快乐会让你活得更久，所以要学会更快乐

快乐会让你活得更久，所以要学会更快乐

If you could wish for just one thing, would it be happiness or a long life? Given what researchers tell us, one is likely to produce the other.

如果你只能许一个愿望，是幸福还是长寿?根据研究人员告诉我们的，其中的一个可能催生另一个。

Science has been exploring the connection between happiness and longevity for some time. A 2011 analysis of nearly 4,000 Brits found those who said they felt content, happy or excited on a typical day were up to 35% less likely to die prematurely. In a 2016 study, a positive outlook was associated with longer life for nearly 4,000 older French men and women studied over 22 years.

一段时间以来，科学一直在探索幸福和长寿之间的联系。2011年，一项针对近4000名英国人的分析发现，那些在一天中感到满足、快乐或兴奋的人，其过早死亡的可能性降低了35%。在2016年的一项研究中，在22年的时间里，对近4000名法国老年男性和女性的研究发现，积极的人生观与更长寿有关。

Researchers followed more than 2,000 Mexican-Americans in 2015 and found those who were more positive in their world view were half as likely to die. And a 2011 study followed around 200 women and men from San Francisco over 13 years and found those who reported more positive than negative experiences also lived longer.

研究人员在2015年跟踪调查了2000多名墨西哥裔美国人，发现那些世界观更积极的人死亡的可能性只有一半。2011年的一项研究对来自旧金山的约200名女性和男性进行了长达13年的跟踪调查，结果发现那些积极经历多于消极经历的人寿命更长。

According to research on the Positive Psychology Center website, striving for well-being will allow you to perform better at work, have better relationships, a stronger immune system, fewer sleep problems, lower levels of burnout, better physical health and -- you'll live longer.

积极心理学中心网站上的一项研究表明，追求幸福能让你在工作中表现得更好，拥有更好的人际关系，拥有更强大的免疫系统，睡眠问题更少，精力更充沛，身体更健康，活得更久。

Great! But how do you obtain happiness? That's the tough question, especially since the meaning of the word isn't even scientifically agreed upon.

太棒了!但是你如何获得幸福呢?这是一个很难回答的问题，尤其是这个词的意义甚至还没有得到科学的认同。

"Happiness comes in different sizes and flavors," said cardiologist Dr. Alan Rozanski, a professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who studies optimism.

西奈山伊坎医学院研究乐观主义的医学教授、心脏病学家艾伦·罗赞斯基博士说:“幸福有不同的大小和味道。”

"There is the transient type, fed by such things as a walk in a park, spending time with a friend, or eating that ice cream you love," he continued. "But these feelings of happiness come and go."

他继续说道:“有一种是短暂型的，靠诸如在公园散步、与朋友共度时光或吃你爱吃的冰淇淋来满足自己。”“但是这些幸福的感觉来了又走。”

Now that we have something of a working recipe for happiness, let's find the ingredients.

现在我们已经有了幸福的秘方，让我们来寻找它的成分。

Satisfying social connections

令人满意的社会关系

"People who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community, are happier, they're physically healthier, and they live longer than people who are less well connected," said Harvard psychiatrist Robert Waldinger in his popular TEDx talk. "And the experience of loneliness turns out to be toxic."

哈佛大学精神病学家罗伯特·沃尔丁格在他广受欢迎的TEDx演讲中说：“与家人、朋友、社区联系更紧密的人，他们更快乐，他们的身体更健康，他们比那些关系不太好的人活得更长。”“而孤独的经历最终证明是有害的。”

Waldinger is the fourth director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which followed the lives of 724 Boston men for more than 75 years and then began following more than 2,000 of their offspring and their wives.

沃尔丁格是哈佛大学成人发展研究中心的第四任主任。该中心跟踪调查了724名波士顿男性75年多的生活，然后开始跟踪2000多名他们的子女和妻子。

Among the original recruits in the study were President John F. Kennedy and longtime Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.

这项研究最初招募的人员包括美国总统约翰·f·肯尼迪和长期担任《华盛顿邮报》编辑的本·布拉德利。

The unprecedented study has allowed researchers to get closer to determining the main characteristics of a happy life.

这项史无前例的研究让研究人员更接近于确定幸福生活的主要特征。

"The lessons aren't about wealth or fame or working harder and harder," Waldinger said.

沃尔丁格说:“这些研究与财富、名声或工作越来越努力无关。”

"The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period."

“我们从这项历时75年的研究中得到的最明确的信息是:良好的人际关系让我们更快乐、更健康。”

You don't have to have dozens of friends or even be in a committed relationship, he stresses.

他强调说，你不必有几十个朋友，甚至不必有一段稳定的感情。

"It's the quality of your close relationships that matters," Waldinger said. "High-conflict marriages, for example, without much affection, turn out to be very bad for our health, perhaps worse than getting divorced. And living in the midst of good, warm relationships is protective."

“重要的是你的亲密关系的质量，”沃尔丁格说。“例如，没有太多感情的高冲突的婚姻对我们的健康非常不利，甚至可能比离婚还要糟糕。”生活在良好温暖的关系中对你是有保护作用的。”