Laughter is Good for the Heart
每天笑十五分钟心脏更健康

Laughter is good for the heart because it prolongs life while depression increases the risk of an early death, according to two new studies.
美国科学家的两项最新研究结果显示，笑能使人精神愉悦，同时还对心脏大有好处；相反，心情沮丧则不利于身体健康，甚至会增加早死的危险。

A good bout of laughter every day provides similar cardiovascular benefits as exercise because it stimulates the blood flow, said Michael Miller, who headed one research team at the University of Maryland.
其中一项研究的负责人、美国马里兰大学的迈克尔-米勒表示，笑给心血管带来的好处就像锻炼可以给心血管带来好处一样，因为笑可以促使血液流通。

On the other hand, depression -- or the lack of laughter -- is often linked to unhealthy habits such as smoking and drug addiction and increases the risk of death by 44 percent, said Wein Jiang, who led a study of 1,000 heart patients for the University of North Carolina.
而北卡罗莱纳大学的另一项研究则表明，心情沮丧或缺少笑容却常常与诸如抽烟、吸毒等不健康的生活习惯联系在一起，同时还会将死亡的危险增加44%。

Miller said laughter produced a "magnitude of change ... in the endothelium ... similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic activity, but without the aches, pains and muscle tension associated with exercise"
对此，米勒表示，笑会在心内膜内引起某种变化，其效果和做有氧运动时差不多，但笑可以使我们远离由运动带来的伤痛和肌肉紧张等不良影响。

While laughter should not replace exercise, he said, "We do recommend that you try to laugh on a regular basis. Thirty minutes of exercise three times a week, and 15 minutes of laughter on a daily basis is probably good for the vascular system." 
但他同时也表示，笑也不可能取代体育锻炼，两者应该有规律地同时进行。他说：“我们建议人们一周进行3次体育锻炼，每次30分钟；另外，每天要笑15分钟，这样会对人们的脉管体统大有裨益。”