VOA慢速英语2017 冥想可以缓解压力,提高专注力（在线收听）

Meditation May Reduce Stress, Increase Focus

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语健康和生活报道。

A mind filled with fear and bad thoughts is an unquiet mind. When you are worried, it can be hard to direct your attention on even a minor problem.

内心充满恐惧和不良想法是一种焦虑。当你焦虑时，即使是在小事情上也可能很难控制你的注意力。

For some people, this can interfere with work, sleep and other activities. In others, it could lead to a serious mental disorder. People who suffer from anxiety, a nervous disorder, have unreasonable thoughts and fears about the future. Often they are unable to control these thoughts. They are also less able to deal with stress.

对于某些人来说，这可能会影响工作、睡眠等。还有些人可能会导致严重的精神障碍。患有焦虑这种神经障碍的人们对未来有不合理的想法和恐惧。通常他们无法控制这些想法，也不太能够应付压力。

Two recent studies found that doing mindful meditation exercises can reduce signs of stress in people suffering from anxiety and make them more productive. The studies also showed that mindful meditation can lower a person’s stress levels.

最近的两项研究发现，正念冥想可以减轻焦虑症患者的压力迹象，使他们更富效率。研究还表明，正念冥想可以降低一个人的压力水平。

What is mindful meditation?

什么是正念冥想？

Meditation is a simple, low-cost way to help calm an unquiet brain. We can define mindful meditation as thinking quietly about what is going on in the present. You don't think about the past or the future. You think only about your own breathing and what you sense around you.

冥想是帮助安抚大脑焦虑的一种简单的、低成本的办法。我们定义正念冥想为静下心来思考当前正在发生的事情，不去想过去和未来。你只想着自己的呼吸和感觉。

Should you start thinking about a future task or a past mistake, you simply tell your mind to stop and return to the here and now. Another part of mindful meditation is to let yourself experience any thoughts and feelings without judgment.

如果你开始思考未来的工作和过去的错误，你要告诉自己别去想，回到眼跟前。正念冥想的另一个部分是不加判断地体验自己的任何想法和感觉。

Around the world, the number of people reporting stress and anxiety is increasing.

在世界各地，报告压力和焦虑的人数越来越多。

The World Health Organization says that between 1990 and 2013, the number of people suffering from depression and/or anxiety rose by nearly 50%. The WHO’s website says this increased the number from 416 million to 615 million people.

世界卫生组织表示，在1990年到2013年期间，抑郁或焦虑患者人数增加了近50%。世界卫生组织网站表示，这个数字从4.16亿增加到了6.15亿人次。

This is not just a health issue, but also an economic one. WHO experts estimate that depression and anxiety disorders cost the world economy US$1 trillion each year. Stressed and anxious workers who can't stay focused are not productive.

这不仅仅是一个健康问题，也是一个经济问题。世界卫生组织专家估计，抑郁症和焦虑症每年让世界经济损失一万亿美元。压力太大和焦虑的员工无法保持专注，效率不高。

University of Waterloo study

滑铁卢大学的研究

In one recent study, Canadian researchers wanted to see how well anxious, stressed people completed an activity.

在最近一项研究中，加拿大研究人员想要看看焦虑和压力过大的人们能够在多大程度上完成一项活动。

The researchers found that meditating for 10 minutes a day may help keep people's minds from becoming unfocused. So, mindful meditation may help people stay on task.

这些研究人员发现，每天冥想10分钟可能有助于帮助人们保持专注。所以，正念冥想可能有助于帮助人们专注于工作。

Mengran Xu is a clinical psychologist at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. He and his colleagues studied with people who showed signs of anxiety.

徐蒙然（Mengran Xu，音译）是滑铁卢大学的临床心理学家。他和他的同事们研究了具有焦虑症状的人群。

“We know that anxious people in general, if you ask them to stay on task, it is hard for them. They tend to wander. They tend to worry. But those people who practiced mindfulness didn’t. They were able to stay on task."

“我们知道，一般情况下，如果你让焦虑者专注于工作，他们很难做到。他们往往会走神，担忧。但是进行正念冥想的人们不会这样。他们能够专心工作。”

In this study, 82 people suffering from anxiety were asked to perform a computer task that required high levels of focus. Then researchers interrupted them as they performed the work. The researchers studied their ability to stay focused.

在这项研究中，有82位焦虑者被要求进行一项需要高度专注的电脑工作。然后研究人员在他们工作时干扰他们，研究他们保持专注的能力。

Then the 82 individuals were divided into two groups. One group listened to an audio book. The other group did mindful meditation for about 10 minutes.

然后研究人员把这82个人分为两组。其中一组听有声读物，另一组进行十分钟左右的正念冥想。

Finally, researchers asked all the subjects to go back to their computers.

最终，研究人员要求所有研究对象回到电脑前。

Xu says that those who meditated performed much better on the task.

徐先生表示，做过正念冥想的人工作表现更好。

"The anxious people who listened to the audio books, they performed much worse over time, while the anxious people who practiced mindfulness meditation, they were able to in a way improve and maintain their performance on the task."

“听有声读物的焦虑者随着时间推移表现更为糟糕。而那些进行正念冥想的人，他们能够在某种程度上改善和保持他们的工作表现。”

The researchers published their findings in the journal Consciousness and Cognition.

这些研究人员在《意识和认知》杂志上发表了他们的研究结果。

Georgetown University study

乔治城大学的研究

The other study is from the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC.

另一项研究来自华盛顿特区乔治敦大学医学中心。

For this study, researchers looked at 89 patients who have an anxiety disorder.

在这项研究中，研究人员研究了89位焦虑障碍患者。

The researchers divided the patients into two groups. One group took a mindfulness meditation training program for eight weeks. The other group -- the control group – took a class on Stress Management Education for eight weeks.

研究人员将这些患者分为两组。一组参加为期8周的正念冥想培训课程，另一组作为对照组，参加了为期八周的压力管理训练课程。

People from both groups were asked to do something stressful. They had to give a short speech in front of a crowd -- not once but twice, both before and after their training.

两组人都被要求做一些有压力的事情。他们必须在培训前后在人群面前各做一次简单演讲。

During each speech, researchers measured levels of hormones and proteins that the body releases when a person is feeling stressed.

在每次演讲中，研究人员测量了人们感受到压力时体内释放的激素和蛋白质水平。

The control group, researchers said, showed small increases in stress on the second speech compared to the first. This suggests their stress and anxiety levels increased when they had to give the speech again.

研究人员表示，和第一次演讲相比，对照组第二次演讲的压力略有增加。这表明当他们不得不再次发表演讲时，他们的压力和焦虑水平都有所提高。

However, when making the second speech, those who used mindful meditation produced fewer stress hormones and proteins. This suggests that meditation worked to reduce stress.

然而，采用正念冥想的这组在发表第二次演讲时产生的激素和蛋白质有所降低，这表明冥想有助于减轻压力。

Elizabeth A. Hoge is a doctor and works in the medical center's Department of Psychiatry. She says people who used mindfulness meditation had "sharply reduced stress-hormone" levels and other biological responses to a stressful situation. And those who took the stress management training had poor responses.

Elizabeth A. Hoge是一名医生，她在该医学中心精神病学系工作。她说，采用正念冥想的人显著降低了在压力情绪下的应急激素水平以及其它生理反应。而参加压力管理培训者反应较差。

Hoge and her colleagues reported their findings in the journal Psychiatry Research.

Hoge和她的同事在《精神病学研究》杂志上发表了他们的研究结果。

And that’s the Health & Lifestyle report. I’m Anna Matteo.

Words in This Story

focus – n. a subject that is being discussed or studied : the subject on which people's attention is focused

anxiety – n. fear or nervousness about what might happen

stress – n. a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc.

on task – adj. concentrating or focusing on what is to be done

tend – v. to exhibit an inclination

wander – v. to go away from a path, course, etc. often used figuratively

interrupt – v. to stop or hinder by breaking in

consciousness – n. the condition of being conscious : the normal state of being awake and able to understand what is happening around you : a person's mind and thoughts

cognition – n. conscious mental activities : the activities of thinking, understanding, learning, and remembering

management – n. the act or process of controlling and dealing with something

hormone – n. a natural substance that is produced in the body and that influences the way the body grows or develops