好英语网我们究竟为什么去锻炼
What would it take to persuade you to exercise?
怎样才能说服你去锻炼？
A desire to lose weight or improve your figure? To keep heart disease, cancer or diabetes at bay? To lower your blood pressure or cholesterol? To protect your bones? To live to a healthy old age?
想减肥，想要更好的身材？防范心脏病、癌症和糖尿病？降低血压和胆固醇？保护骨骼？还是延年益寿？
You'd think any of those reasons would be sufficient to get Americans exercising, but scores of studies have shown otherwise. It seems that public health experts, doctors and exercise devotees in the media -- like me -- have been using ineffective tactics to entice sedentary people to become, and remain, physically active.
你可能觉得上述任一理由都足够说服人们去锻炼，可是大量研究显示，情况并非如此。公共卫生专家、医生、媒体上的运动达人——比如我——似乎一直在试图鼓动久坐不动的人变得爱运动、并且坚持下去，但却并没取得什么成效。
For decades, people have been bombarded with messages that regular exercise is necessary to lose weight, prevent serious disease and foster healthy aging. And yes, most people say they value these goals. Yet a vast majority of Americans -- two-thirds of whom are overweight or obese -- have thus far failed to swallow the "exercise pill."
多少年来，人们持续接受着“想减肥、预防严重疾病、促进晚年健康就必须锻炼”的信息轰炸。当然，多数人也说这些好处值得重视。可惜，绝大多数美国人（大约三分之二）还是超重甚至肥胖。显然，他们没有吞下那颗“锻炼药片”。
Now research by psychologists strongly suggests it's time to stop thinking of future health, weight loss and body image as motivators for exercise. Instead, these experts recommend a strategy marketers use to sell products: portray physical activity as a way to enhance current well-being and happiness.
现在心理学家的研究让我们看到了一个强烈的信息：是时候停止拿未来的健康、减重和改善个人形象来刺激人们锻炼了。相反，专家建议采取销售人员常用的产品推广策略：把体育锻炼刻画成能够增进人们当前幸福感和满足感的方法。
"We need to make exercise relevant to people's daily lives," Michelle L. Segar, a research investigator at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan, said in an interview. "Everyone's schedule is packed with nonstop to-do's. We can only fit in what's essential."
“我们需要把锻炼与人们每天的生活联系起来，”密歇根大学(University of Michigan)女性与性别研究所的研究调查员米歇尔·L·西格(Michelle L. Segar)在采访中提到：“大家的日程安排已被无间断的待完成事件占满了，我们只能把最重要的挤进去。”
Reframing the Message
传递新信息
Dr. Segar is among the experts who believe that people will not commit to exercise if they see its benefits as distant or theoretical.
包括西格博士的一些专家认为，如果收益过于遥远或理论化，人们就不太可能长期坚持锻炼。
"It has to be portrayed as a compelling behavior that can benefit us today," she said. "People who say they exercise for its benefits to quality of life exercise more over the course of a year than those who say they value exercise for its health benefits."
“一定要把锻炼描述成当下就有成效的诱人行为才行，”她说：“认为锻炼有助于提高生活质量的人，比那些把锻炼当作促进健康手段的人要平均多锻炼一年的时间。”
Her idea for a public service advertisement to promote exercise for working women with families: A woman is shown walking around the block after dinner with her children and says, "This is great. I can fit in fitness, spend quality time with my kids, and at the same time teach them how important exercise is."
她设计了这么一条公益广告，鼓励育有子女的职业女性锻炼身体：晚餐后，妈妈与孩子们在街道上散步，这位妈妈边走边说：“这太棒了，我既能健身，又能和孩子在一起，同时还可以告诉他们锻炼是多么重要。”
Based on studies of what motivates people to adopt and sustain physical activity, Dr. Segar is urging that experts stop framing moderate exercise as a medical prescription that requires 150 minutes of aerobic effort each week. Instead, public health officials must begin to address "the emotional hooks that make it essential for people to fit it into their hectic lives."
基于很多对促使人们开始并坚持锻炼的原因的调查，西格博士迫切希望专家们不要再把“每周进行至少150分钟有氧运动 ”这样的适度锻炼当药方一样开给病人。反之，公共卫生官员应当把锻炼描绘成“一种情感诱惑，使其在人们的昼夜忙碌中占据重要的一席之地。”
"Immediate rewards are more motivating than distant ones," she added. "Feeling happy and less stressed is more motivating than not getting heart disease or cancer, maybe, someday in the future."
“即刻回报远比未来收益诱人得多，”她说，“现在感到开心快乐、压力骤减，比将来可能不得心脏病或癌症更鼓舞人。”
In a study of 252 office workers, David K. Ingledew and David Markland, psychologists at the University of Wales, found that while many began to exercise as way to lose weight and improve their appearance, these motivations did not keep them exercising in the long term. "The well-being and enjoyment benefits of exercise should be emphasized," the researchers concluded.
在一项对252名上班族所做的调查中，威尔士大学(University of Wales)的心理学家戴维·K·恩格迪沃(David K. Ingledew)和戴维·马克兰(David Markland)发现，尽管很多人都是为了减肥和提升个人形象才开始锻炼的，但这类因素并不能激励他们长期运动下去。“应当更强调锻炼带来的幸福和愉悦。”他们总结。
Dr. Segar put it this way: "Physical activity is an elixir of life, but we're not teaching people that. We're telling them it's a pill to take or a punishment for bad numbers on the scale. Sustaining physical activity is a motivational and emotional issue, not a medical one."
西格博士这样说到：“体育锻炼是生活的万金油，很遗憾我们并没有教给人们这一点。我们告诉他们的是，锻炼是药，或是对体重秤上超标数字的惩罚。经常进行体育锻炼应该是人们主动想做，喜欢做的事，而不是医生强迫的。”
Other studies have shown that what gets people off their duffs and keeps them moving depends on age, gender, life circumstances and even ethnicity. For those of college age, for example, physical attractiveness typically heads the list of reasons to begin exercising, although what keeps them going seems to be the stress relief that a regular exercise program provides.
另有研究表明，年龄、性别、生活环境甚至种族都在“告别旧我，积极运动”中起着作用。比如说，大学生开始锻炼的首要目的就是让自己显得更有魅力。不过看起来让他们坚持下去的理由似乎是有规律的锻炼所带来的减压效果。
The elderly, on the other hand, may get started because of health concerns. But often what keeps them exercising are the friendships, sense of community and camaraderie that may otherwise be missing from their lives -- easily seen among the gray-haired women who faithfully attend water exercise classes at my local YMCA.
说到老年人，对健康的考虑则是主要诱因。但是能使他们持续锻炼的原因就变成了一些非锻炼而不可得的情感：友谊、社区意识、志同道合者间的关系等。在我们当地的基督教青年会(YMCA)里，绝不乏灰白头发的妇女忠实地参加着水上运动课程。
In a recent study of 1,690 overweight or obese middle-aged men and women, Dr. Segar found that enhancing daily well-being was most influential factor for the women in the study. Men indicated they were motivated by more distant health benefits, although Dr. Segar suspects this may be because men feel less comfortable discussing their mental health needs.
在最近一项包含了1690名超重或肥胖的中年人的调查中，西格博士发现提高幸福感对女性更有影响力。而男性则表示未来的健康才是他们的源动力，不过西格怀疑这是由于男性不愿意表现出自己在心理上有需求的缘故。
"What sustains us, we sustain," Dr. Segar said. "We need to promote what marketers call 'customer loyalty.' We need to help people stay engaged with movement by teaching them how it can help sustain them in their lives."
“什么能维持我们的生命，我们就坚持做什么，”西格博士说：“我们应该努力推进销售人员所说的‘顾客忠诚度’。通过教授人们锻炼身体为何有益于日常生活，来帮助他们长此以往地坚持下去。”
Value Beyond Weight Loss
价值远高于减肥
Many, if not most, people start exercising because they want to lose weight. But very often they abandon exercise when the expected pounds fail to fall off. Study after study has found that, without major changes in eating habits, increasing physical activity is only somewhat effective for losing weight, though it helps people maintain weight loss and shedding even a few pounds, especially around one's middle, can improve health.
很多人（估计是绝大多数人）开始锻炼都是因为想减肥。可是一旦发觉所期望的斤两减不下去，锻炼这件事就很可能被抛诸脑后了。无数研究证实，只要没给饮食习惯来个大改变，加大运动量不过对减重有些许效果而已——然而锻炼能让人们保持在减肥成功的状态，甚至可以帮助甩掉一些重量：特别是腰部，这对于健康是有利的。
For example, researchers in Brisbane, Australia, and in Leeds, England, studied 58 sedentary overweight or obese men and women who participated in a closely monitored 12-week aerobic exercise program. Weight loss was minimal, but nonetheless the participants' waistlines shrunk, their blood pressure and resting heart rate dropped, and their aerobic capacity and mood improved.
举例来说，澳大利亚布里斯班和英国利兹的研究者们请58名不爱动的超重或肥胖者参与了一项为时12周、受到密切监控的有氧运动项目。虽然减重效果甚微，但参与者的腰围缩小了，血压和静息心率降低了，有氧代谢能力和情绪都有所改善。
"Exercise should be encouraged and the emphasis on weight loss reduced," the researchers concluded. "Disappointment and low self-esteem associated with poor weight loss could lead to low exercise adherence and a general perception that exercise is futile and not beneficial."
“我们应该更多地鼓励人们锻炼，少强调减肥。”研究人员总结说，“减肥不成功所引起的失望和自视过低会让人难以坚持，并产生一种锻炼无用无益的成见。”
I walk three miles daily, or bike ten miles and swim three-quarters of a mile. If you ask me why, weight control may be my first answer, followed by a desire to live long and well. But that's not what gets me out of bed before dawn to join friends on a morning walk and then bike to the Y for my swim.
我每天步行3英里（约5公里）或骑车10英里（约16公里），还要游泳0.75英里（约1200米）。如果你问我为什么这样做，我可能首先回答：保持体重。然后是：活得更长更好。不过这绝非每天一大清早就诱使我跳下床，和朋友们一起晨间行走，然后骑车去YMCA游泳的根本原因。
It's how these activities make me feel: more energized, less stressed, more productive, more engaged and, yes, happier -- better able to smell the roses and cope with the inevitable frustrations of daily life.
真正的原因在于运动给我的感受：精力充沛、压力不再、更有效率、更专注，当然还有，更开心——我能够在休息时更加放松，处理生活中不可避免的低谷时更加得心应手。