How Neuroscientists Explain the Mind-Clearing Magic of Running神经科学家告诉你跑步为何让你头脑清晰
It is something of a cliché among runners, how the activity never fails to clear your head. Does some creative block have you feeling stuck? Go for a run. Are you deliberating between one of two potentially life-altering decisions? Go for a run. Are you feeling mildly mad, sad, or even just vaguely meh? Go for a run, go for a run, go for a run. 跑步总会让你的头脑变得清晰——这是跑步者的一种陈腔滥调。你的创意是否遇到瓶颈，让你阻滞不前？去跑步。你是不是正在思虑着如何从两个可能改变生活的抉择中选择其一？去跑步。你是不是觉得有点愤怒，悲伤，甚至只是依稀的“随便”？去跑步，去跑步，去跑步。The author Joyce Carol Oates once wrote in a column for the New York Times that “in running the mind flees with the body … in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms.” Filmmaker Casey Neistat told Runner’s World last fall that running is sometimes the only thing that gives him clarity of mind. “Every major decision I’ve made in the last eight years has been prefaced by a run,” he told the magazine. But I maybe like the way a runner named Monte Davis phrased it best, as quoted in the 1976 book The Joy of Running: “It’s hard to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time,” he said. “Also, there are those hours of clear-headedness that follow a long run.” 作家乔伊斯·卡罗尔·奥茨（Joyce Carol Oates）曾经在纽约时报的一篇专栏中写道：“跑步的时候，大脑会跟着双脚的节奏与手臂的摆动……而跟随身体抽离。”制片人凯西·内斯达特（Casey Neistat）去年秋天告诉《跑步者世界》（Runner's World）杂志，跑步有时候是能让他头脑清晰的唯一事物。“我在过去八年中所做的每一项重大决定，都是先由跑步做起的。”他告诉该杂志。不过，我也许喜欢一位名叫蒙特·戴维斯（Monte Davis）最好的说法。1976年的一本著作《跑步的喜悦》（The Joy of Running）引述了他的这句话：“要在跑步时为自己感到难过，真的很难。还有，跑了漫长的距离过后，头脑就会清醒几个小时。”
A good run can sometimes make you feel like a brand-new person. And, in a way, that feeling may be literally true. About three decades of research in neuroscience have identified a robust link between aerobic exercise and subsequent cognitive clarity, and to many in this field the most exciting recent finding in this area is that of neurogenesis. Not so many years ago, the brightest minds in neuroscience thought that our brains got a set amount of neurons, and that by adulthood, no new neurons would be birthed. But this turned out not to be true. Studies in animal models have shown that new neurons are produced in the brain throughout the lifespan, and, so far, only one activity is known to trigger the birth of those new neurons: vigorous aerobic exercise, said Karen Postal, president of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology. “That’s it,” she said. “That’s the only trigger that we know about.” 好好地跑步一次，有时会让你感觉像是一个全新的人。不仅如此，在某种程度上，这种感觉也许是真实的。三十年来的神经科学研究已经确认了有氧运动和随后的认知清晰度之间的强大关联。对于许多圈内人来说，这个领域近期内最令人兴奋的发现，就是神经发生（neurogenesis，神经元的生成）。区区几年前，神经科学界最聪明的人都以为，我们的大脑得到了一定数量的神经元，而到了成年时期，新的神经元不会再产生。但是，这原来是不正确的。美国临床神经心理学研究院院长凯伦·坡斯特尔（Karen Postal）说，动物模型研究显示，大脑会在人的整个寿命产生新的神经元，而且到目前为止，只有一种活动已知能够引发新的神经元诞生：剧烈的有氧运动。“就是这样。”她说。“这是我们所知道的唯一的起因。”The other fascinating thing here is where these new cells pop up: in the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with learning and memory. So this could help explain, at least partially, why so many studies have identified a link between aerobic exercise and improvement in memory. “If you are exercising so that you sweat — about 30 to 40 minutes — new brain cells are being born,” added Postal, who herself is a runner. “And it just happens to be in that memory area.” 这里的另一个有趣的事，就是这些新的细胞出现的区域：海马体，就是大脑中跟学习与记忆有关联的区域。因此，这至少能一部分地解释，为什么有那么多的研究已经确定有氧运动和记忆改善之间有关联。“如果你运动得让你出汗——大约30至40分钟——新的脑细胞就会诞生。本身也是跑步者的坡斯特尔补充。“这刚好就是在那个记忆区域。”
Other post-run changes have been recorded in the brain’s frontal lobe, with increased activity seen in this region after people adopt a long-term habit of physical activity. This area of the brain — sometimes called the frontal executive network system — is located, obviously enough, at the very front: It’s right behind your forehead. After about 30 to 40 minutes of a vigorous aerobic workout – enough to make you sweat – studies have recorded increased blood flow to this region, which, incidentally, is associated with many of the attributes we associate with “clear thinking”: planning ahead, focus and concentration, goal-setting, time management. 大脑的额叶已被检测出它会在跑步过后产生其它变化。人们长时间养成运动的习惯过后，这个区域就会看得到活动量增加。大脑的这个区域——它有时会被称为额叶执行网络系统——很明显的是位于最前端：它就在你的额头后面。过了大约30至40分钟的剧烈有氧运动——足以让你出汗——多项研究已检测出这个区域的血流量有增加，而这个区域刚好跟“思路清晰”相关的许多特性产生关联：预先规划、集中精神、目标设定、时间管理。But it’s this area that’s also been linked to emotion regulation, which may help explain the results of one recent study conducted by Harvard psychology professor Emily E. Bernstein. Like Postal, Bernstein is also a runner, and was curious about a pattern she saw in her own mind after a run. “I notice in myself that I just feel better when I’m active,” she said. She started to become really interested in the intervention studies that have popped up in recent years that suggest if you can get people who are having trouble with mood or anxiety to exercise, it helps. “But why?” she wanted to know. “What is exercise actually doing?” 不过，这个区域也跟情绪调节有关联。这也许能够解释哈佛大学心理学教授埃米莉·伯恩斯坦（Emily E. Bernstein）在最近完成的一项研究中所得到的结果。伯恩斯坦像坡斯特尔一样也是一名跑步者，而她很好奇自己跑步过后在自己的脑海中所看到的一种模式。“我发现到自己会在活跃的时候感觉更好。”她说。她开始对一些近几年内出现的几项干预性研究非常感兴趣。这些研究显示，要是你能说服那么面对情绪困难或焦虑的人去运动，这会对他们很有帮助。“不过，这是为什么呢？”她想知道。“运动其实会做什么？”
To find out, she did a version of a classic experiment among researchers who study emotion: She and her colleague — Richard J. McNally, also of Harvard — played a reliable tearjerker of a clip: the final scene of the 1979 film The Champ. 为了找到答案，她进行了一项实验，是研究情感的研究人员眼中的经典实验的一个版本。她和她的同事——也是来自哈佛大学的理查德·麦克纳利（Richard J. McNally）——为参与者播放了一段肯定让人落泪的电影片段：1979年的电影《冠军》（The Champ）的最后一幕。Before watching the film clip, some of the 80 participants were made to jog for 30 minutes; others just stretched for the same amount of time. Afterward, all of them filled out surveys to indicate how bummed out the film had made them. Bernstein kept them busy for about 15 minutes after that, and surveyed them again about how they were feeling. Those who’d done the 30-minute run were more likely to have recovered from the emotional gut-punch than those who’d just stretched — and, her results showed, the people who’d initially felt worse seemed to especially benefit from the run. Bernstein is currently doing a few follow-up research projects to determine exactly why this works the way it does. (In the meantime, it helps prove my poor boyfriend right, who, when I am not acting very nicely toward him, will often patiently ask me, “Hey, have you been on a run yet today?”) 在观看电影片段之前，80位参与者当中有一些被要求跑步30分钟，而其余的只需要伸展肌肉30分钟。之后，所有人都填写了问卷，以表示这段视频让他们有多难过。伯恩斯坦在这之后又让他们忙了大约15分钟，然后再次调查他们的感受。那些跑步30分钟的人比起那些只是在伸展肌肉的人更有可能从情绪创伤中复原——而她的结果也显示，那些本来感觉更糟的人似乎特别会因为跑步而受益。伯恩斯坦目前正在进行几项后续的研究项目，以确定这种现象究竟为什么会发生。（与此同时，这也证明了我那可怜的男朋友是对的。当我对他不太好的时候，他时常会很有耐心地问我：“嘿，你今天跑步了没？”）
