為什么養(yǎng)狗的人活得更長？

為什么養(yǎng)狗的人活得更長?

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.

本月公布的兩項研究結果顯示，如果你每天都能看到狗狗并擁抱它們，你可能會比那些不用清洗衣服上動物毛發(fā)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.

擁抱狗狗是人生最大的樂趣之一?？吹剿臈l腿上的毛和搖擺的尾巴就像在體驗一種愛情毒藥——這是真的。

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.

狗狗和人類相互交流時會產(chǎn)生催產(chǎn)素，也就是所謂的“擁抱激素”。而且，根據(jù)本月公布的兩項研究，如果你每天都能看到狗狗并擁抱它們，你可能會比那些不用清洗衣服上動物毛發(fā)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.

發(fā)表在《循環(huán):心血管質量和結果》雜志上的研究表明，在12年的研究期間，養(yǎng)狗可以使心臟病患者的死亡風險降低21%。

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

這些研究補充了大量將狗與健康聯(lián)系起來的文獻。

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.

心臟病學家、貝斯以色列女執(zhí)事醫(yī)療中心和哈佛醫(yī)學院的健康經(jīng)濟學家卡茲博士為這些新研究撰寫了相關社論，但沒有參與這項研究。

"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.

他說:“當你縱觀全局，看到所有關于養(yǎng)狗和心血管健康的證據(jù)時，很明顯，這個信號是真實的，很可能是因果關系。”

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

換句話說，他確信養(yǎng)狗會提高身體健康，特別是有心臟病的人群。

The research is not definitive, though, Kazi adds.

然而，卡茲補充說，這項研究并不是決定性的。

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

“它們不是隨機試驗，不是評價一種新藥的黃金標準，”他說。

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.

卡茲說，理想情況下，研究人員會進行一項實驗，1000個人分別養(yǎng)一只狗，另外1000個人分別有一個動物的替代物。然后，研究人員將試圖衡量他們的健康狀況如何變化。相反，這些研究使用的是來自歐洲國家注冊登記的狗主人和沒有寵物的人的數(shù)據(jù)。

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

WBUR采訪了卡茲，談到了狗對健康的影響，以及為什么你想成為一個養(yǎng)狗的人。

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

當談到養(yǎng)狗對健康的好處時，研究人員過去觀察到什么?

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.

我們都知道養(yǎng)狗能增加身體活動。不管天氣如何，你都得出去遛狗。否則，你可能會忍不住呆在家里看電視。

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.

我們還知道其他一些影響。有一種觀點認為，養(yǎng)狗會讓你有更多的戶外時間，花在戶外的時間可以改善健康，特別是心血管健康。

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?

這兩項最新的研究表明，養(yǎng)狗可以降低心血管疾病患者因任何原因死亡的風險，而不僅僅是心臟病。他們在這些研究中做了什么?

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.

在一個案例中，我們稱之為元分析。它查閱了之前所有關于養(yǎng)狗和心臟健康的文獻，發(fā)現(xiàn)養(yǎng)狗對任何原因引起的死亡率和心血管死亡率都有影響。

How much was that benefit?

益處有多少?

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，他們跟蹤調查了10萬多人，發(fā)現(xiàn)因各種原因導致的死亡減少了21%。特別是，我發(fā)現(xiàn)一個非常有說服力和驚人的發(fā)現(xiàn)，獨居的好處似乎比群居家庭更大。這表明狗的陪伴可能對他們的心臟健康非常重要。