For Just 2 Hours a Week, There's a Simple Practice That Could Make You Healthier

一周只用花兩個小時，就能用一個簡單的做法讓你變得更健康。

Over the years, it's become increasingly clear that spending time in nature is somehow linked to healthier and happier lives. 

這些年來，越發清楚地發現，在自然中度過時間與更健康快樂的生活聯系在一起。

But while some physicians have literally started 'prescribing' doses of the natural world, like they would exercise, such practices are far from established.

雖然有些醫生字面上開始“開自然世界的處方”，比如他們要鍛煉。但是這種做法還遠遠未被普遍接受。

Researchers in the United Kingdom have now taken a small but important step towards one of the most crucial, unanswered questions: how much time outdoors is enough?

英國的研究者現在向最關鍵、無人回答的問題邁出了重要的一小步：多少戶外時間才夠呢？

Drawing on a nationwide survey of nearly 20,000 British adults from 2014 to 2016, the team thinks they might have found a weekly 'sweet spot' for nature exposure.

從2014年到2016年對近20000英國成年人的調查中，這個團隊認為自己可能找到了一周中接觸自然的“甜蜜點”。

"Compared to no nature contact last week, the likelihood of reporting good health or high well-being became significantly greater with contact ≥120?mins," the authors conclude.

“與上周沒有接觸自然相比，一周接觸自然時間大于等于120分鐘時，報告健康良好或者幸福感高的可能性顯著上升了。”作者總結說。

The findings are supported by past research, which has found that living in greener areas is associated with lower risks of cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, asthma emergencies, mental distress, mortality and even myopia in children. Some have even landed on this 120 minute threshold before.

過去的研究支持了這項發現。之前的研究發現，對孩子來說，在綠色區域生活患心血管疾病、肥胖、糖尿病、緊急哮喘、精神沮喪、死亡甚至近視的風險更低。有些孩子甚至之前就達到了120分鐘的臨界值。

Nevertheless, these results are still in their infancy, and it remains unclear how much exposure we humans truly need to reap the benefits.

盡管如此，這些結果還在初期，仍然不清楚我們人類需要與自然接觸多久才能獲益。

Exploring this idea further, participants in the most recent study were asked how much nature they had experienced in the last seven days. 

進一步探索這個想法，問最新研究的參與者最近七天在自然中的經歷有多少。

Randomly selecting just one of these "nature diary entries", the interviewer then asked for more details, including how long the visit was, who they went with, how they got there, and what they got up to.

采訪者隨機挑選一位“自然日記進入者”，然后提問更多細節，包括時長、同行者、出行方式以及活動。

Bringing together these responses, the authors found that individuals who spent less than two hours in nature across the week - including visits to woodlands, beaches and parks - reported similar health and well-being to those who experienced no nature whatsoever.

將這些回答組合到一起，作者發現一周中在自然里度過的時間少于兩小時的人--包括游覽森林、海灘和公園--的健康狀況和幸福感與沒有接觸自然的人很相似。

 今日詞匯

likelihood ['la?kl?h?d] n.可能性

 這個詞的組成likely+hood：

likely，adj. 很有可能的

如She's not likely to come.（她不太可能來。）

后綴-hood ,通常跟在形容詞后，表示” ...狀態或性質”。

The likelihood of infection is minimal.

感染的可能性很小。

That, as we all know, is not only a possibility but a likelihood.

眾所周知，那不僅是有可能，而且是很有可能。