英國利物浦約翰摩爾斯大學的馬克‧貝利斯(Mark A Bellis)教授等,於2007年在《流行病學與社會健康》(Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health)期刊上曾刊登過一份研究報告,研究對象涵蓋了1956到1999年間成名的1064名北美和歐洲流行歌星,包括貓王埃爾維斯‧普雷斯利(Elvis Presley)和說唱藝人埃米納姆(Eminem)在內。結果表明,流行歌星成名後3到25年的死亡率顯著高於普通大眾70%以上。北美和歐洲流行歌星的中位死亡年齡分別為42歲和35歲,明顯比一般人的壽命短。³³⁹
傑裡米‧阿米爾‧羅森克蘭茨教授³⁵¹(Jeremy Amiel Rosenkranz, PhD)是美國羅莎琳德‧富蘭克林醫學與科學大學(Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science)壓力恢復和精神疾病神經生物學中心(Center for Neurobiology of Stress Resilience and Psychiatric Disorders)的成員、腦科學研究所的所長。他牽頭做過一個慢性恐懼對人的身體影響的研究³⁵²,2020年發表在《大腦行為免疫》(Brain Behav Immun)期刊上。
該研究使用了一個已經被公認的一個「大鼠反覆社交失敗壓力」模型(Repeated Social Defeat Stress,簡稱RSDS)。這個模型中使用了兩個不同品種的大鼠,一個是成年雄性斯普拉格—道利大鼠(Sprague-Dawley rat,簡稱SD大鼠),SD大鼠是一種非攻擊性大鼠,而另一種不同品系的是具有攻擊性的成年雄性長埃文斯大鼠(Long-Evans rat,簡稱LE大鼠)。
弗裡德曼的研究團隊共同提出了一種理論,認為長期憤怒和不耐煩的人的「A型」行為會增加心臟病發作的風險,並在1974年出版了一本暢銷書《A型行為和你的心臟》³⁵⁶(Type A Behavior and Your Heart)。
1991年,英國倫敦大學精神病學研究所心理學系的漢斯‧J‧艾森克(Hans J. Eysenck, 1916—1997)發表在《歐洲人格雜誌》(European Journal of Personality)³⁵⁷的文章和出版的《吸菸、性格和壓力 預防癌症和冠心病的心理社會因素》³⁵⁸(Smoking, Personality, and Stress: Psychosocial Factors in the Prevention of Cancer and Coronary Heart Disease)一書中,總結了三個長期隨訪中得到的流行病學研究結論,進一步確認了憤怒、攻擊性和敵意的A型人格行為特徵是冠心病(CHD)的危險因素。
來自美國加州大學洛杉磯分校的心理神經免疫學中心的邁克爾‧R‧厄文(Michael R. Irwin)博士、美國喬治亞州亞特蘭大埃默裡大學醫學院的安德魯‧H‧米勒(Andrew H. Miller)博士通過總結20年來對抑鬱這種精神現象的研究數據,在《大腦、行為和免疫力》 (Brain, Behavior, Immunity)上發表論文指出,經常抑鬱的人,淋巴細胞的增值反應力下降,T細胞對病毒免疫應答減弱,NK細胞的活性下降,這樣導致人體抗腫瘤、抗病毒免疫力整體下降,使人體容易生長腫瘤、感染病毒和細菌。³⁶⁰
2017年8月8日,美國長春藤名校賓夕法尼亞大學(University of Pennsylvania)圖書館發表了一篇應用積極心理學碩士(Master of Applied Positive Psychology, MAPP) 論文綜述,標題是「寬恕:如何體現在我們的健康、福祉和長壽中」(Forgiveness: How it Manifests in our Health, Wellbeing, and Longevity)³⁶⁶,論文作者是凱西‧諾曼(Kathi Norman)博士。
隨著公眾興趣的不斷增長,截止到2023年8月4日,有2997篇關於冥想(Meditation)為主要醫學主題詞(MeSH Major Topic)的學術論文發表在美國國家醫學圖書館(National Library of Medicine)管理的公共醫學文獻資料庫(Public Medline,簡稱PubMed)中。海量的研究證明,冥想、打坐或正念相關的練習能夠減輕壓力症狀,降低壓力激素水平,提升情緒控制能力,改善抑鬱情緒,整體上良性調整大腦,逆轉年齡相關的大腦結構和功能的衰老,提升免疫力等等。
5.5.1 打坐減輕壓力反應
研究顯示,冥想練習可以減少耗氧量,降低血壓和心率,並且與在應激反應期間引發的「戰鬥或逃跑」(fight or flight)反應相反,被稱為「放鬆反應」。
2007年,美國明尼蘇達大學和加拿大多倫多大學的學者在《動機和情感》(Motivation and Emotion)期刊發表題為「正念冥想和減少對認知任務的情緒干擾」(Mindfulness meditation and reduced emotional interference on a cognitive task)的文章中說,研究發現,打坐者較少被帶給人負面情緒的照片(如展示車禍或暴力場景)嚇倒,他們控制情緒的能力增加了。³⁷⁷
2018年,加州大學洛杉磯分校人類遺傳學教授兼生物統計學家史蒂夫‧霍瓦斯(Steve Horvath)在《自然評論-遺傳學》(Nature Reviews Genetics)發表的文章《衰老的表觀遺傳時鐘》(DNA methylation-based biomarkers and the epigenetic clock theory of ageing)指出,人類DNA的甲基化狀態隨著年齡增長而變化,並可通過甲基化譜來估計生物年齡,進一步觀察基因甲基化情況可精確衡量衰老進程。³⁸²
2007年,埃默裡大學精神病學和行為科學系的朱塞佩‧帕尼奧尼(Giuseppe Pagnoni)和米洛斯‧切基奇(Milos Cekic)發表在《衰老的神經生物學》(Neurobiology of Aging)上的對照研究結果顯示,從健康個體中觀察到的與年齡相關的大腦衰老情況可通過定期冥想得到減緩。³⁸⁴
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