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Bouncy Gait Improves Mood

A good mood may put a spring in your step. But the opposite can work too: purposefully putting a spring in your step can improve your mood. That’s the finding from a study in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry¹.

好心情可能会使你的步伐有着春天般的活力，但知道吗反之亦然：有意识地使步调快活能改善情绪。该发现出自《行为疗法与实验精神病学杂志》的一项研究。

Scientists showed volunteers a list of negative and positive words, like afraid and anxious, or sunny and pretty. Then the subjects had to walk on a treadmill² while watching a gauge³ that moved left or right.

科学家向志愿者展示了一列积极词汇和消极词汇的列表，比如害怕和焦虑、阳光和美丽。然后志愿者们必须一边在跑步机上走，一边看着一个向左或向右移动的计量仪。

But here’s what the participants did not know: if their stance—for example, slumped⁴ shoulders—seemed to indicate a down mood the gauge moved to the left. If their walk was more upbeat, say with swinging arms, the gauge moved to the right. The scientists asked half the subjects to adjust their walking style until the gauge moved to the right, and the other half so that the gauge went the left. Each group quickly learned what adjustments moved the gauge in the desired direction.

但志愿者们并不知道：如果他们的姿态暗示的是消极的情绪，比如垂肩，计量仪就会移到左边;如果他们的步调很欢快，比如摆动手臂，计量仪就会移到右边。科学家要求一半志愿者调整他们的行走方式直到计量仪移到右边，另一半则反之。每一组都很快了解到什么样的调整能使计量仪移动到预期的那一边。

Then the subjects had to write down as many words from the list that they remembered. And those who walked with a depressed⁵ gait recalled more negative terms, while the ones who were asked to walk in a more upbeat style came up with many more positive words.

然后志愿者被要求尽可能多地写下他们记住的列表中的单词。那些走路步调消极的人回忆起了更多消极词汇，而那些走路步调欢快的人回忆起了更多积极词汇。

Past research has shown that depressed people tend to remember negative words and happier people tend to remember happy words. So this study suggests that the way we walk influences our mental state. And that we can change our state by changing our gait.

过去的研究显示了，沮丧的人更倾向于记忆消极词汇，快乐的人则更倾向于记忆积极词汇。这项研究表明，人们走路的方式会影响其精神状态。因而我们可以通过改变步调来改善心情。