養(yǎng)狗能讓你活的更久

If you needed one more reason to love your puppy, here’s a pretty good one: your furry best friend might help you live longer.

如果你還需要一個愛狗狗的理由，這里有一個很好的理由：這些毛茸茸的好朋友可能會幫助你活得更久。

Researchers in Sweden tracked more than 3.4 million Swedish people with no heart disease over a period of 12 years. Some owned dogs and some didn’t. By looking at how many died in the 12-year follow-up, and adjusting for relevant factors like age and sex, the scientists calculated the risk of death. It turns out that dog owners had a 20 percent lower risk of dying compared to people who didn’t have a dog. The benefits were particularly strong for dog owners who lived alone: they had a 33 percent lower risk of death, and an 8 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease, like stroke and heart failure.

瑞典的研究人員追蹤了340萬瑞典人12年，這些人一開始都沒有心臟疾病。他們中的有些人養(yǎng)狗，有些人不養(yǎng)狗。在12年的隨訪中，科學家們記錄了有多少人死亡。之后，科學家們根據(jù)年齡和性別等相關因素進行調(diào)整，從而計算出了死亡的風險。事實證明，與沒養(yǎng)狗的人相比，養(yǎng)狗的人的死亡風險要低20%。對于獨居的狗主人來說，這些好處尤其明顯：不僅死亡風險降低了33%，而且患心血管疾病的風險也降低了8%。

Research has shown that living with pets has certain health benefits: people who own dogs tend to be more physically active, for instance, and have lower blood pressure. Today’s study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, adds to the body of research, especially in regards to cardiovascular disease — the number one killer in the world, including in the US. “It could be a very efficient lifestyle intervention to get a dog,” says senior study author Tove Fall, an associate professor in epidemiology at Uppsala University. “For some people that feel lonely or have problems of keeping a good lifestyle, this could be a good help.”

研究表明，與寵物生活在一起對健康有一定的好處。比如，養(yǎng)狗的人更加活躍，而且血壓較低。發(fā)表在《科學報告》雜志上的一項研究，增加了對心血管疾病的研究。烏普薩拉大學的流行病學副教授托夫·福爾表示：“養(yǎng)狗可能是一種非常有效的干預方式。對于一些感到孤獨或者生活方式不健康的人來說，這可能是一個很好的幫助”。

For the study, researchers analyzed 12 years of government-collected data on 3.4 million Swedish residents, which includes information on birth, sex, age, health, marital status, as well as death. Since 2001, dog owners in Sweden have had to register their dogs by using an ear tattoo or under-skin chip, so the researchers could also check which of those 3.4 million people owned a puppy. Dog owners were then compared with pet-less people: those who had a dog were found to have a lower risk of death due to cardiovascular disease or other causes during the 12-year follow-up. Dog owners who lived alone had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, as did people who had hunting dogs compared to other breeds.

為了進行這項研究，研究人員從政府那里拿到了這些瑞典居民的信息，其中包括關于出生時間、性別、年齡、健康狀況、婚姻狀況等信息。自2001年以來，瑞典的狗主人不得不使用耳朵紋身或者皮下芯片來注冊他們的狗，因此研究人員還可以檢查這340萬人中的哪些養(yǎng)了狗。然后將狗主人與那些沒有寵物的人進行比較：發(fā)現(xiàn)養(yǎng)狗的人在12年后因心血管疾病或其他原因而死亡的風險較低。

The exact reasons behind the results aren’t clear: it could be that people who own dogs live longer because they’re more physically active, or are less stressed, Fall tells The Verge. People who live alone may benefit even more because they’re the only ones taking care of the dog, so they’re forced to go take the pooch out for a walk. Single people might also get a stronger emotional support from their furry friends since they don’t live with a husband or have kids, Fall says. “I got my first dog when I was single and she was my best friend,” she says. “She was super important.”

結果背后的確切原因還不清楚：可能是因為狗狗使他們更加活躍或者壓力更小，所以養(yǎng)狗的人活得更久。獨居的人可能會受益更多，因為他們是唯一照顧狗的人，所以他們被迫帶著狗出去散步。單身的人也可能從狗狗那里得到更強烈的情感支持，因為他們沒有和伴侶住在一起，也沒有孩子。

The study has some obvious limitations: even though the researchers adjusted their estimates for confounding factors such as income and education, there’s a lot they still don’t know about their study subjects. For example, it could be that people who live alone and have dogs have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease because they’re generally healthier to begin with. Getting a dog is time-consuming and expensive, so if you’re dealing with an important health issue and live by yourself, maybe you’d think twice about it. The study subjects were also all from Sweden, so results could be different in different countries.

當然了，這項研究也有著明顯的局限性：即使研究人員調(diào)整了他們對于收入和教育等因素的估計，但是他們對研究對象仍然有很多地方不了解。例如，養(yǎng)狗的人患心血管疾病的風險較低，可能是因為他們一開始就比較健康。另外，養(yǎng)一條狗既費時又昂貴，如果你正在處理一個重要的健康問題并獨自生活，也許你會三思而后行。還有一點，研究對象都來自瑞典，不同國家的研究結果可能不同。