Staying positive through the cold season could be the best defence against getting sick, a new American study suggests.
In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a generally sunny character were less likely to fall ill.
The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a “positive emotional style” can help protect us from the common cold and other illnesses.
“People with a positive emotional style may have different immune (免疫的) responses to the virus,” explained lead study author Dr Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “And when they do get a cold, they may experience their illness as less severe.”
Cohen and his colleagues had found in a previous study that happier people seemed less susceptible (易受影响的) to catching a cold, but some questions remained as to whether the emotional quality itself had the effect.
For the new study, the researchers had 193 healthy adults complete standard measures of personality qualities, physical health and “emotional style”.
Those who tended to be happy, energetic and easy-going were judged as having a positive emotional style, while those who were often unhappy, tense and hostile (敌意的) had a negative style.
Afterwards, the researchers gave them nose drops containing either a cold virus or a particular flu virus that causes flu-like symptoms. Over the next six days the volunteers reported on any aches, pains, sneezing they had. Cohen and his colleagues found that happy people were less likely to develop a cold.
What’s more, when happy folks did develop a cold, their symptoms were less severe than what would be expected based on objective (客观的) measures.
In contrast, people with negative characters were not at increased risk of developing a cold based on objective measures, though they did tend to get down about their symptoms.
“We find that it’s really positive emotions that have the big effect”, Cohen said, “not the negative ones.”
So can a bad-tempered person fight a cold by deciding to be happy?
12. The purpose of Cohen’s new study was to
.
A.find effective ways to fight illnesses |
B.test people’s different immune responses to cold virus |
C.tell differences between happy people and unhappy people |
D.examine whether health was related to emotional styles |
13. Cohen’s new study showed that
.
A.an emotional style is difficult to change |
B.happy people are immune to cold virus |
C.people’s attitudes toward illnesses are different |
D.happiness itself helps protect people from cold |
14. We can conclude from the text that
.
A.success is the twin of positive spirits |
B.we get more by being more positive |
C.the happier we are, the fewer colds we will suffer |
D.physical health is more important than mental health |
15. Which is the best title for the passage?
A.Stay Away from Being Negative | B.Warm People Likely to Keep Cold Away |
C.An Effective Medicine for Being Fit | D.Positive or Negative, It’s Up to You |