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If appreciating humor is good exercise for our brains, then writing a joke is exercise on steroids.
如果欣赏笑话对大脑是很好的锻炼，那么写笑话就是打了类固醇的运动。
Humor helps our cognition in less obvious ways too. Laughter is a natural stress reliever,
幽默也以不那么明显的方式帮助我们的认知功能。笑是一种自然释放压力的方式，
and our brains work better when they aren't slowed down by a fog of worry.
当我们的大脑不被诸多烦恼拖累时，它们的工作会更好。
In 2014, researchers in California demonstrated that elderly subjects
2014年，加州的研究人员表明，年长的研究对象
who watched a funny video experienced significant improvements in their ability to learn and retain new information,
观看搞笑视频后，学习和获取新信息的能力有显著的提升。
possibly because the feelings of mirth reduced levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that has been shown to hinder recall.
可能是因为快乐的感觉降低了皮质醇的水平，皮质醇是一种被证明会阻碍记忆的应激激素。
A good joke can function as a release valve for the whole body.
一个好的笑话有作为全身放气阀的功能。
"Humor can help reframe stressors, challenges, or difficulties that seem insurmountable to a person,"
幽默可以帮助一个人重新定义压力、挑战或看似无法克服的困难。”
says Tom Ford, a social psychologist at Western Carolina University and a coauthor of The Psychology of Humor.
西卡罗莱纳大学的社会心理学家、《幽默心理学》的合著者福特表示。
"If one is able to make light of a stressor or challenge, then it doesn't seem so big. It seems more manageable."
“如果人们可以看轻压力或挑战的话，那它就显得不那么大了。它就更加容易控制了。”
Researchers in Hong Kong, for instance, demonstrated that when nursing home patients with chronic pain enjoyed jokes, funny books and videos,
比如，香港的研究人员表示，当患有慢性疼痛的疗养院病人每周享受笑话、有趣的书籍和视频，
and goofy singing and dancing on a weekly basis, their perception of pain and loneliness decreased significantly.
傻傻的唱歌跳舞时，他们对痛苦和孤独的感觉明显下降。
They also felt happier and more satisfied with life.
他们也感到更快乐，对生活更满意。
Others have demonstrated that laughter can be associated with increased blood flow,
其他人则表明，笑和血流量增加、免疫反应增强、
improved immune response, lower blood sugar levels, and better sleep.
血糖下降和更好的睡眠有关。
You don't have to write a joke to reap the benefits. Merely experiencing humor will do the trick.
你不必通过写笑话来创造收益。仅仅体验幽默就可以达到目的。
But there might be an even stronger reason that a sense of humor is hard-wired into the human genome.
但是幽默感和人类基因紧密联系可能还有更重要的原因。
Not only does humor make us smarter and healthier, but it may also make us more attractive to the opposite sex.
幽默不仅能让我们更聪明、更健康，还能让我们对异性更有吸引力。
"There's a gigantic study," Biederman notes, "that's been done in 38 cultures.
彼得曼说，“有一项在30种文化里做过的重大的研究，
It turns out that in every culture, both males and females desire their potential mates to be bright.
事实证明，在每种文化中，男性和女性都希望自己未来的伴侣是聪明的。
But we don't have our IQs tattooed on our forehead. How do we know that someone's intelligent?"
但是我们的智商没有印在脑子上。我们怎么知道某个人是聪明的呢？”
