如何在疲惫的世界中感受生机

1999年的西雅图。

Seattle 1999.

一群学生记者听到了关于一位深受喜爱的老师的令人不安的传言。

Teen reporters hear a troubling rumor about a beloved teacher.

他们把这件事报道了出去。

They report it.

后来，这位老师去世了。

He later dies.

我就是当时的学生之一。

I was one of those students.

现在，我正在调查事情的真相，因为有人说是我们害死了一条人命。

Now I'm uncovering what really happened because people said we killed a man.

请听来自KUOW焦点节目和NPR网络的成年人的讲述。

Listen to adults in the room from KUOW Focus and the NPR Network.

这是《TED电台秀》。

This is the TED Radio Hour.

每周为您带来前沿的TED演讲。

Each week, groundbreaking TED Talks.

我们现在要做的，就是大胆畅想。

Our job now is to dream big.

这些演讲都来自TED大会现场。

Delivered at TED conferences.

去实现我们渴望的未来。

To bring about the future we want to see.

遍布全球。

Around the world.

去理解我们是谁。

To understand who we are.

从这些演讲中，我们会为您带来令人惊喜的演讲者和观点。

From those talks, we bring you speakers and ideas that will surprise you.

你根本猜不到会发现什么。

You just don't know what you're gonna find.

让你有所挑战。

Challenge you.

我们真得问问自己，这到底有什么特别之处？

We truly have to ask ourselves, like, why is it noteworthy?

甚至改变你。

And even change you.

我真的觉得自己变成了另一个人。

I literally feel like I'm a different person.

是的。

Yes.

你也有这种感觉吗？

Do you feel that way?

值得传播的见解。

Ideas worth spreading.

来自TED和NPR。

From TED and NPR.

我是马努什·佐莫罗迪。

I'm Manoush Zomorodi.

今天节目中，我们聊聊疲惫的时代。

Today on the show, the age of exhaustion.

是什么让我们这么累，又该怎么找回精力？

What's making us so tired and how we can get some of our energy back.

你有没有过这样的经历？一天工作结束，合上笔记本电脑，只想瘫到沙发上，刷手机、看电视，或者两样都干？

Have you ever closed your laptop at the end of a long day and felt like all you could manage next was to crawl over to the couch, to look at your phone, or watch some TV, or both?

有天我也这样，自己都气坏了。

There was a day when this happened to me and I got so annoyed.

为什么我下班后不想从椅子上跳起来？

Why didn't I want to spring up from my chair at the end of the day?

我一坐就是好几个小时没动。

I hadn't moved for hours.

我的精力到底去哪儿了？

Where did my energy go?

显然，过去六年里发生了太多事，那正是我刚开始主持这个节目的时候。

Obviously, a lot has happened over the past six years, which is when I first started hosting this show.

一场疫情，国内外的政治动荡让我们人人紧绷，还有那个我们正一路冲向的AI未来。

A pandemic, of course, political turmoil at home and abroad that has put us all on edge, And then there's that AI future that we seem to be careening towards.

要跟上这些变化，实在太过沉重。

That's a lot to keep up with.

难怪美国成年人平均每天花在媒体上的时间超过十二小时。

No wonder the average US adult spends over twelve hours a day interacting with media.

我们都知道，长时间盯着屏幕对心理健康的影响。

All that time spent looking at screens, well, we've heard about the effect on our mental health.

但对身体健康呢？

But what about our physical health?

约翰霍普金斯大学的研究人员发现，如今19岁年轻人的日常活动量，和60岁的人差不多。

According to researchers at Johns Hopkins, every day, the average 19 year old moves about as much as the average 60 year old.

过去二十年，年轻人患二型糖尿病的比例翻了一倍。

Over the past twenty years, rates of type two diabetes in young people have doubled.

四分之三的美国成年人至少患有一种慢性病，其中很多其实是可以预防的。

Three out of four American adults have at least one chronic disease, many of which are preventable.

现代生活显然在一点点拖垮我们。

Modern life is clearly doing a number on us.

所以今天这期节目，我们来聊聊对抗这个时代疲惫感的解方。

And so today on the show, antidotes for our age of exhaustion.

我们的身体正在如何应对这种永不停歇的节奏变化。

How our anatomy is responding to a pace of change that feels relentless.

最新研究揭示了身心在细胞层面的互动方式，以及我们该如何重新找回生机。

New research into how the mind and body communicate on a cellular level, and what we can do to feel alive again.

对我来说，尽管我对自己整天打字、滑屏、久坐感到很沮丧，但彻底断网并不是我的选择。

For me, as much as I felt frustrated with all the typing, swiping, and sitting I have to do, going off the grid is not an option.

所以我只想弄明白，为什么我会这么难受，又该怎么在不搬去瓦尔登湖的情况下让自己好起来。

And so I wanted to understand why I felt so bad and how I could feel better without having to move to Walden Pond.

这些思考最终促成了NPR的《身体电力》项目，以及2023年一项你可能参与过的研究。

All this led to NPR's Body Electric project and a study in 2023 that you may have been part of.

几个月前，我在TED舞台上讲了这个故事。

And a few months ago, I shared the story from the TED stage.

我们怎样才能保持连接，又不慢慢毁掉自己的健康呢？

So how can we stay connected without slowly destroying our health?

当我遇到这个人的时候，这个问题一直在我脑子里转。

That was the question running through my mind when I came across this guy.

基思·迪亚兹是哥伦比亚大学医学中心的生理学家，他整个职业生涯都在研究：我们到底能少动到什么程度，才不至于让久坐要了命。

Keith Diaz is a physiologist at Columbia University Medical Center, and he has spent his entire career trying to figure out how little can we get away with moving so that sitting doesn't kill us, basically.

2022年，他发表了一项小型研究，给出了一个特别好的建议。

And in 2022, he published a small study that gives us a great idea.

他发现，每三十分钟起来轻轻活动五分钟，效果非常显著。

He found that just five minutes of gentle movement every thirty minutes had dramatic effects.

能明显降低血糖和血压。

It slashed blood sugar and blood pressure.

另一项研究显示，那些每天把三十分钟久坐换成三十分钟活动的久坐人群，早逝风险能降低百分之十八。

In another study, he found that inactive people who traded thirty minutes of sitting for thirty minutes of movement every day could lower their risk of a premature death by eighteen percent.

你可能觉得，嗯，我今天早上锻炼过了，没问题的。

And so maybe you're like, yeah, I worked out this morning, so I'm good.

或者你可能会说，太好了，我总算买了个站立式办公桌。

Or maybe you're like, phew, I'm so glad I got that standing desk.

我真的很抱歉，但这样还不够。

I am so sorry, but no.

如果你一天中大部分清醒时间都坐着或站着不动，你的健康依然面临风险。

If you sit or stand for the majority of your waking hours, your health is in jeopardy too.

别停止锻炼，基思告诉我，但他强调，你得把长时间坐着看屏幕的时间拆开，多活动几次。

Don't stop working out, Keith told me, but he said what you have to do is break up these long stretches of sedentary screen time.

我决定参加这项研究。

I decided I would join the study.

有一天，我去他的实验室，连续八小时坐着用笔记本电脑工作。

So one day, I went to his lab, and I sat and worked on my laptop for eight hours straight.

第二天，我每隔半小时就起来活动一下。

The next day, I took those movement breaks every half hour or so.

他们检查了我的所有生命体征。

They checked all my vital signs.

结果其实非常惊人。

And the results were actually quite extraordinary.

我的血糖几乎降了一半，血压下降了五点，情绪也好了很多。

My glucose was cut nearly in half, my blood pressure was down by five points, and my mood was so much better.

科学证据很清楚，但问题是，真有人能坚持做这些活动小憩吗？

The science was clear, but, like, what did it matter if no one could actually do these movement breaks?

在实验室里当然简单，有人拍拍我的肩，就带我去跑步机那儿了。

Like, it was easy in the lab, somebody tapped me on the shoulder and led me over to the treadmill.

所以我们决定去问问现实生活中的人，看他们能不能做到。

So we decided to ask people out in the world, out in real life, to see if they could do it.

我们和NPR在哥伦比亚的团队联手，推出了一档播客和一项全球临床研究，叫《身体电力计划》。

We, our teams at NPR in Columbia, combined forces to create a podcast and a global clinical trial called the Body Electric Study.

超过两万人报名参加了。

And over 20,000 people signed up.

我们不得不把人数限制在两万人。

We had to cap it at 20,000 people.

他们可以自行选择活动量，比如每半小时活动五分钟，每小时五分钟，或者每两小时五分钟。

And they could choose a movement dose, so they could move five minutes every half hour, five minutes every hour or every two hours.

他们可以在家里跳舞，打电话时来回踱步，遛狗，或者倒垃圾。

They could dance around the house, they could pace on calls, they could walk the dog, they could take out the trash.

具体怎么做都无所谓。

It didn't matter.

只要打断久坐，把长时间坐着的时间拆开就行。

They just had to break it up, break up those long periods of sitting.

各位，我真是激动坏了。

And you guys, I was so excited.

我当时就想，我们要掀起一场为活动而活动的风潮。

I was like, we are gonna launch a movement for movement.

是的。

Yeah.

我挺会说的。

I've got a way with words.

身体电疗研究的头几天可真不容易。

Those first few days of the body electric study were tough.

如果你参与了，或许还记得，在这个满是屏幕和椅子的世界里，要多动一动得多花心思、多有反叛精神。

If you participated, maybe you remember how much intention and rebellion it takes to move more in a world built around screens and chairs.

但人们渐渐找到了把活动间隙融入日常生活的方法。

But people started figuring out how to integrate movement breaks into their lives.

一旦做到了，他们就开始出现转机。

And when they did, they started having breakthroughs.

我的精力明显变好了。

My energy went way up.

所以下班回家后，你连做饭都不想动。

So when you get home from work, you don't feel like cooking dinner.

什么事都不想干。

You don't feel like doing anything.

我在做这个研究的时候，根本没体会到这些。

I didn't really get any of that while I was doing the study.

我感觉好多了，精力更充沛，专注力也提升了，心情也更愉快。

I feel so much better, have more energy, can focus better, and I'm happier.

我感觉自己能坚持更久，脑子里那团迷雾好像慢慢散开了。

I felt as if I could go for for longer, and I really felt like the cloud in my brain kind of dissipated.

这是乔丹·史密斯、罗杰·伊斯特曼和达娜·洛佩兹·迈尔。

That was Jordan Smith, Roger Eastman, and Dana Lopez Mile.

人们告诉我们，他们疼痛减轻了，没那么累了，专注力变强了，情绪也更积极了。

People told us they felt less pain, they were less tired, they could focus and felt more positive.

令人意外的是，休息并没有影响他们的工作效率。

Surprisingly, taking breaks did not hurt their productivity.

人们说，回到桌前之后，注意力反而更集中了。

People said they got back to their desks and were able to concentrate better.

但这是为什么呢？

But why?

他们身体里到底发生了什么？

What was going on in their bodies?

基思向我解释了为什么这些轻松的休息能产生如此大的影响。

Keith explained to me some of the reasons why these gentle breaks can have such an outsized impact.

当我们坐着的时候，臀部和膝盖的动脉会被压弯，就像被折弯的吸尘器软管一样。

So when we sit, our arteries get bent at our hips and our knees, kind of like a kinked vacuum hose.

血液开始在腿部积聚，肌肉也停止了收缩。

Blood starts pooling in our legs, and our muscles stop contracting.

但腿部肌肉需要活动、需要刺激，才能清除脂肪和糖分，降低血压。

But leg muscles need to move, be stimulated in order to clear out fat and sugar and reduce blood pressure.

如果长期不活动，几个月甚至几年后，慢性疾病就会悄悄找上门来。

If they don't, over months and over years, that's when those chronic conditions can start to creep in.

这时候，屏幕的作用就体现出来了。

And that is where screens come into the picture.

屏幕会影响一种叫作内感受的能力。

So screens can mess with something called interoception.

内感受是身体告诉你它需要什么的方式。

Interoception is the body's way of telling you what it needs.

它需要吃点东西。

It needs a snack.

它需要去上厕所。

It needs to go to the bathroom.

它需要活动一下。

It needs to move.

我们越盯着屏幕，就越忽略身体发出的那些信号。

The more we focus on screens, the less we listen to the signals that our body is sending us.

你的身体可能已经在求你休息了，可你做了什么？

Your body could be begging for a break, but what do you do?

你还是继续刷下去，越过焦虑，越过疲惫。

You keep scrolling past the anxiety, scrolling past the exhaustion.

长此以往，最终会导致倦怠，没错，还有那些慢性病。

That eventually can lead to burnout, yes, and again, those chronic conditions.

临床试验结束时，我们发现，那些开始定时活动的人中，有80%坚持了整整两周。

At the end of the clinical trial, we found that of the people who started taking movement breaks, eighty percent managed to stick with them for two solid weeks.

当然，这项研究是自我报告的，参与者大多是特别积极的公共广播听众。

To be sure, this was a self reported study with lots of very motivated public radio listeners.

但数据清楚显示，人们休息得越频繁，感觉就越好了。

But still, the data showed that the more often people took breaks, the better they felt.

那些走出去的人，状态提升得更明显。

People who went outside got an extra boost.

有些人减掉了几斤顽固的体重，大多数人其实挺享受这些休息时间的。

Some people lost a few stubborn pounds, and most people actually liked taking the breaks.

那他们是怎么做到的呢？

So how did they do it?

这正是我接下来想弄清楚的事。

That's what I wanted to find out next.

在基思·迪亚兹忙着把研究写成论文、准备发表的同时，我花了过去几年时间，仔细梳理了所有参与者提交的问卷、故事和数据。

While Keith Diaz wrote up the research for scientific publication, which is now under peer review, I spent the last few years combing through the surveys and stories and data that all the participants shared.

我想弄清楚，为什么有些人一上来就放弃了，而另一些人却坚持下来，还越做越有劲。

I wanted to understand why some people dropped out almost immediately, but others stuck with movement breaks and thrived.

我发现的一个重要现象是，不同的人生阶段需要不同的方法。

And one of the many things I found was that different life stages required different tactics.

比如退休的人，白天本来活动就多，但他们需要在家里多走动，打破那些长时间盯着屏幕的漫长夜晚。

Retired people, for example, they often moved more during the day, but they needed to take breaks around the house to disrupt long evenings usually spent sitting at screens.

那些整天坐在办公桌前的信息工作者，通常会被同事的消息和提醒不断打断。

Information workers, those who sat at a desk all day long, were typically interrupted by annoying messages and pings from their colleagues.

但当他们主动安排休息时间，加上五分钟的活动后，反而觉得工作效率提高了，工作也更喜欢了。

But when they scheduled purposeful interruptions and added five minutes of movement, they reported that the quality of their work improved, and they liked their jobs more.

那你怎么才能开始改变，让自己感觉更好呢？

So how can you start making a change in feeling better?

首先，想想你一天中最久坐着不动的时段，然后给自己定一句提醒的话。

Well, first, think about your most sedentary stretches of time, and then make yourself a mantra.

比如你是学生，就可以说：上课前多绕操场走一圈，不刷抖音，这样大脑吸足了氧，上课才能专心。

So, like, if you are a student, you could say, I'll take an extra lap around the quad before class instead of checking TikTok so I get to class with more oxygen in my brain and I can actually focus.

如果你在家上班，可以规定自己在长时间的Zoom会议中原地踏步，帮助控制血糖，避免会后犯困。

Or if you work from home, you could decide that on long Zoom calls, I will march in place in order to manage my glucose and avoid the post meeting crash.

如果你是家长，可以定下规矩：每天绕着足球场走一圈，这样才有足够精力应付晚餐时间的混乱。

If you're a parent, you could say, I will take a lap around the soccer field once so that I have enough energy to get through the dinnertime chaos.

热剩饭的时候，干脆开个派对跳跳舞。

You can have a dance party while you microwave your leftovers.

等航班时别坐着，去航站楼里走一走。

You can walk the concourse instead of sitting and waiting for your flight.

把这些习惯结合起来，能让你的肌肉持续活跃，情绪也更稳定。

A mix of all these habits will keep your muscles firing and your mood steadier.

我最喜欢的故事来自一位43岁的HR员工，名叫达娜。

My favorite story came from a 43 year old woman named Dana, who works in HR.

达娜患有二型糖尿病，还有不少其他健康问题。

Dana was a type two diabetic with all kinds of health issues.

她的医生告诉她，每天早上必须快走一小时。

Her doctor told her she needed to take a long, brisk walk every morning.

但她一直坚持这么做，血糖指标却没什么变化。

And she was doing this, but her numbers just were not changing.

于是，在医生同意下，她决定参加这项研究。

So with her doctor's permission, she decided to join the study.

她开始在每场会议之间穿插一些活动小憩，几周后告诉我，血压降了40点，胆固醇也下来了，医生甚至说她可以逐步减少胰岛素用量。

She started fitting in movement breaks between all of her meetings, and within a couple of weeks, she told me her blood pressure dropped by 40 points, her cholesterol went down, and her doctor told her she could start tapering her insulin.

现在她已经完全停用所有药物了。

She's actually off all of her meds today.

真的吗。

I know.

太棒了，达娜。

Yay, Dana.

我们爱你，达娜。

We love you, Dana.

我们知道上网太久对心理健康不好，但这不只是心理作用，身体也在受影响。

So we know that too much time online is not great for our mental health, but it's not just in our heads, it's in our bodies.

我们得让运动像屏幕一样，成为生活中不可或缺的一部分。

We need movement to be as much a part of our lives as screens are.

学校、社区、职场，都该给我们留出时间与空间，让我们能自由活动。

We need our schools, our neighborhoods, our workplaces to give us time and space just to move.

你可以推动这场改变的发生。

You can help push this reset forward.

每隔一段时间就起来活动一下，别人要是觉得你奇怪，就告诉他们：我只是想让自己感觉好一点。

Take movement breaks, and when people look at you like you're weird, just tell them why you're doing it, because you just want to feel a little better.

让他们放下手机，跟你一起动起来。

Get them to put down their phone and join you.

早点开始，从小事做起。

Start soon, start small.

我们现在就开始吗？

Should we start now?

对。

Yeah.

咱们放点音乐吧？

Let's can we have some music?

你可以来个踏步走。

You could do could do the march.

也可以试试摇摆步。

You could do the shuffle.

如果站不起来，就把手举起来。

Little hands in the air if you can't get up.

感受一下。

Feel it.

你活着呢。

You're alive.

你活着呢。

You're alive.

我是曼努什·佐莫罗迪，NPR《TED电台》的主持人，也是《电子身体》一书的作者，这本书讲的是数字时代被忽视的健康代价，以及重新找回福祉的最新科学方法。

I'm Manoush Zomorodi, the host of NPR's TED Radio Hour and the author of Body Electric, the hidden health costs of the digital age and new science to reclaim your well-being.

你可以在 ted.com 上观看我的 TED 演讲。

You can see my TED Talk at ted.com.

如果你参与了《Body Electric》研究，真的非常感谢你。

And if you participated in the Body Electric study, thank you so, so much.

回来之后，我们会分享关于新陈代谢的新研究，看看你的身体是如何在细胞层面为你提供能量的。

When we come back, new research into metabolism and how your body gives you energy on a cellular level.

今天节目中，我们将探讨对抗这个时代疲惫感的方法。

On the show today, antidotes for our age of exhaustion.

你正在收听的是 NPR 的 TED Radio Hour。

You're listening to the TED Radio Hour from NPR.

马上回来，这里是 NPR 的 TED Radio Hour。

We'll be right It's the TED Radio Hour from NPR.

我是 Manoush Zomorodi。

I'm Manoush Zomorodi.

今天节目里，我们要聊的是疲惫的时代。

Today on the show, the age of exhaustion.

是什么让我们这么疲惫？我们又该怎么找回精力？

What's making us so tired, and how can we get our energy back?

有些人就是好像什么都难不倒他们。

There are some people who just seem to be up for anything.

他们总是忙个不停。

They are always on the go.

确实有些人看起来、感觉上，行为上都比别人更有活力。

There are certainly people who look and feel and behave as if they have more energy than others.

这是事实。

That's a fact.

这是马丁·皮卡德。

This is Martin Picard.

他是一位研究人体细胞层面能量的医学科学家。

He's a medical scientist who studies human energy on a cellular level.

马丁认为，有些人精力更充沛的原因，可能藏在

And Martin thinks the answer to why certain people have more energy might be found in

就是细胞里那些漂亮的小东西——线粒体。

Those beautiful little things that are in our cells, the mitochondria.

没错。

Yes.

研究人员正在重新审视线粒体，那些在部分细胞里游动的微小细胞器。

Researchers are taking a new look at mitochondria, the tiny organelles that swim around in some of our cells.

过去几年我们发现，不同人的线粒体差异其实很大。

What we've discovered in the last few years is that different people have very different kinds of mitochondria.

有些人线粒体在传递能量方面明显更高效。

And some people's mitochondria seem to be quite a bit better at flowing energy.

如果你早就把线粒体的事忘得一干二净了，这里给你快速回顾一下，顺便了解些关于它们在体内如何运作的新发现。

If you haven't thought about mitochondria since middle school, here's a quick refresher and some new knowledge about how they work in the body.

所有生物都是由细胞构成的，但如果没有线粒体输送能量，我们根本活不下去。

Every living creature is made of cells, but if it wasn't for the energy flowing through the mitochondria, then we wouldn't be alive.

对吧？

Right?

所以，一个能思考、能呼吸、有意识的人——就像我们现在这样对话的你我——和一具尸体之间的主要区别，就在于能量的流动。

So the difference between a thinking, breathing, conscious person, like you and I that are having this discussion now, and a cadaver, the main difference is the flow of energy.

线粒体的作用是把能量从一种形式——也就是食物——转化成一种微小的电荷。

And what mitochondria do is they take energy in one form, which is food, and then they transform it first into a little electrical charge.

它们真的会制造出这种微小的电荷，然后用它来做各种事情，几十种不同的功能都靠它支撑。

So they they literally create this little electrical charge, and then they use that electrical charge for all sorts of things, dozens of things that mitochondria do.

我记得上学时学过，线粒体是细胞的发电站。

I remember learning mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell.

这个说法对吗？

Are we right?

对。

Yes.

发电站这个比喻在五六十年代特别有用。

The the powerhouse analogy was was very useful in the 60s, 1950s, 1960s

八十年代也是，最近我孩子上学时，老师还是这么教的。

80s, that's when and the one more recently my kids were told it was the powerhouse analogy.

我知道，上学时我也被这么教过，现在新来实验室的学生还常这么说。

I know, I was told that too in school, and I still hear this from new students that come in the lab.

这个比喻太简单了。

That analogy is too simple.

发电厂就是一个机器，只会做一件事，但线粒体是活的生命体，能干几十种事。

A powerhouse is a little machine, it does one thing, mitochondria are living beings, and they do dozens of things.

线粒体能产生激素，比如皮质醇、让怀孕成为可能的性激素、睾酮——这些决定男性特征；它们还调控细胞内的离子，比如钙；负责调节细胞内的氧化应激，开关基因，调控表观基因组。线粒体干的这些事，对细胞生存至关重要。

So mitochondria produce hormones, like cortisol, and the sex hormones that allow pregnancy, and testosterone, and that allows the male characteristics, they regulate ions inside the cell, like calcium, they are responsible for regulating oxidative stress inside our cells, turning on genes, turning off genes, regulating the epigenome, so mitochondria do a number of things that are critical to cell life.

作为一名医学科学家，我和我的团队一直在努力探究人类健康的根本机制。

As a medical scientist, my team and I work hard to understand the basis of human health.

马丁·皮卡德在他的TED演讲中进一步解释了这一点。

Martin Picard explains more in his TED Talk.

正如彼得·斯特林在《什么是健康？》这本书里说的：

As Peter Sterling says in his book, What is Health?

健康就是能够最佳地应对和适应各种挑战的能力。

Health is the ability to optimally respond and adapt to challenges.

为什么有些人几十年都健健康康，而有些人却经常生病、早逝？

Why do some people remain healthy for decades while others get sick often and die early?

过去二三十年，科学家们一直通过研究基因来解答这个问题。

For the past two or three decades, scientists have approached this question by focusing on genes.

基因是细胞核里那些静止不变的DNA片段。

Static stretches of DNA package in the cell nucleus.

但其实，我们的基因就像手机里的硬件部件。

But you see, our genes are like the inert stuff inside your phone.

屏幕、芯片、充电接口这些是硬件，而健康更像手机的互动功能。

The screen, the computer chip, the charging port, and health is more like the interactive nature of your phone.

比如你一按按钮它就震动，有来电或短信时屏幕自动亮起。

Like how it vibrates when you press something or how the screen turns on when a call or text comes in.

如果没有电、没有能量，屏幕上什么都不会显示。

Without charge and energy, there's nothing on the screen.

一片空白。

Blank.

硬件如果没有电，你就无法使用或连接任何功能，基因也是同样的道理。

The hardware doesn't allow you to experience or to connect with anything unless it's energized, just like your genome.

关于长寿，对超过五千万人的研究显示，基因只决定了我们寿命不到7%的因素。

And in terms of longevity, the best research from over 50,000,000 people shows that genes predict less than 7% of how long we live.

不到百分之七。

Less than 7%.

因此，在健康和长寿方面，科学表明基因其实并不起主导作用。

So when it comes to health and longevity, science shows that genes are mostly not in control.

我认为医学至今没能真正理解健康，是因为我们一直只关注硬件，却忽略了能量在健康中的关键角色。

I think medicine has failed to understand health so far because we've essentially focused on the hardware without understanding the role of energy in our health.

明白了。

Okay.

所以我们现在知道，基因对健康的影响并没有我们过去以为的那么大。

So we know now that genes are not as responsible for as much of our health as we we used to think.

但你一直在研究线粒体的基因缺陷，从中揭示它们对我们整个生物系统有多么重要。

But you've been studying how genetic defects of mitochondria can teach us more about how important they are to our overall biological system.

是的。

Yes.

这么多年来，我一直待在诊所，接诊那些患有罕见线粒体疾病的病人，他们的线粒体没法把食物里的能量有效转化成可用能量。我见过的患者里，超过九成最困扰他们的就是疲劳。

So, you know, for for many years now, I've been going to the the clinic where I see patients with rare mitochondrial diseases, that impairs the ability of their mitochondria to flow energy from food to oxygen, and you know more than 90 of them, the thing that bothers them the most is fatigue.

他们总觉得浑身没劲。

They feel like they have no energy.

所以，当线粒体无法正常供能时，人确实会感受到那种状态。

So we know it feels like something when your mitochondria cannot flow energy properly.

那接下来的问题就是：这种现象会不会也是其他疲劳人群的根源？比如慢性疲劳综合征患者、长新冠患者，或者任何普通人生活中经历极度耗竭、精疲力尽的阶段？

So then the next question is, well, is this then the driving force behind other people who feel fatigued and tired, like people who have chronic fatigue syndrome, or long COVID, or any other normal human being who goes through a phase in their life where they're completely depleted and exhausted?

是因为他们的线粒体出了问题吗？

Is it because the mitochondria are are impaired?

目前我们还没法确定，但这种可能性是存在的。

And we don't know the answer to that question, but it's quite possible.

但假设我感冒了，觉得累，也不想吃东西。

But but let's say I have, like, a cold, and I'm tired, and I don't feel like eating.

是什么让我感到这么累呢？

What is making me tired with that?

背后的原理是什么？这和线粒体有什么关系？

What's the thinking, and how does that relate to mitochondria?

是的。

Yes.

那具体是怎么回事？

What's going on there?

这是个很好的问题。

That's a great question.

并不是你的线粒体坏了、功能失调，或者身体的能量系统出了问题，真正发生的是我们所说的能量权衡，或者能量限制。

What happens then is not that your mitochondria are are broken or dysfunctional or that something's wrong with the energetic circuitry of your body, what's happening here is what we called energy trade offs, or energy constraint.

当身体某个部位消耗的能量超出正常水平时，它就会从其他部位抢走能量。

And when one part of the body is burning more energy than it should, it steals energy away from other parts of the body.

所以身体会迅速判断，能量到底该优先供给哪里。

So the body makes really rapid decisions about where is energy most essential.

所以如果有感染，为了多活一天、一周，身体必须把能量优先分配给免疫系统。

So if there's an infection, to survive another day, another week, you need to allocate energy towards the immune system.

结果就是，免疫系统消耗了大量能量，从而从大脑、认知能力以及其他身体功能那里抢走了能量。

So as a result, because the immune system is burning all this energy, it kind of steals energy away from the mind, and from cognition, and from everything else in the body.

所以你会感觉特别糟糕，这很合理——因为一旦感觉难受，你就会只想躺床上休息，节省能量，好让免疫系统有更多资源可用。

So that feels terrible, rightfully so, because then if you feel terrible, you just wanna lie down in bed, conserve energy so that there's as much energy available for the for the immune system.

我们感受到的，似乎并不是身体里总共有多少能量，而是能量流动得是否顺畅。

And it seems like what we feel is not the total amount of energy we have on the body, but it's how well energy is flowing.

是的。

Yeah.

我们常听说身心相连，听起来有点玄乎，对吧？

So, I mean, I I think we hear the mind body connection, and that sounds kinda woo woo or something.

但你的研究暗示，线粒体可能是那个缺失的环节，正是它让大脑和身体得以沟通？

But your research suggests that actually the mitochondria might be the sort of missing link that the way that the mind and the body are conversing?

没错。

Exactly.

大脑和身体并不是两个在互相交谈的独立部分。

The mind and the body are not two things that are kind of conversing.

它们其实是更深层过程的两种表现，而这个深层过程本质上就是能量的转化与流动。

What they they're two expressions of a of a deeper underlying process, And that deeper underlying process is energy transformation and the flow of energy, really.

从根本上说，我认为医学和生物医学研究需要解答的问题是：能量的生物学机制与其他生命过程，如何与人的主观体验相关联？

Fundamentally, the question that I think we need to solve in medicine and biomedical research is how is it that the biology of energy and other aspects of biology, how is that related to the human experience?

大脑与身体如何沟通以影响我们的长期健康，仍是医学领域最大的未解之谜之一。

How mind and body communicate to shape our long term health remains one of the biggest mysteries in medicine.

这并不是基因的问题，而是能量与沟通的问题。

And that's not a problem of genes, but one of energy and communication.

那线粒体呢？

So what about mitochondria?

它们会进行沟通吗？

Do they communicate?

如果你观察它们在细胞内的活动，就会发现它们其实构成一个动态的网络。

Well, if you look at their behavior inside the cell, you see that they function as a dynamic network.

就像手机能无线连接其他设备一样，线粒体也会发出无线信号，相互影响。

And just like your phone connects wirelessly to other mobile phones, mitochondria produce wireless signals that influence each other.

线粒体还经常在细胞核周围移动。

Mitochondria can also often migrate around the cell nucleus.

当它们围绕着你那两万五千个基因时，会传递关键指令，决定哪些基因开启或关闭。

And as they surround your 25,000 genes, mitochondria dictate important information to turn on or turn off specific genes.

它们甚至能在细胞之间转移，去救助那些遇到困难的细胞。

They can even jump between cells to rescue other cells in trouble.

线粒体已经演化成一个社交网络。

Mitochondria have evolved into a social network.

它们彼此协作，善于沟通。

They're collaborative and communicative.

我们知道这种生物层面的沟通至关重要，一旦失去，就会引发疾病。

And we know that this kind of biological communication is vital because losing that alone causes disease.

比如，抑郁症就是神经元之间沟通障碍造成的。

For example, depression is caused by impaired communication between neurons.

阿尔茨海默病涉及大脑不同区域之间沟通功能的障碍。

Alzheimer's disease involves impaired communication between different parts of the brain.

细胞间彻底失去沟通，最终会导致癌症。

And the ultimate loss of communication between cells causes cancer.

癌细胞失去了与线粒体的联系，转而依赖其他能量来源。

Cancer cells are cells that have lost touch with their mitochondria and therefore start to rely on other energy sources.

它们本质上退回到了内共生之前的祖先状态，回到了只顾自身增殖的单细胞模式。

They effectively revert back to their ancestral bacterial nature before endosymbiosis, to their selfish unicellular state where growth is all that mattered.

因此，癌细胞脱离了整个网络，就像一部无法连接任何信号的死手机。

Because of that, cancer cells become disconnected from the rest of the network, just like a dead phone unable to connect to anything.

没有正常的线粒体和沟通，癌细胞就破坏了与其他细胞的社会契约，危及整个机体。

Without normal mitochondria and communication, cancer cells end up breaking the social contract with other cells, which threatens the whole organism.

所以我们越来越清楚，要理解健康的根本，不能只研究人体生物学或心理学，因为身体和心灵都由同一种东西驱动，并通过线粒体进行沟通。

So it's becoming clear that to understand the basis of health, we cannot just study human biology or psychology because the body and the mind are powered by the same thing and communicate via their mitochondria.

自然而然，这催生了一个新的跨学科研究领域，叫作线粒体心理生物学。

Naturally, this led to a new interdisciplinary field of research called mitochondrial psychobiology.

线粒体心理生物学的目标是绘制出心智与身体之间的全新沟通通路，也就是心智与线粒体的联系，从而更深入地理解人类健康。

The goal of mitochondrial psychobiology is to map new pathways of communication between the mind and the body, or the mind mitochondria connection, to better understand human health.

所有健康的线粒体，其实都在彼此交流。

So all the mitochondria, when they're healthy, they are all talking to each other.

这是因为他们运作的方式都一样吗？

Is that because they all work the same way?

还是说线粒体其实有不同的类型？

Or are there different kinds of mitochondria?

比如，身体的不同部位会不会拥有不同种类的线粒体？

Like, do different parts of the body have different types of mitochondria?

没错。

Yes.

不同细胞和不同器官里的线粒体，类型都不一样。

Different types of mitochondria in different types of cells and different organs.

肝脏的线粒体跟肾脏的很不一样，而肾脏的又跟大脑、心脏、肌肉、胰腺这些地方的线粒体各不相同。

So the mitochondria of the liver are very different than the mitochondria of the kidney, which are different than the mitochondria of the brain and the heart and the muscles, the pancreas, and so on.

你可以把人体看作一个社会共同体，不同的器官和细胞各自承担着不同的角色。

You can think of the human body as kind of a social collective, and there are different organs, different cells that play different roles.

大脑负责接收并整合来自所有感官的信息，同时协调每一个细胞和器官的活动。

See, the brain receives, integrates data and input from all senses, and it coordinates every cell and organ.

就像手机需要电池供电才能接收、处理和发送数据，大脑也需要大量能量来完成这些工作。

Just like your phone needs energy in its battery to receive, process and send data, the brain needs energy to do this.

需要大量的能量。

A lot of energy.

所以，你大脑里的细胞里充满了大量的线粒体。

So the cells in your brain are packed with lots of mitochondria.

事实上，大脑只占体重的2%，但它的线粒体却消耗了全身高达20%的氧气和能量。

In fact, the brain is only 2% of your body weight but its mitochondria consume up to 20% of the oxygen and energy of the whole body.

这就像是手机后台一直运行着一百个应用，时刻都在耗电。

It's like a phone with a 100 apps running in the background constantly needing to be charged.

我们每时每刻都在呼吸，把氧气送入肺部和血液，心脏则不断循环血液，把氧气输送到每一个细胞和器官，包括你的大脑。

Every second we breathe to bring oxygen into our lungs and blood and our heart circulates the blood to carry oxygen to every cell and organ, including your brain.

当氧气供应中断，比如中风或心脏病发作时，给线粒体供氧的重要性就显而易见了。

Just how important feeding oxygen to mitochondria is becomes obvious when things go wrong, like when a stroke or heart attack cuts off oxygen to the brain.

一旦线粒体得不到持续的氧气供应，一切就都会停摆。

Without the constant delivery of oxygen to mitochondria, everything stops.

你内心的屏幕会瞬间黑屏，意识也随之消失。

Your inner screen goes blank and your consciousness ends.

能量不仅驱动着身体里所有的生化反应，还让我们能够思考、感受、担忧和创造。

Energy doesn't just power all biochemical reactions in the body, It gives us the ability to think, to feel, to worry, and to create.

能量支撑着我们的思维。

Energy powers our mind.

你能带我走进一个脑细胞，让我看看线粒体到底在做什么吗？

Do you mind like, I wonder if you just take me into a brain cell, put me in there with the mitochondria, and explain what exactly it's doing.

我们想象一下，把自己缩小，进入大脑内部。

So let's imagine we shrink and we enter the brain.

然后你会看到神经元密密麻麻，种类繁多，接着注意到其中一个神经元。当你进入细胞后，会看到像意大利面或豆子一样的结构——那就是线粒体，它们在细胞质里缓慢移动，彼此接触、融合、分裂，接收信号、整合信息，再把输出传给位于神经元中央的细胞核。

And then there's this amazing density of neurons, different kinds of neurons, and then we see this one neuron, and what you would see as you enter the cell is these spaghetti, you know, bean looking like units, the mitochondria, that are kind of gently and slowly moving around in the cytoplasm, kissing each other, fusing it with each other, dividing, and those mitochondria are there receiving inputs, integrating information, and then sending outputs to the cell nucleus that kind of sits there in the middle of the neuron.

正是因为细胞质中这一群线粒体的存在，神经元才能活起来，表达正确的基因，接收信息，并产生动作电位——也就是神经元放电，这需要大量能量，而这些能量主要来自线粒体对能量的转化。

So because of this little collective of mitochondria in the cytoplasm, which is what we call the inside of the cell, the neuron can come to life, and it can express the right genes, and it can receive information, and produce action potential, right, the neurons fire, that costs a lot of energy, and it it comes mostly from the mitochondria transforming energy.

如果你看到脑部扫描图，显示哪些区域有活动，那就意味着线粒体正在发出信号，产生电信号，进行信息处理。

So if you see like a scan of a brain, and they show you where there's activity, that means that the mitochondria are are sending out the signals, electricity is being generated, and processing is happening.

对。

Yes.

扫描图上看到的通常是大脑中氧气水平的变化，这些氧含量反映的是线粒体在消耗、呼吸大脑中的氧气，进而转化能量。

What you see is typically the the oxygen levels that are changing in the brain, and the oxygen levels that you see on a scan really reflect the mitochondria consuming, breathing the oxygen of the brain, right, and then transforming energy.

所以线粒体才是真正推动我们新陈代谢的核心。

So mitochondria are really they're driving our metabolism.

这么说准确吗？

Is that fair to say?

没错。

Exactly.

明白。

Yeah.

那我们来聊聊，提高线粒体健康是不是一个不错的健康目标？

So let's talk about how we can I mean, is is that a good health goal to increase your mitochondrial health?

确实有科学研究表明，线粒体数量多的话，能量流动会更顺畅。

There's science certainly that says if you have lots of mitochondria, can flow energy easily.

这跟更好的身体健康、心理健康，以及长寿都有关系。

This is associated with better health, physical health, mental health, and with longevity.

要让身体产生更多功能良好的线粒体，一个方法就是多运动。

One way to do that, to make lots of well functioning mitochondria, is moving, exercising.

因为运动的时候，身体会感受到能量阻力。

Because when you exercise, what happens is you cause energy resistance in the body.

不管是跑步、举重、游泳还是骑车，只要肌肉收缩，就会在体内制造能量阻力。

If contract your muscles because you're running or lifting or swimming or biking, you're causing energy resistance in the body.

这种感觉不太舒服，因为你用力过猛，乳酸堆积，身体就会想：下次再遇到这种情况，我得提前做好准备。

And it feels uncomfortable because you're pushing and blood lactate increase, then the body will say, next time this happens, I need to be ready.

所以我要多生成一些线粒体。

So I'm gonna make more mitochondria.

这就叫做线粒体生物生成。

So that's called mitochondrial biogenesis.

所以运动能提升整体健康，因为它能增加你体内线粒体的数量。

So exercise is something that enhances overall health because it improves the number of mitochondria in your body.

而线粒体越多，身体的能量流动就越顺畅。

And then if you have more mitochondria, you can flow energy more easily.

太有意思了。

Fascinating.

如果我想更有活力、更积极，你建议我做些什么，才能让线粒体保持良好运作、相互沟通，把能量输送到身体各处？

So if I am like, I want to feel energized, I wanna feel positive, what are some of the things you recommend doing so that we can keep our mitochondria functioning and talking to each other and getting energy into the rest of ourselves?

是的。

Yeah.

问得非常好。

Great questions.

首先就是多动，坚持锻炼。

The first thing is moving, exercise.

对吧？

Right?

任何让你呼吸加重的活动，比如跑步、划船、游泳、骑车，甚至做爱，只要是让你喘得更厉害的事，都是因为你的线粒体在消耗更多氧气。当你推动线粒体的能量流动时，身体就会生成更多线粒体，为下一次做准备。

Anything you do that makes you breathe harder, including running, rowing, swimming, biking, making love, whatever it is that makes you breathe harder, that's you breathe harder because your mitochondria are using more oxygen, and then if you're driving mitochondrial energy flow, then the body is going to make more mitochondria to be ready the next time this happens.

所以，第一点，动起来，锻炼。

So moving and exercise, number one.

第二点，别吃太多。

Number two, not eating too much.

吃太多的时候，线粒体就会收到过多能量，导致能量抵抗，这可不是好事。

When we eat too much, it seems to give mitochondria excess energy, and then that drives energy resistance, and that's not good.

偶尔感到饿，其实是在刺激线粒体新生。

If you feel hungry once in a while, what this does is it stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis.

你会淘汰那些效率低的老线粒体，长出更多高效的新线粒体。

You get rid of the old mitochondria that are less efficient, and you make more of the new mitochondria that are more efficient.

这大概就是为什么禁食、间歇性禁食，或者二十四小时、四十八小时、甚至七十二小时的禁食，在很多情况下都很健康，也解释了为什么世界上所有古老传统都把禁食作为仪式或实践的一部分。

And that's probably why fasting, intermittent fasting, or twenty four or forty eight, seventy two hour fasting, are very healthy in many contexts, and why every ancient tradition in the world has a fast, you know, as part of their tradition or their practice.