Laughter Is Good for Heart Health

開懷大笑有助于心臟健康

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.

老話說，笑是最好的“藥”，這句話在心臟健康方面也許是有道理的。

一項研究表明，笑能讓心臟內部組織擴張，從而增加在體內四處流動的氧氣。

研究發現，采用“大笑療法”的冠心病患者炎癥減輕了，身體變好了。

該研究的首席作者、巴西阿雷格里港醫院的馬克·薩菲教授表示：“我們的研究發現，大笑療法能改善心血管系統的功能?！?/p>

這一研究結果在阿姆斯特丹舉行的世界最大型的心臟病學會議——歐洲心臟病學會年會上公布。

科學家在這項研究中開展了一場史無前例的試驗，看大笑療法能否改善心臟病患者的癥狀。

26名平均年齡為64歲的成人參與了這個試驗，他們全都確診冠心病，這種病是由給心臟供血的冠狀動脈內壁的斑塊堆積導致的。

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.

在三個月的時間內，有一半的患者被要求每周觀看兩個不同的長達一小時的喜劇節目，包括受歡迎的情景喜劇。另外一半患者每周觀看兩部不同的嚴肅紀錄片，涉及政治或亞馬孫雨林這類題材。

在長達12周的研究結束時，科學家對他們的身體進行檢查后發現，觀看喜劇的小組成員心臟供應全身的氧氣流量增加了10%。

另一項檢查發現，該小組成員的冠狀動脈擴張功能也改善了。

這些人還抽血檢測了幾個炎癥生物指標，這些指標能顯示出血管中積聚了多少斑塊，以及是否有心臟病發作或中風的風險。結果顯示，相比對照組，這些人的炎癥生物指標都顯著降低。

薩菲表示：“當冠心病患者就醫時，他們的炎癥生物指標都很高。炎癥是動脈粥樣硬化過程中表明動脈斑塊堆積的主要癥狀?！?/p>

這項研究發現，大笑療法是很好的干預手段，有助于減輕炎癥并降低心臟病發作和中風的風險。

Word Bank

tissue /'t??u?/ n. （人、動植物細胞的）組織

therapy /'θer?pi/ n. 治療；療法

symptom /'s?mpt?m/ n. 癥狀

diagnose /'da??ɡn??z/ v. 診斷（疾?。?/p>

The illness was diagnosed as cancer.