Watching Sunrises and Sunsets Improves Your Mental Health? 看日出日落有益于心理健康？

Do you often wake up in a crummy mood？ Consider taking a few minutes to watch the sunset at dusk. According to researchers from the University of Exeter， you just might come away from the experience feeling better. Their study finds watching sunsets at dusk， or sunrises in the morning， promotes increased perceptions of natural beauty and an uptick in feelings of “awe”.

你是不是经常起床时心情很糟糕？不妨在黄昏时抽出几分钟欣赏一下日落的美景。英国埃克塞特大学的研究人员表示，这样做很可能会让你的心情变得更好。他们的研究发现，无论是欣赏晚霞还是迎接朝阳，都能让人更深刻地感受大自然的美，同时也会唤起一种由衷的敬畏之情。

Awe is a tough emotion to even define， let alone elicit， but study authors believe the increased feelings of awe sparked by watching sunsets or sunrises can potentially improve one’s mood， enhance positive social behavior， and increase positive emotions. All in all， taking a moment to appreciate the daily rhythms of our planet can help improve overall well-being.

敬畏这种情感本身就难以定义，更别说激发它了。不过，研究人员认为，欣赏日出日落所唤起的敬畏之情，可能会让人心情愉悦、促进积极的社交行为，并增强正面情绪。总而言之，抽空欣赏地球的日常景象，有助于提升我们的整体幸福感。

It’s hardly a secret that spending time outdoors is good for the body and mind. Plenty of studies have concluded as much， but most of those earlier projects focused on the impact of nature under calm， blue skies. Few research projects have assessed how people respond to variations in weather and the daily rhythms of the Sun， often referred to as “ephemeral phenomena”.

众所周知，亲近大自然对身心健康大有裨益。许多研究都得出了这样的结论，但大部分早期研究主要关注的是晴朗天气下大自然对人的影响。然而，鲜有研究探讨人们对天气变化和太阳日周期（通常被称为“短暂现象”）的反应。

So， the study authors opted to utilize the latest in computer graphics to show over 2，500 participants images of both urban and natural environments. Whenever these images included a sunrise or a sunset， the group considered them to be substantially more beautiful in comparison to the same shot seen under sunny conditions at any other time of day， creating a sense of awe in life.

为此，研究团队决定最先进的计算机图形技术，向2500多名参与者展示了一系列城市和自然环境的图像。研究发现，当图像中出现日出或日落场景时，受试者普遍认为这些画面比同一地点在白天阳光充足时拍摄的画面更加美丽动人，让人生出一种敬畏之情。

Could other images improve mental health？ The research team didn’t focus solely on sunrises and sunsets; they also considered rarer events， such as rainbows， thunderstorms， and starry or moonlit skies. Sure enough， all of those phenomena altered the extent to which people experienced beauty and awe across different landscapes and images in comparison to sunny， blue skies.

那么，其他类型的图像是否也能对心理健康产生积极影响呢？研究团队的关注点并不局限于日出日落，他们还将目光投向了一些较为罕见的自然现象，比如彩虹、雷暴、繁星点点的夜空以及月光皎洁的夜晚。果不其然，与晴朗的蓝天相比，这些自然现象都改变了人们在欣赏不同景观和图像时所感受到的美感和敬畏程度。

The research team speculates encouraging people to experience sunsets and sunrises could help boost well-being， and may even work as a component of “green prescribing” practices， in which nature plays a vital therapeutic role in mental health interventions.

研究团队推测，鼓励人们欣赏日出日落不仅可以提升幸福感，还可能成为“自然疗法”的一部分。在这种疗法中，大自然在心理健康治疗中扮演着至关重要的角色。

Word Bank

utilize /'juːtəlaɪz/ v. 使用

speculate /'spekjuleɪt/ v. 推测

It is useless to speculate why he did it.