为什么养狗的人活得更长？

为什么养狗的人活得更长?

If you get to look at dogs and hug them every day, you just might live longer than people who don't have to clean animal hair off their clothes, according to a pair of studies out this month.

本月公布的两项研究结果显示，如果你每天都能看到狗狗并拥抱它们，你可能会比那些不用清洗衣服上动物毛发的人活得更久。

Hugging a dog is one life's greatest joys. Getting to see fur on four legs and a wagging tail is like experiencing a love drug — quite literally.

拥抱狗狗是人生最大的乐趣之一。看到四条腿上的毛和摇摆的尾巴就像在体验一种爱情毒药——这是真的。

Dogs and humans that interact with one another get a jolt of oxytocin, the so-called "cuddle hormone." And, if you get to look at dogs and hug them every day, you just might live longer than people who don't have to clean animal hair off their clothes, according to a pair of studies out this month.

狗狗和人类相互交流时会产生催产素，也就是所谓的“拥抱激素”。而且，根据本月公布的两项研究，如果你每天都能看到狗狗并拥抱它们，你可能会比那些不用清洗衣服上动物毛发的人活得更久。

The studies, published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes,suggest that dog ownership is linked to a 21% reduction in the risk of death — over the 12-year period studied — for people with heart disease.

发表在《循环:心血管质量和结果》杂志上的研究表明，在12年的研究期间，养狗可以使心脏病患者的死亡风险降低21%。

Those studies complement a body of literature linking dogs to good health.

这些研究补充了大量将狗与健康联系起来的文献。

Dr. Dhruv Kazi, a cardiologist and health economist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, wrote an accompanying editorial for the new studies but was not involved with the research.

心脏病学家、贝斯以色列女执事医疗中心和哈佛医学院的健康经济学家卡兹博士为这些新研究撰写了相关社论，但没有参与这项研究。

"When you look at the big picture and look at all the evidence around dog ownership and cardiovascular health, it's pretty clear the signal is real and likely causal," he says.

他说:“当你纵观全局，看到所有关于养狗和心血管健康的证据时，很明显，这个信号是真实的，很可能是因果关系。”

In other words, he's convinced getting a dog improves your health — especially for those with heart disease.

换句话说，他确信养狗会提高身体健康，特别是有心脏病的人群。

The research is not definitive, though, Kazi adds.

然而，卡兹补充说，这项研究并不是决定性的。

"They're not randomized trials, the gold standard for what we would do to evaluate a new drug," he says.

“它们不是随机试验，不是评价一种新药的黄金标准，”他说。

Ideally, Kazi says, researchers would conduct an experiment where 1,000 people get a dog and 1,000 people get a stuffed animal. Then the researchers would try to measure how their health changed afterward. Instead, these studies looked at data from dog owners and people without pets from national registries in Europe.

卡兹说，理想情况下，研究人员会进行一项实验，1000个人分别养一只狗，另外1000个人分别有一个动物的替代物。然后，研究人员将试图衡量他们的健康状况如何变化。相反，这些研究使用的是来自欧洲国家注册登记的狗主人和没有宠物的人的数据。

WBUR spoke with Kazi about dogs, their effect on health and why you might want to consider becoming a dog person.

WBUR采访了卡兹，谈到了狗对健康的影响，以及为什么你想成为一个养狗的人。

What have researchers observed in the past when it comes to the health benefits of dog ownership?

当谈到养狗对健康的好处时，研究人员过去观察到什么?

We've known forever that owning a dog increases one's physical activity. Regardless of weather, you have to get out and walk the dog. Otherwise, you might be tempted to stay home and watch TV.

我们都知道养狗能增加身体活动。不管天气如何，你都得出去遛狗。否则，你可能会忍不住呆在家里看电视。

There are other effects that we've known for a while. There is the idea that owning a dog makes you spend more time outdoors, and time spent outdoors improves health and, specifically, cardiovascular health.

我们还知道其他一些影响。有一种观点认为，养狗会让你有更多的户外时间，花在户外的时间可以改善健康，特别是心血管健康。

These two most recent studies suggested that dog ownership reduces the risk of death from any cause for people with cardiovascular disease — not just heart attacks. What did they do in these studies?

这两项最新的研究表明，养狗可以降低心血管疾病患者因任何原因死亡的风险，而不仅仅是心脏病。他们在这些研究中做了什么?

In one case, it was what we call a meta-analysis. It looked at all prior literature on dog ownership and heart health and showed there's an effect of dog ownership on mortality from any cause and cardiovascular mortality.

在一个案例中，我们称之为元分析。它查阅了之前所有关于养狗和心脏健康的文献，发现养狗对任何原因引起的死亡率和心血管死亡率都有影响。

How much was that benefit?

益处有多少?

In the Swedish study, they followed over 100,000 people and found a 21% reduction in deaths from any cause. In particular, I found it very convincing and striking that the benefits seems to be larger among individuals who live alone compared to multiperson households. That suggests the companionship of a dog is possibly very important to their heart health.

在瑞典的研究中，他们跟踪调查了10万多人，发现因各种原因导致的死亡减少了21%。特别是，我发现一个非常有说服力和惊人的发现，独居的好处似乎比群居家庭更大。这表明狗的陪伴可能对他们的心脏健康非常重要。