Happy People Make Their Spouses² Healthier

快乐的人能使他们的另一半更健康

People who are happier are usually also healthier—and not just because they’re happy about being healthy. When humans feel good, they’re more likely to be active and less likely to attempt to cheer themselves up with cheeseburgers, ice cream and a two-day Game of Thrones marathon.

更快乐的人通常也更健康，这不光是源于他们因为健康而开心。当人们感觉良好时，他们更为振作，不大会通过吃芝士汉堡、冰淇淋和连续通宵两天看《权力的游戏》来振奋自己。

But a new study suggests that people whose spouses are happier are probably also in better shape, even independently of their own happiness. In fact, the study’s data suggests that people with a happy partner are 34% more likely to be healthy than those married to a downer.

但是一项最新的研究表明，如果一个人的配偶更快乐，那么他本人的健康状况也可能更好，甚至与他自己是不是快乐无关。事实上，这项研究的数据表明，拥有性格开朗的配偶的人有超过34%的可能比那些与容易沮丧的人结婚的人更健康。

The authors propose a couple of reasons why a happy person might improve the health of their lover. First, a happy spouse¹ is a better caretaker; he or she is more likely to have the emotional energy to look after a significant other, making sure they’re O.K., have taken their medications and are looked after when they’re ill.

作者提出了几个理由，来说明为什么一个快乐的人会改善他爱人的健康。首先，一个快乐的伴侣更会照顾人；他在情感上更可能有精力去照顾身边重要的人、去确保他们安好、去监督他们是否按时吃药以及在他们生病的时候照顾他们。

Secondly, people with a positive outlook are more likely to be playing the long game; they eat better, they exercise, they sleep regularly, they make plans and avoid doing self-destructive things because they feel good about the future. And they bring their companions along for the ride. “Happy people drag their spouses out of bed to go exercise, and they encourage them to eat healthier,” says Bill Chopik an associate psychology³ professor at MSU, and lead author of the study.

其次，一个心态乐观积极的人更能坚持做长远打算；因为他们对未来充满憧憬，所以他们吃得更好，经常锻炼，睡觉有规律，他们喜欢制定计划，避免做自我毁灭的事情。而且他们会带动自己的伴侣一起这样生活。Bill Chopik在MSU担任心理学副教授，同时也是该研究的第一作者，他这样说道：“快乐的人会把他们的配偶拽起床去锻炼，也会鼓励他们吃得更健康。”

And thirdly, happy spouses make life easier for their partners because their partners aren’t stressed by the fact that their closest companion is always in a bad mood, and they’re not exhausted⁴ by efforts to jolly them along or under constant pressure.

第三，快乐的配偶会让他们伴侣的生活更容易，因为他们的伴侣不用因为他们最亲密的伴侣总是处在一个坏心情而感到压力，也不会因为长久生活在压力之下或抑制努力让伴侣开心而精疲力尽。

The study adjusted for gender⁵, wealth and educational attainment⁶ and also for people who were desperately⁷ ill or whose partners were, which would obviously have a big impact on happiness.

这项研究后来根据性别、财富和教育程度，以及那些得了重病或伴侣得了重病的人做了调整，这些因素显然对幸福有很大的影响。

Surprisingly, there was no difference in these outcomes between husbands and wives. “There’s a sense that women’s manage their husbands’ health, but it appears that the amount your spouse’s happiness affects your health doesn’t vary across gender,” says Chopik.

令人惊讶的是，男女之间的结果出来并没有什么不同。”Chopik说：“有一种感觉是，女性管理着自己丈夫的健康，但现在看来，你的配偶的幸福对你健康的影响的程度的大小不因性别而不同。“

It’s hard to know what moral to draw from the study—apart from try to marry a happy person—since the stress of trying to figure out how to improve your spouse’s mood may well undo⁸ all the beneficial effects of having a happy spouse. Chopik has a workaround. “Relationship satisfaction between couples is one of the largest predictors of happiness,” he says. So instead of trying to figure out what’s up with him or her, he suggests working out what’s up with the two of you.

除了想和一个快乐的人结婚，我们很难从这项研究中悟出什么道理，因为试图弄清楚如何改善你的配偶的情绪会产生压力，而这很可能会抵消拥有快乐配偶的所有有利影响。 Chopik有一个解决方法。他说，“夫妇之间的关系满意度是能够预测是否幸福的测量标准之一。”所以，他建议找出你们俩之间的问题所在，而不是使劲想弄清楚你的伴侣到底怎么了。