I can relate.

我能感同身受。

Like most people, I get nervous when I'm being put on the spot at a meeting or need to respond to my editor's criticism.

如同多數人一樣，我在開會時被為難或需要回覆編輯批評的時候會感到緊張。

I'm about to go into a meeting that I'm stressed about.

我正要去開一場讓我壓力很大的會議。

I have two deadlines to meet.

有兩個截稿期限快到了。

To learn how stress at work affects our health, I'm enrolling in a scientific experiment.

為了了解工作壓力如何影響我們的健康，我要報名一項科學實驗。

Big sigh of relief.

真的鬆了一口氣。

Let's see what the week brings.

來看看這星期會發生什麼事。

There's a whole cascade of physiological responses that occur under stress.

受到壓力時會產生一連串的生理反應。

And each of us differs in the way in which we respond.

每個人做出反應的方式都不一樣。

Columbia University professor Richard Sloan and his lab developed a unique way to measure the impact of stress on our health.

哥倫比亞大學的 Richard Sloan 教授和他的實驗團隊開發了能測量壓力對健康之影響的獨特方式。

Can you tell us about the experiment that I'm going to be putting myself through for the next week?

你可以告訴我更多關於下星期我要參加的實驗的事嗎？

What we're interested in is trying to understand the underlying physiology of the experience of stress throughout the regular day.

我們有興趣要理解的是，平日中經歷壓力的潛藏生理機能。

For seven days, I'll need to wear a small portable heart monitor and fill out a questionnaire on a modified iPod.

在這七天之中，我必須穿戴一個小型隨身心率監測器並在改量過的 iPod 上填問卷。

For this study, Richard Sloan's lab has developed an app that will prompt me to log my mood, who I'm with, and how stressed I am 12 to 15 times a day.

Richard Sloan 的實驗團隊為了這個研究開發了一款每天提醒我記錄我的心情、周遭的人和我壓力多大 12 到 15 次的應用程式。

With the combination of these two sets of data we'll be able to get a pretty interesting picture of how your heart responds to a variety of different circumstances.

將這兩組資料整合起來，我們便能有趣地描繪出你的心臟如何對不同情境做出反應。

Under stress, glands above the kidneys release stress-related hormones like adrenaline, which increases our heart rate.

腎上腺體在壓力下會分泌與壓力相關的荷爾蒙，像是會增快心跳的腎上腺素。

We sweat more, and the way we metabolize food changes.

我們會流較多汗，而且我們代謝食物的方式也會改變。

Our immune system goes into overdrive, and that can cause inflammation.

我們的免疫系統會開始加速運作，這可能會導致發炎。

This response is meant to protect us against an infection.

這個身體反應是要保護我們不受細菌感染侵害。

That's good, as long as the response, the inflammatory response, doesn't outlast the challenge.

這是個好現象，直到發炎反應勝過入侵的病菌。

If our immune system is overactive for too long, it won't be able to protect us against a cold or an infectious disease.

要是我們的免疫系統過度活躍太久，它便無法防護感冒或傳染性疾病。

Is stress always bad?

壓力都是不好的嗎？

No.

不必然。

Excessive stress is bad.

過量的壓力才是不好的。

A certain amount of stress can help us be engaged and work better, but chronic stress can have a negative impact on our health.

適量的壓力能幫助我們更加專注並表現更好，但長期的壓力可能會對我們的健康造成負面影響。

One of the classic cases of extended stress is caregiving.

照顧家人是延長壓力的經典成因。

Stressful work experiences, having a work environment that is not supportive, having a boss who is frequently angry or hostile, critical is another chronic stressor.

焦慮的工作經驗、鼓勵性低的工作環境及生氣、不友善和挑剔的老闆都是造成長期壓力的罪魁禍首。

Chronic stress puts us at risk for developing a variety of diseases.

長期壓力讓我們有患上多種疾病的風險。

It changes the way our bodies release insulin, the hormone that regulate level of sugar in the blood, and that increases the risk for developing diabetes.

它會改變我們身體分泌調節血糖的胰島素的模式，而那會增加罹患糖尿病的風險。

The prolonged inflammation linked to chronic stress can damage blood vessels, and that can up the risk of heart disease.

和長期壓力有關的長時間發炎會破壞我們的血管，那會提高心臟疾病的風險。

My job is demanding, the hours are long, and I'm curious to know how I'm coping.

我的工作要求很高、工時很長，我很好奇自己是如何應付的。

This is my first video entry, and I've been wearing the heart monitor now for probably five hours.

這是我第一次影片紀錄，我大概戴了五小時的心率監測器。

Logging and wearing a heart monitor only added to my everyday stress.

定時紀錄及穿戴監測器只加重了我的日常壓力。

I had to make sure the data and circumstances were recorded.

我必須確保數據和各種情境都有被記錄下來。

I'm about to go into a stressful meeting.

我正要去開一個很緊張的會議。

Hopefully it'll go well.

希望一切順利。

But the experiment also helped me understand who and what stresses me out and the impact of confronting personal challenges.

但這個實驗也讓我了解讓我感到壓力的人事物以及對抗個人挑戰造成的衝擊。

Knowing that scientists were going to sift through my data made me work out harder.

知道科學家們會仔細查看我的數據資料讓我更努力健身運動。

It also made me more conscious of my work-life balance.

也讓我更清楚意識到自己的工作及生活平衡。

I am basically gonna go back to work seven hours after I left the office.

我基本上離開辦公室七小時後就要回去工作。

It's Wednesday night at 9:04 p.m., and I'm still at the office.

現在是星期三晚上 9:04，我還在辦公室。

2:17 a.m. on Saturday, September ...

現在是星期天清晨 2:17，九月 ...

It's July.

現在七月。

It's July.

現在七月。

Do I look like a stress case in this data?

從這個數據中我看起來壓力大嗎？

You don't report a lot of stress.

你並沒有回報出很多壓力。

Over the seven-day period when you were prompted about whether you were experiencing stress right now, only 12 times did you report yes to that out of about 70 or so.

在這七天中，你被提問七十幾次當下是否感到壓力，其中你只回應了十二次是。

Overall, my cardiogram was perfectly normal.

整體來說，我的心電圖正常完美。

But even though I wasn't consistently stressed all week, I remember moments when my heart rate changed.

雖然我不是整周持續感到壓力，但我記得有些時候我的心跳改變了。

For instance, when I had to pitch a new project, the heart monitor picked up on that.

例如我要推銷一個新畫的時，心率監測器就又注意到改變。

I'm sitting in Bryant Park.

我正坐在 Bryant 公園中。

A long walk outside after some weekend work helped me cope with stress.

在一些周末公事結束後到戶外散步幫助我處理壓力。

I feel pretty relaxed and energized.

我覺得蠻放鬆和有精神的。

It's really nice to be outside.

到外頭走走真的很不錯。

For my heart rate, it meant that variability went up, which is good, because stress usually does the opposite.

這代表我的心率變異性變大了，這是好事，因為壓力通常會造成相反的影響。

For instance, when I was getting a story ready to publish, it felt like a pit in my stomach, and my heart rate was still.

舉例來說，當我準備要出版一則報導時，感覺好像我的胃有個大洞，但是我的心跳是平穩的。

So are some of the traps of stress of our own making?

有沒有一些壓力是我們自己想出來的？

Yes, in a sense.

某方面來說，有。

Some are, and some are not.

有些是有些不是。

If you work in an incredibly stressful environment because your supervisors are nasty, and you have deadlines, and you have relatively limited control over your work experience but lots of demands, those things aren't really not of your own making.

如果你在充滿壓力的環境下工作，原因可能是主管很惡劣、有很多期限日期、相較之下對工作控制程度有限但需要達到很多要求，這些都不是你想像出來的。

And it's generally much more beneficial and more effective to change the environment if it's at all possible.

有可能的話改變環境是更加有利且有效的解決方法。

If changing environments or jobs isn't an option, then research suggests reframing your experience.

若是無法改變環境或換工作的話，研究建議要以新的模式思考自己的經歷。

Or even relaxation exercises might help reduce the impact of chronic stress.

甚至放鬆運動也可能對減少長期壓力的危害有所助益。

It was reassuring to know my heart was resilient to the challenges of my work week, or perhaps my workout balance stopped my stress.

知道我的心臟能彈性面對工作週間的挑戰讓我感到寬慰，又或者可能是健身抑制了我的壓力。

You could argue the heart rate variability is a measure of resilience.

心律變異性是心靈彈性的測量法是可以論證的。

It's a measure of the flexibility of the cardiovascular system to respond to a challenge, and that is what resilience is.

這能測量心血管系統面對考驗時的彈性，而那正是心靈彈性。

From an evolutionary perspective, having higher levels of heart rate variability gives you more room to raise or lower your heart rate in response to a challenge that you might experience.

以演化的角度看來，較高的心律變異性能讓你有更多空間加快或減緩心跳來因應可能經歷的不同挑戰。

Relaxing a little bit more today.

我今天比較放鬆。

I don't have a pressing deadline.

沒有迫近的截稿期限。

Hopefully no breaking news.

希望沒有突發新聞。

There are many ways to improve our resilience to stress.

增進面對壓力的彈性的方法有很多。

Science shows that mindfulness exercises like yoga and meditation can help.

科學證明像瑜珈和冥想的正念運動能有所幫助。

Sleep is important.

睡眠非常重要。

Also, consider hitting the gym.

此外，也要考慮上健身房。

Increasing your cardio-respiratory fitness is associated with an increase in heart rate variability.

增進心肺健康也和心律變異性的增長有關。

As a cardiology colleague of mine used to say, the heart is happiest when it dances.

就像我的心臟學同事所說的，心臟在跳舞的時候最快樂。