乐极生悲? 过度快乐 可能真的会心碎

Celebrating a birthday may not seem like a dangerous pastime but too much happiness can be heart-breaking, according to doctors.

庆祝生日看上去并非一项危险的娱乐，但快乐爆棚则可能让你心碎，医生说。

Health experts have known for some time that sad events, such as the loss of a spouse, can trigger a condition known as ’broken heart syndrome’ which feels like a heart attack and can be fatal if not treated quickly.

卫生专家早已认识到伤心的事件，比如失去配偶，可以导致“心碎症”，这个症状类似心脏病，如果不尽快治疗则可能致命。

Now for the first time doctors have shown that over-excitement from happy events can also spark the condition, which they have named ’happy heart syndrome.’ In short, happiness can be lethal.

而现在，医生第一次证实快乐的活动引起的过度兴奋也会促发该症状，这被称为“开心病”。简而言之，快乐也可以致命。

Since ’broken heart syndrome’ was first identified in 1990, doctors at the University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland have been compiling a database of worldwide attacks which currently holds 1750 patients.

自从‘心碎症”在1990年被首次发现，瑞士苏黎世大学医院的医生们从世界各地收集了一份目前拥有1750个病人信息的数据。

Most attacks were triggered by episodes of severe emotional distress, such as grief, fear and anger. Attending funerals was a common factor and one incident occurred after an obese patient got stuck in the bath.

大部分的发病都由一连串的严重情绪不安引发的，例如伤心，恐惧和生气。参加葬礼是一个普遍的因素，其中有一个案例是一名肥胖病人被卡在浴缸里而导致发病。

But for 20 people the condition was precipitated by happy and joyful events, such as a birthday party, wedding, surprise farewell celebration, a favourite rugby team winning a game, or the birth of a grandchild.

但有20名病人的情况是因为参加了快乐愉悦的活动，比如生日派对，婚礼，惊喜式告别会，自己喜欢的橄榄球队赢了比赛，或者孙子诞生等。

study author Dr Jelena Ghadri, resident cardiologist from University Hospital Zurich said doctors should enquire about happy events as well as sad, when diagnosing heart problems.

研究报告的作者苏黎世大学医院心脏科医生伊莲娜·加德里博士说，医生应该在诊断心脏问题的时候，除了询问难过的事件，也要询问开心的事件。

"We have shown that the triggers for ’broken heart syndrome’ can be more varied than previously thought," she said.

“我们证实了‘心碎症’的诱因可以比之前认为的更多样，”她说。

"A patient is no longer the classic "broken hearted" patient, and the disease can be preceded by positive emotions too.

“病人不再是经典‘心碎症’患者，这个病也可以由积极的情绪引起。”

"Our findings suggest that happy and sad life events may share similar emotional pathways."

“我们的发现证明了快乐和伤心的活动可能分享了相似的情绪路径。”

The problem mostly affects women. 95 per cent of all patients in the database are female with an average age of 65.

这个问题主要影响女性。数据库中95%的病人都是平均年龄为65岁的女性。

Dr Christian Templin, principle investigator from University Hospital Zurich, said further research was needed to understand the exact mechanisms underlying both the "broken" and “happy" heart variants.

苏黎世大学医院首席研究员克里斯汀娜·滕普林博士说，还需要作进一步研究，以了解导致‘心碎’和‘快乐’两种不同心病的确切机制。

The new findings were published in the European Heart Journal.

这项新发现发表在《欧洲心脏期刊》中。