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”.

你是不是經常起床時心情很糟糕？不妨在黃昏時抽出幾分鐘欣賞一下日落的美景。英國埃克塞特大學的研究人員表示，這樣做很可能會讓你的心情變得更好。他們的研究發現，無論是欣賞晚霞還是迎接朝陽，都能讓人更深刻地感受大自然的美，同時也會喚起一種由衷的敬畏之情。

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.

敬畏這種情感本身就難以定義，更別說激發它了。不過，研究人員認為，欣賞日出日落所喚起的敬畏之情，可能會讓人心情愉悅、促進積極的社交行為，并增強正面情緒。總而言之，抽空欣賞地球的日常景象，有助于提升我們的整體幸福感。

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”.

眾所周知，親近大自然對身心健康大有裨益。許多研究都得出了這樣的結論，但大部分早期研究主要關注的是晴朗天氣下大自然對人的影響。然而，鮮有研究探討人們對天氣變化和太陽日周期（通常被稱為“短暫現象”）的反應。

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.

為此，研究團隊決定最先進的計算機圖形技術，向2500多名參與者展示了一系列城市和自然環境的圖像。研究發現，當圖像中出現日出或日落場景時，受試者普遍認為這些畫面比同一地點在白天陽光充足時拍攝的畫面更加美麗動人，讓人生出一種敬畏之情。

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，其他類型的圖像是否也能對心理健康產生積極影響呢？研究團隊的關注點并不局限于日出日落，他們還將目光投向了一些較為罕見的自然現象，比如彩虹、雷暴、繁星點點的夜空以及月光皎潔的夜晚。果不其然，與晴朗的藍天相比，這些自然現象都改變了人們在欣賞不同景觀和圖像時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.

研究團隊推測，鼓勵人們欣賞日出日落不僅可以提升幸福感，還可能成為“自然療法”的一部分。在這種療法中，大自然在心理健康治療中扮演著至關重要的角色。

Word Bank

utilize /'ju?t?la?z/ v. 使用

speculate /'spekjule?t/ v. 推測

It is useless to speculate why he did it.