOTTIR: We saw over 60 percent increased risk of having any cardiovascular events.

AUBREY: Concordia's Simon Bacon says it's a wakeup call to people who struggle with stress but don't reach out for help. Practices such as mindfulness meditation¹¹ and exercise can help tamp¹² down stress. But Bacon says stress disorders are serious.

BACON: If you have a lot of chronic¹³ stress in your life, go see a health care professional because these things really disrupt your life.

AUBREY: And put your health at risk. Allison Aubrey, NPR News.

1 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 activation   

n. 激活，催化作用

参考例句：

• A computer controls the activation of an air bag.电脑控制着气囊的启动。

5 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

6 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

8 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

9 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

10 clots   

n.凝块( clot的名词复数 )；血块；蠢人；傻瓜v.凝固( clot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• When you cut yourself, blood clots and forms a scab. 你割破了，血会凝固、结痂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Milk clots when it turns sour. 奶变酸就凝块。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

11 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

12 tamp   

v.捣实，砸实

参考例句：

• Then I tamp down the soil with the back of a rake.然后我用耙子的背将土壤拍实。
• Philpott tamped a wad of tobacco into his pipe.菲尔波特往烟斗里塞了一卷碎烟叶。

13 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。