Poor sleep is associated with increased inflammation, which may contribute to heart disease and a variety of other ailments¹. A new study has shown that cognitive² behavioral therapy and tai chi, the Chinese exercise technique, may reduce both insomnia³ and inflammation.

睡眠不足与炎症增加相关，而后者可能会导致心脏病和其他多种疾病。一项新研究表明，认知行为疗法和中国的锻炼技法太极拳或可同时减少失眠和炎症。

Researchers studied 123 people with insomnia who were over age 55. They were randomized to one of three groups. The first received two hours a week of cognitive behavioral therapy over four months, the second the same amount of tai chi practice, and the third, a control group, a four-month educational program about sleep hygiene⁴, aging and insomnia. The study was published in Biological Psychiatry⁵.

研究人员研究了123名年龄超过55岁的失眠症患者，并将他们随机分入3组。第一组接受了每周两小时，持续四个月的认知行为疗法，第二组进行同样数量的太极拳练习，第三组是对照组，接受为期四个月的关于睡眠卫生、衰老和失眠的教育课程。该研究发表在《生物精神病学》杂志(Biological Psychiatry)上。

At one year after the treatment, compared with the control group, those on cognitive behavioral therapy and tai chi had reduced blood levels of C-reactive protein and reduced production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, both indicators⁶ of inflammation.

在治疗一年后，与对照组相比，接受认知行为疗法者和练习太极拳者的血液C反应蛋白浓度均有所降低，促炎细胞因子的产生减少，而这两者均是炎症的指标。

Using blood samples, the researchers also found that both the treatment groups had lower expression of genes⁷ related to inflammation and increased expression of genes related to antibody response compared with the control group.

使用血液样本，研究人员还发现，比之对照组，两个治疗组的炎症相关基因表达均较低，抗体反应相关基因表达均较高。

“Tai chi and cognitive therapy are used to treat insomnia because, unlike medication, they produce no unwanted side effects,” said the lead author, Dr. Michael R. Irwin, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles.

研究的主要作者，加州大学洛杉矶分校(University of California, Los Angeles)的精神病学教授迈克尔·R·欧文(Michael R. Irwin)博士说：“使用太极拳和认知疗法来治疗失眠，是因为它们不像药物那样会产生有害的副作用。”

“With the improvement in insomnia,” he added, “there’s a reversal of inflammation at the systemic level and the genetic⁸ level. Inflammation contributes to cardiovascular disease, depression and cancer.”

“随着失眠的改善，炎症在全身和基因层次上都出现了逆转。”他补充道，“而炎症是心血管疾病、抑郁症和癌症的原因之一。”