2017-12-29

We've learned three big lessons about relationships. The first is that social connections are really good for us, and that loneliness kills. It turns out that people who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community, are happier, they're physically healthier, and they live longer than people who are less well connected. And the experience of loneliness turns out to be toxic. People who are more isolated than they want to be from others find that they are less happy, their health declines earlier in midlife, their brain functioning declines sooner and they live shorter lives than people who are not lonely. And the sad fact is that at any given time, more than one in five Americans will report that they're lonely.

关于人际关系，我们得到三大结论。 第一，社会关系对我们是有益的， 而孤独寂寞有害健康。 我们发现，那些跟家庭成员更亲近的人， 更爱与朋友、与邻居交往的人， 会比那些不善交际、离群索居的人， 更快乐，更健康，更长寿。 孤独寂寞是有害健康的。 那些“被孤立”的人， 跟不孤单的人相比， 往往更加不快乐， 等他们人到中年时，健康状况下降更快， 大脑功能下降得更快， 也没那么长寿。 可惜的是，长久以来， 每5个美国人中就至少 有1个声称自己是孤独的。

And we know that you can be lonely in a crowd and you can be lonely in a marriage, so the second big lesson that we learned is that it's not just the number of friends you have, and it's not whether or not you're in a committed relationship, but it's the quality of your close relationships that matters. It turns out that living in the midst of conflict is really bad for our health. High-conflict marriages, for example, without much affection, turn out to be very bad for our health, perhaps worse than getting divorced. And living in the midst of good, warm relationships is protective.

而且即便你身在人群中， 甚至已经结婚了， 你还是可能感到孤独， 因此我们得到的第二大结论是 不是你有多少朋友， 也不是你身边有没有伴侣， 真正有影响的是这些关系的质量。 整天吵吵闹闹，对健康是有害的。 比如成天吵架，没有爱的婚姻， 对健康的影响或许比离婚还大。 而关系和睦融洽， 则对我们的健康有益。

Once we had followed our men all the way into their 80s, we wanted to look back at them at midlife and to see if we could predict who was going to grow into a happy, healthy octogenarian and who wasn't. And when we gathered together everything we knew about them at age 50, it wasn't their middle age cholesterol levels that predicted how they were going to grow old. It was how satisfied they were in their relationships. The people who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80. And good, close relationships seem to buffer us from some of the slings and arrows of getting old. Our most happily partnered men and women reported, in their 80s, that on the days when they had more physical pain, their mood stayed just as happy. But the people who were in unhappy relationships, on the days when they reported more physical pain, it was magnified by more emotional pain.

当我们的研究对象步入80岁时， 我们会回顾他们的中年生活 看我们能否预测 哪些人会在八九十岁时过得快乐健康 哪些人不会。 我们把他们50岁时的所有信息 进行汇总分析， 发现决定他们将如何老去的， 并不是他们中年时的胆固醇水平。 而是他们对婚姻生活的满意度。 那些在50岁时满意度最高的人， 在80岁时也是最健康的。 另外，良好和亲密的婚姻关系 能减缓衰老带来的痛苦。 参与者中那些最幸福的夫妻告诉我们， 在他们80多岁时， 哪怕身体出现各种毛病， 他们依旧觉得日子很幸福。 而那些婚姻不快乐的人， 身体上会出现更多不适， 因为坏情绪把身体的痛苦放大了。

And the third big lesson that we learned about relationships and our health is that good relationships don't just protect our bodies, they protect our brains. It turns out that being in a securely attached relationship to another person in your 80s is protective, that the people who are in relationships where they really feel they can count on the other person in times of need, those people's memories stay sharper longer. And the people in relationships where they feel they really can't count on the other one, those are the people who experience earlier memory decline. And those good relationships, they don't have to be smooth all the time. Some of our octogenarian couples could bicker with each other day in and day out, but as long as they felt that they could really count on the other when the going got tough, those arguments didn't take a toll on their memories.

关于婚姻和健康的关系， 我们得到的第三大结论是， 幸福的婚姻不单能保护我们的身体， 还能保护我们的大脑。 研究发现，如果在80多岁时， 你的婚姻生活还温暖和睦， 你对自己的另一半 依然信任有加， 知道对方在关键时刻能指望得上， 那么你的记忆力都不容易衰退。 而反过来， 那些觉得无法信任 自己的另一半的人， 记忆力会更早表现出衰退。 幸福的婚姻，并不意味着从不拌嘴。 有些夫妻，八九十岁了， 还天天斗嘴， 但只要他们坚信，在关键时刻， 对方能靠得住， 那这些争吵顶多只是生活的调味剂。

So this message, that good, close relationships are good for our health and well-being, this is wisdom that's as old as the hills. Why is this so hard to get and so easy to ignore? Well, we're human. What we'd really like is a quick fix, something we can get that'll make our lives good and keep them that way. Relationships are messy and they're complicated and the hard work of tending to family and friends, it's not sexy or glamorous. It's also lifelong. It never ends. The people in our 75-year study who were the happiest in retirement were the people who had actively worked to replace workmates with new playmates. Just like the millennials in that recent survey, many of our men when they were starting out as young adults really believed that fame and wealth and high achievement were what they needed to go after to have a good life. But over and over, over these 75 years, our study has shown that the people who fared the best were the people who leaned in to relationships, with family, with friends, with community.

所以请记住， 幸福和睦的婚姻对健康是有利的， 这是永恒的真理。 但为什么我们总是办不到呢？ 因为我们是人类。 我们总喜欢找捷径， 总想一劳永逸， 找到一种方法，解决所有问题。 人际关系麻烦又复杂， 与家人、朋友相处需要努力付出， 一点也不高大上。 而且需要一辈子投入，无穷无尽。 在我们长达75年的研究中， 那些最享受退休生活的人， 是那些主动用玩伴 来替代工作伙伴的人。 就像开头我说过的千禧一代一样， 我们跟踪研究的很多人 在年轻的时候 坚信名望、财富和成就 是他们过上好日子的保证。 但在75年的时间里， 我们的研究一次次地证明， 日子过得最好的， 是那些主动与人交往的人， 与家人、朋友或者邻居。

So what about you? Let's say you're 25, or you're 40, or you're 60. What might leaning in to relationships even look like?

那么你们呢？ 也许你现在25岁， 或者40岁，或者60岁。 怎样才算主动与人交往呢？

Well, the possibilities are practically endless. It might be something as simple as replacing screen time with people time or livening up a stale relationship by doing something new together, long walks or date nights, or reaching out to that family member who you haven't spoken to in years, because those all-too-common family feuds take a terrible toll on the people who hold the grudges.

嗯，我想有很多种方法吧。 最简单的，别再跟屏幕聊天了， 去跟人聊天， 或者一起尝试些新事物， 让关系恢复活力， 一起散个步呀，晚上约个会呀， 或者给多年未曾联系的亲戚打个电话， 因为这种家庭不和睦太常见了， 但它带来的伤害又很大， 尤其对那些喜欢 生闷气的人来说更是如此。

I'd like to close with a quote from Mark Twain. More than a century ago, he was looking back on his life, and he wrote this: "There isn't time, so brief is life, for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account. There is only time for loving, and but an instant, so to speak, for that."

我想引用马克•吐温的一段话来作为结束。 一个多世纪前， 他回首自己的人生， 写下这样一段话： “时光荏苒，生命短暂， 别将时间浪费在 争吵、道歉、伤心和责备上。 用时间去爱吧， 哪怕只有一瞬间，也不要辜负。”

The good life is built with good relationships.

美好人生，从良好的人际关系开始。