狗能反映主人的压力水平

研究人员发现，狗能反映主人的压力水平

If the dead-end job, the pokey flat and the endless failings of the neighbours are getting on your wick, then spare a thought for the dog.

如果死气沉沉的工作、狭小的公寓和邻居们没完没了的找麻烦让你心烦意乱，那请为你的狗狗考虑一下吧。

In research that confirms what many owners will have worked out for themselves, scientists have found that the household pets are not oblivious to their owners’ anxieties, but mirror the amount of stress they feel.

在一项研究中，科学家们发现家养宠物并不是对主人的焦虑视而不见，而是反映了主人们所感受到的压力。

The finding comes from a study of cortisol, a stress hormone, which circulates in the blood and leaves its mark in strands of hair. Over time, as the hormone is bound into the growing hair, each shaft becomes a biological record of the stress an individual experiences.

这项发现来自于对皮质醇的研究，皮质醇是一种压力荷尔蒙，在血液中循环，并在头发上留下印记。随着时间的推移，皮质醇会融进毛发中，进而成为个体压力水平的生物学记录。

After engaging the willing services of 25 border collies, 33 Shetland sheepdogs, and the animals’ female owners, researchers in Sweden found that higher cortisol in human hair was matched by more of the hormone in the dog hair. All of the dogs lived indoors with their owners.

瑞典的研究人员对25只边境牧羊犬、33只设得兰牧羊犬和这些动物的女主人进行研究后发现，人类头发中皮质醇含量越高，狗头发中的激素含量就越高。所有参与研究的狗都和主人都住在室内。

“This is the first time we’ve seen a long-term synchronisation in stress levels between members of two different species,” said Lina Roth, an ethologist who led the work at Linköping University in Sweden. “We haven’t seen this between humans and dogs before.”

“这是我们第一次看到，两个不同物种的压力水平长期同步，”瑞典林雪平大学的动物行为学家Lina Roth说。“我们以前从未在人类和狗之间看到过这种情况。”

Roth’s team measured concentrations of cortisol in short strands of hair cut close to the skin in the winter and summer of 2017 and 2018. The link between human and dog cortisol held through the seasons, but was higher in dogs in the winter.

Roth的团队在2017年和2018年的冬夏两季，对靠近皮肤的毛发中皮质醇的浓度进行了测量。结果显示人和狗之间的皮质醇水平一直保持稳定同步，到了冬天，狗的皮质醇含量会更高一点。

To investigate whether canine lifestyle had an impact on stress levels, about half of each breed enrolled was involved in regular training and competitions to test skills such as obedience and agility. The rest of the dogs were regular companion pets.

为了调查狗的生活方式是否会对压力水平有影响，参与调查的狗有一半参加了定期的训练和比赛，以测试诸如顺从和敏捷性等技能。其余的狗都是普通宠物。

Writing in Scientific Reports, the researchers describe how stress in the competing dogs more closely mirrored that in the owners, potentially because the animals had formed a stronger bond with their owners than the companion animals.

在报告中，研究人员描述了赛犬的压力与主人的压力更加紧密相连，这可能是因为狗狗与主人建立了超过同伴的紧密关系。

Roth believes that there is more to the synchronisation of stress levels than simply sharing the same environment. When the scientists looked at whether dogs had a garden to play in; the hours the owner worked, and whether the dogs lived with other dogs, they found no effect on dog cortisol levels.

Roth认为，压力水平的同步性不只是因为与主人共有相同的环境。当科学家们观察狗是否有花园玩耍，狗主人的工作时间，以及它是否与其他狗一起生活时，狗的皮质醇水平并没有影响。

What did have an effect on the animals’ stress levels was their owners’ personalities, as assessed by a standard survey. The greatest factor was neuroticism.

根据一项标准调查评估显示，对动物压力水平有决定影响的是主人的性格，尤其是主人的情绪。

According to the study, owners who scored higher on neuroticism tended to have dogs with lower hair cortisol levels. One explanation, said Roth, is that more neurotic owners may seek more comfort from their pets, and the onslaught of hugs and attention reduces cortisol in the dogs. “We suggest that dogs, to a great extent, mirror the stress levels of their owners,” the scientists write in the journal.

根据这项研究，主人的情绪越稳定，宠物体内的皮质醇水平越低。Roth表示，原因之一是，情绪越稳定的主人越能够在宠物身上得到安慰，主人的拥抱和关心会降低狗的皮质醇含量。科学家们在期刊上写道：“我们认为狗在很大程度上反映了主人的压力水平。”

If the findings are enough to make stressed dog owners feel guilty, Roth has some words of reassurance. “Most dog owners are aware that their dogs pick up a lot of signals from them, even the unintentional ones, but it’s still beneficial to be together,” she said.

如果调查结果让那些压力过大的狗主人感到内疚的话，Roth下面的话可能会让你感到安慰：“大多数狗主人都意识到，他们的狗能从他们身上接收到很多信号，即使是无意发出的信号，但在一起仍然是有益的。。”

While the study claims to be the first evidence of different species synchronising their stress levels over the long term, short-term stress contagion has been seen in members of the same species before. In 2016, James Burkett at Emory University in Atlanta showed that monogamous prairie voles would react to a stressed partner by ramping up their own stress levels and grooming them more.

虽然相关方面声称这份研究是第一份说明不同物种长期以来压力水平互相映射的研究，但以前的研究中曾发现过相同物种间的短期应激传染。2016年，亚特兰大埃默里大学的詹姆斯·伯克特(James Burkett)指出，一夫一妻制的草原田鼠对压力伴侣的反应是，增加自身的压力水平，并对其进行更多的梳理。

Burkett, who was not involved in the latest study, said the work added to a growing body of research showing that dogs empathised with their owners.

Burkett并没有参与这项最新的研究，他说这项研究为越来越多的研究提供了新的证据，表明狗狗会同情它们的主人。

“Dogs are affected by their owners’ distress and respond with consoling behaviours,” he said. “We now know that dogs are also affected by their owners’ personalities and stress levels. While this may be common sense for dog owners, empirical research is still catching up to our intuitions about animal empathy.”

他说:“狗狗会受到主人悲伤情绪的影响，它们会做出安慰的反应。”“我们现在知道，狗也会受到主人性格和压力水平的影响。虽然这可能是狗主人的常识，但现在研究证实了我们的直觉。”