Laughter Is Good for Heart Health

开怀大笑有助于心脏健康

The old adage that “laughter is the best medicine” may contain an element of truth when it comes to heart health.

A study has demonstrated that having a laugh causes the tissue inside the heart to expand and increases oxygen flow around the body.

Patients with coronary artery disease who engaged in a course of laughter therapy had reduced inflammation and better health， the research found.

“Our study found that laughter therapy increased the functional capacity of the cardiovascular system，” said the lead author， Prof Marco Saffi， of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre in Brazil.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Amsterdam， the worlds largest heart conference.

In the trial， scientists carried out a first-of-its-kind study to examine if laughter therapy could improve symptoms of patients with heart disease.

It involved 26 adults with an average age of 64， all diagnosed with coronary artery disease， caused by plaque buildup in the walls of the arteries that supply blood to the heart.

老話说，笑是最好的“药”，这句话在心脏健康方面也许是有道理的。

一项研究表明，笑能让心脏内部组织扩张，从而增加在体内四处流动的氧气。

研究发现，采用“大笑疗法”的冠心病患者炎症减轻了，身体变好了。

该研究的首席作者、巴西阿雷格里港医院的马克·萨菲教授表示：“我们的研究发现，大笑疗法能改善心血管系统的功能。”

这一研究结果在阿姆斯特丹举行的世界最大型的心脏病学会议——欧洲心脏病学会年会上公布。

科学家在这项研究中开展了一场史无前例的试验，看大笑疗法能否改善心脏病患者的症状。

26名平均年龄为64岁的成人参与了这个试验，他们全都确诊冠心病，这种病是由给心脏供血的冠状动脉内壁的斑块堆积导致的。

Over three months， half were asked to watch two different hour-long comedy programmes each week， including popular sitcoms. The other half watched two different serious documentaries， about topics such as politics or the Amazon rainforest.

At the end of the 12-week study period， the comedy group improved by 10% in a test measuring how much oxygen their heart could pump around the body.

The group also improved in a second measure that tested how well arteries can expand.

They also had blood tests to measure several inflammatory biomarkers， which indicate how much plaque has built up in the blood vessels， and whether people are at risk of heart attack or stroke. The results showed that these inflammatory biomarkers had significantly reduced compared with the control group.

“When patients with coronary artery disease arrive at hospital， they have a lot of inflammatory biomarkers，” said Saffi. “Inflammation is a huge part of the process of atherosclerosis， when plaque builds up in the arteries.”

This study found that laughter therapy is a good intervention that could help reduce that inflammation and decrease the risk of heart attack and stroke.

在三个月的时间内，有一半的患者被要求每周观看两个不同的长达一小时的喜剧节目，包括受欢迎的情景喜剧。另外一半患者每周观看两部不同的严肃纪录片，涉及政治或亚马孙雨林这类题材。

在长达12周的研究结束时，科学家对他们的身体进行检查后发现，观看喜剧的小组成员心脏供应全身的氧气流量增加了10%。

另一项检查发现，该小组成员的冠状动脉扩张功能也改善了。

这些人还抽血检测了几个炎症生物指标，这些指标能显示出血管中积聚了多少斑块，以及是否有心脏病发作或中风的风险。结果显示，相比对照组，这些人的炎症生物指标都显著降低。

萨菲表示：“当冠心病患者就医时，他们的炎症生物指标都很高。炎症是动脉粥样硬化过程中表明动脉斑块堆积的主要症状。”

这项研究发现，大笑疗法是很好的干预手段，有助于减轻炎症并降低心脏病发作和中风的风险。

Word Bank

tissue /'t??u?/ n. （人、动植物细胞的）组织

therapy /'θer?pi/ n. 治疗；疗法

symptom /'s?mpt?m/ n. 症状

diagnose /'da??ɡn??z/ v. 诊断（疾病）

The illness was diagnosed as cancer.