The Next Big Wellness Trend Capitalizes on
Your Love of High-Pressure Showers and Hugs
未来健康行业的利润空间和发展趋势，全得益于你对高压淋浴和拥抱的热爱
壹心理翻译社 ◎ 荣誉出品
原作 | Simone Grace Seol
翻译 | 游钧楮
校编 | 张真Derek
注：为方便具有英文阅读习惯和需求的读者，我们在译文发表的同时，附上了英文原文。在部分译文的处理上，我们进行了二次编辑，以求更接地气、更容易理解的表达，因此并非所有译文都和英文原文100%对应。原文链接可在文末找到，提醒有需要的读者留意。
Why do hugs feel so good? Why do massages de-stress us? Why do some people like sleeping with heavy blankets, even in the heat of summer? Why do we love high-pressure showers and squeezing our loved ones' hands as a sign of support?
为什么你会觉得拥抱如此美好？为什么按摩可以为你减缓压力？为什么有人即使在炎热的夏天，睡眠时仍然偏爱选择厚重的毯子？为什么我们会喜欢高压淋浴，以及紧握与我们关系亲密伙伴的手来表示支持？
It's all to do with pressure—and utilizing its soothing powers is becoming the next trend in health and wellness.
以上一切问题的答案竟都与压力有关。而利用重力缓解压力，将成为下一个健康领域的热点趋势。
The instinct to calm ourselves and others through the application of pressure is deep-seated in our subconscious.
其实，这种通过施压重力来让自己和他人平静下来的技本能，早已在我们的脑海里根深蒂固。在婴儿时期，母亲们通过用被子或衣服紧紧地包裹住宝宝，使他们平静下来。
Mothers swaddle babies tightly to calm them down. Young children squeeze stuffed animals when woken by nightmares.
在孩童时期，当被噩梦惊醒时，年幼的孩子们会用力的抱紧毛绒玩具，来摆脱噩梦带来的心理上的恐惧。
A job well done is rewarded with a pat on the back, and when reunited with a loved one, we wrap them in an embrace, the longer and tighter the better.
当一份出色的工作得到回报时，他人会轻拍你的背，以表示鼓励。或者当我们与所爱的人重聚时，我们会产生想与他们长时间拥抱的想法。
Touch and pressure are so vital to our well-being that their absence can create serious impairments in our physical and psychological health.
身体的直接接触与重力的压迫，对我们的健康有很重要的作用。如果在我们的日常生活中，缺少了他们，那么，将对我们的生理健康与心理健康都造成不利的影响。
For example, children who grow up without extensive physical contact are more likely to have developmental challenges. Adults also languish without skin-to-skin contact; what psychologists term "touch hunger" can, along with other factors, permanently damage the mental and physical health of prisoners in solitary confinement.
举个例子，孩子在成长中缺乏与他人的肢体接触，将不利于孩子往后的发展。成人缺乏身体直接的接触，或是缺乏直接的拥抱的机会，将不利于身体与心理的健康，使活力降低。
Touch and pressure seem to promote health by regulating the nervous system's responses, which control our vital reactions to the external world. If you are being chased by a saber-toothed tiger, for instance, the autonomic nervous system kicks the body into fight-or-flight response.
肢体的接触与重力的接受，可以通过调节神经系统的运作来促进健康。而神经系统参与控制人体对外界的反应。比如，在你正在被剑齿虎追赶的情况下，神经系统会自发地控制你的身体做出“战斗或逃跑（要么激烈抗争、要么仓惶逃脱的两个极端选择）”的反应。
When this happens, your heart rate quickens, your pupils dilate, and blood rushes to the limbs to prepare you to run as fast as you can.
当这种情况发生时，你的心率会加快，瞳孔扩散，血液也会迅速的流向四肢，使你尽快跑开。
Some researchers posit that applying pressure in the form of physical touch or heavy blankets works to calm us by slowing down the fight-or-flight response. It may decrease the release of the stress hormone cortisol and increase the release of "happy hormones" like serotonin and dopamine.
一些研究人员认为，以身体接触或以盖重毛毯的形式对身体施加压力，可以使我们从“战斗或逃跑”的紧张状态中平静下来。它可以减少应激激素皮质醇的释放，增加血清素和多巴胺等“快乐荷尔蒙”的释放。
As an example of this, a study of teenagers revealed that French adolescents touch each other a lot more and exhibit fewer physically or verbally aggressive behaviors compared to their US counterparts. Increased serotonin levels convert to melatonin, which also helps us to sleep better and even boost memory by affecting the hippocampus.
还有一个例子，一项有关于青少年的研究中表明，与美国青少年相比，法国青少年在成长中与他人有更多的身体接触，在日后，他们在肢体动作方面与语言中所体现的攻击性也更少。身体中的血清更多的转换为褪黑素。褪黑素对改善我们的睡眠质量，和通过对海马体的影响来增强我们的记忆力十分有利。
Beyond mental health and cognitive function, studies of HIV positive, autoimmune disease, and cancer patients show that touch may also boost physical immunity and even slow the progression of disease.
与他人的身体接触，除了能够改善心理健康和认知功能外，对艾滋病、自身免疫性疾病和癌症患者的研究表明，还能增强身体免疫力，甚至延缓疾病恶化的时间。
According to the research of Tiffany Field, the founder and director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine, deep-touch pressure may increase natural "killer" cells that ward off bacterial, viral, and cancer cells.
迈阿密大学医学院触觉研究所的创始人兼主任 Tiffany Field 的一份研究报告显示，接触产生的对肢体的物理压力可能会增加可以对抗细菌、病毒甚至是癌细胞的“自然抗菌细胞”。
Pressure-based Innovations
to Improve Mental Health
善用物理压力，改善心理健康的新方式
A few pressure-based interventions have made the news in the past decades. For example, Temple Grandin, professor of animal science at Colorado State University, built a "hug machine" that became well-known in the autism community.
在过去的几十年中，一些有关于用施加物理压力的方法缓解压力的消息在人群中广为流传。例如，科罗拉多州立大学动物科学教授坦普尔格兰丁创造了一个“拥抱机”，这个为缓解压力而制造的机器，被很多自闭症患者所知晓。
At age 18 in 1965, Grandin, who is on the autism spectrum herself, built it to manage her own anxiety and increase her tolerance for being touched by others. The user controls the pressure that the device exerts, imitating the sensation of being hugged.
拥抱机的工作原理十分简单，但却对缓解焦虑大有益处。用户控制设备施加的压力，模仿被拥抱的感觉。1965年18岁的格兰丁，患有自闭症。为此，她创造了这个机器来缓解自己的焦虑，同时也帮助到了和自己一样的抑郁症患者。
Preliminary research supports the hypothesis that the machine has a calming effect on those with autism, especially those with high levels of arousal or anxiety.
科学家们通过初步研究证实了这一假设，该机器可以使自闭症患者平静下来，对焦虑和高度亢奋人群，作用尤为明显。
Other children may find relief using a "deep-pressure vest," which was developed by Brian Mullen, the former CEO of Therapeutic Systems and current innovation strategy manager at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
而其他的孩子可能会在日常生活中使用“深压背心”来缓解压力。这是由布里汉姆妇女医院的治疗系统前首席执行官、现任创意总监 Brian Mullen 开发的。
Pressure systems are being used to calm people outside of the medical community, too. When our evolutionary instincts react inappropriately to sensory input in the developed world, our nervous systems can overload us with fear and anxiety in situations that are far from life-threatening, like a presentation, a first date, or simply trying to get to sleep.
施加物理压力的方法，同样可以使健康人群缓解压力。我们的进化本能使当我们感到外界给我们造成压力时，我们的神经系统会在不危及生命的情况下，使我们感到恐惧和焦虑，例如一次当众演示，第一次约会，或者只是试图入睡。
To combat these stressors, in May 2017, a crowdfunding campaign raised over $4.7 million to bring a weighted blanket to market. Targeting the stressed-out average American, the product promises to promote relaxation, help people get to sleep, and meditate.
为了应对现代社会生活中与日俱增的压力，2017年5月，美国组织了一场群体集资活动，在这次活动中，人们为“重力毯”这一新商品筹集了470万美元，使产品成功上市，也给美国市场带来了新鲜血液。“重力毯”主要针对不堪重负的普通美国人而设计，产品可以促进放松,帮助人们入睡、冥想。
INNER FORCE 重力毯
（由壹心理从国外引进技术、开发研制）
Citing Mullen's research, the blanket simulates "the feeling of being held or hugged." A featured testimonial even describes it as "like Advil PM for your whole body."
根据马伦的研究，“重力毯”是全面模拟”被拥抱的感觉”。有一个首赞置顶评论甚至还说：“盖重力毯堪比服用对全身都有效的夜用泰诺。”
The trend goes beyond vests and blankets. Another Kickstarter campaign has raised over $35,000 for a weighted backpack for students with autism.
还不止背心和毯子呢！另有一款为自闭症学生设计的“重力背包”，已众筹到$35,000美元。
The creators say they were inspired by other weighted sensory tools to design the backpacks, which feature pouches for weights and "hugging straps" for children between the ages of six to 12 years old.
据发明者的介绍，这款书包的发明是因为他们受到其它通过增加重量来缓解压力工具设计的灵感启发，最终设计出这款背包，它通过增加口袋重量和肩带重量去“拥抱”年龄在6到12岁的孩子。
In Canada, a group of volunteers also sewed "heavy helpers": which are weighted stuffed animals, to help children in need deal with sensory processing issues or trauma.
在加拿大，一群志愿者也通过缝纫，用辅助物增加玩具重量的方式，去帮助孩子抚平心理创伤。
How You Can Reap
the Health Benefits of Pressure
如何才能将压力带来的好处归为己用？
You don't need to install a hug machine in your office to reap the calming benefits of pressure. There are plenty of DIY solutions that can be done at little or no cost, and in no time at all.
保持内心平静的方法有很多。若是为了保持良好心态，而将拥抱机安装在办公室里，会显得没有必要。因为在只花费小成本的情况下，或者没有时间的情况下，也有很多简单的方法，可以达到一样的效果呢。
According to Field, as little as 15 minutes of touch a day can boost your health. If you don't have a partner or pet to cuddle with, Field says that self-touch can be just as effective especially when you use an object such as a tennis ball.
根据健康领域的调查研究，每天花费15分钟作为你的“接触时间”，就可以改善你的健康状况。如果你没有一个亲密伙伴或者宠物拥抱，那么也没有关系。因为，与自己接触也一样可以有相同的效果呢。即便是当你使用一个物品,比如一个网球，其对健康的益处也是相同的。
Engaging in physical activities that stimulate pressure receptors, such as yoga or fast walking, may also do the trick.
保持健康心理状态的方法还不只如上几种呢，从事一些消耗体力的体育活动，如瑜伽或快走，也可以达到相同目的哦。
Pressure researchers are hoping to build on pilot studies investigating how devices such as the weighted blankets can be safely and effectively adopted by patients. Although such devices seem innocuous, every intervention comes with risks.
尽管这些毯子看起来并不存在安全问题，但严谨的科学研究人员却认为每一个创新产品的背后，都可能蕴含着风险。为了确保万无一失，研究人员希望建立试点进行研究，使重力毯更好的服务用户。
For example, putting a heavy blanket over an injured, frail, or elderly person presents dangers. In a couple of tragic cases, children have passed away after suffocating under heavy blankets they didn't have the strength to lift.
例如，盖厚重的毯子,会给受伤、虚弱者或老人带来了危险。曾经有孩子因为毛毯过于沉重，而没有力气抬，最终窒息身亡，这真是令人悲伤的消息。
Research is lagging behind popular interest in these products, and scientists don't have a full picture of what makes these strategies safe and effective for some and not for others yet.
当研究滞后于人们对这些产品的追捧程度，科学家们还没有全面了解如何将产品打造得更加安全有效。
So if you're thinking of tinkering with weighted devices yourself or using them with your family, consult an occupational therapist and refer to best-practice guidelines issued by scientific bodies first.
所以如果你想使用或是缝补一个重力产品，去咨询一个职业治疗师或者科学机构是一个最妥当的选择。
Science has shown that enjoying high-pressure showers and deep-tissue massages is not all in your head. The sensory input leads to a range of biochemical responses that impact your entire body, promoting feelings of well-being.
科学研究表明，享受高压淋浴和深层按摩虽不是促进健康的全部手段。但身体感觉体验产生一系列生化反应,也会改善你的身体状况,提升幸福感。
Though the market for such devices are currently aimed at the medical community, recreational pressure-based solutions are likely to grow as people seek out innovative ways to find relief from stress and anxiety. Here's hoping that research funding catches up with consumers' interest in cost-effective innovations to common mental-health challenges.
虽然这类产品的市场目前主要针对的是医疗界，但通过重力改善心理状态的方案可能会随着人们寻求创新的解压方式而增长。希望研究资金能够满足消费者对于成本效益型产品创新的兴趣，以应对常见的心理健康挑战。
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