研究：太快樂的人容易早死

People who are too happy die younger than their more downbeat peers, claims new research。

A study which followed children from the 1920s to old age showed that people who were rated 'highly cheerful' by teachers at school died younger than their more reserved classmates。

This was because people who were too happy were more likely to suffer from mental disorders such as bipolar, making them less fearful and more likely to take risks that increase the chance of having a fatal accident。

Being too cheerful - especially at inappropriate times - can also rouse anger in others, increasing the risk of a person coming to harm。

Researchers from a variety of universities worldwide also discovered that trying too hard to be happy often ended up leaving people feeling more depressed than before, as putting an effort into improving their mood often left people feeling cheated。

And magazine articles offering tips on how to be happy were also blamed for worsening depression。

One study saw participants asked to read an article offering ways to improve your mood, and follow one of the tips to see how effective it was。

Participants then took the advice offered - such as watching an upbeat film - often concentrated too hard on trying to improve their mood rather than letting it lift naturally。

This meant that by the time the film had ended, they often felt angry and cheated by the advice given, putting them in a far worse mood than when they had started watching。

However, results of the study, published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, revealed that the key to true happiness was much more simple: meaningful relationships with friends and family members。

Study co-author Professor June Gruber, from the department of psychology at Yale University in the United States, said of people who actively tried to be happy: 'When you're doing it with the motivation or expectation that these things ought to make you happy, that can lead to disappointment and decreased happiness。

'The strongest predictor of happiness is not money, or external recognition through success or fame. It's having meaningful social relationships.'

She added: 'That means the best way to increase your happiness is to stop worrying about being happy and instead divert your energy to nurturing the social bonds you have with other people.'新研究稱，太快樂的人比悲觀的同齡人死得早。

一項跟蹤調查20世紀20年代的小孩的研究顯示，那些在學校被老師評價爲“非常開朗”的人比其他較內向的同學死得更早。

這是因爲太快樂的人更可能遭受兩極情感障礙等精神疾病的困擾，他們比較不容易恐懼或擔心，更愛去冒險，因而發生致命意外事故的機率也增加了。

一個人如果表現得太開心——特別是在不合時宜的時候——還會激怒他人，從而增加被傷害的風險。

來自世界範圍內多所大學的研究人員還發現，通常情況下，一個人如果過於努力地想使自己快樂起來，結果反而會感覺更鬱悶。因爲努力改善情緒的結果經常會讓人有受騙的感覺。

研究人員還認爲那些介紹如何讓人快樂的雜誌文章也會讓人更加抑鬱。

一項研究讓參與者閱讀一篇關於如何改善情緒，然後讓他們遵從其中一條建議，看這種建議的效果如何。

於是參與者採納了文中的建議，比如去看一場歡快的電影，結果參與者往往過於集中注意力去改善情緒，而不是讓自己的心情自然地好起來。

這意味着，在電影結束時，他們大多會因聽取建議而感到憤怒，而且會有受騙的感覺。這讓他們的心情比看電影前更糟了。

然而，這一發表在《心理科學展望》雜誌上的研究揭示，通往真正幸福的祕訣要簡單得多：就是和朋友、家人建立深厚的關係。

該研究報告的作者之一朱恩•格魯伯告訴那些努力想使自己快樂起來的人說：“當你期待你所做的事讓自己快樂起來時，結果會讓你失望，並讓你更不開心。”格魯伯是美國耶魯大學心理學系的教授。

“決定幸福與否最有力的因素不是金錢，也不是成功或名氣帶來的外界的認可。獲得幸福的關鍵是擁有有意義的社會關係。”

她說道：“這意味着讓自己更快樂的最佳方法就是不再爲是否快樂而煩惱，轉而將精力投入到增強和他人的社會紐帶上。”