希望就是健康Hope is Healthy_大学英语阅读

希望就是健康Hope is Healthy

　　The question to ask yourself, Dr. Lazarus explains, is whether the information you gather will help you solve a problem, or whether there is little you can do to change things. In the first case, pay attention and act. In the second case, dont become preoccupied with the risks; anxiety can worsen your health.

　　Dr. Herbert Benson, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, points out that the overly vigilant patients central nervous system becomes aroused into the fight-or-flight response. But since all the patient can do is lie there, his body suffers the classic damages of stress.

　　While studying peoples reactions to medical stress, Temple University psychologist Suzanne Miller and University of Pennsylvania gynecologic oncologist Charles E. Mangan placed 40 women about to undergo colposcopy in two different groups, according to their coping style.

　　Millers main interest was to see whether any of these women would cope better if they had extra information. She gave half of each group voluminous details about what would happen and how they would feel; she gave the rest only the basic facts. Overall, the results reinforced the benefits of avoidance. The women given minimal information felt more relaxed throughout the procedure than the women who knew more.

　　Millers research shows that different people react to news about their situations in very different ways. That means, she suggests, that people should seek as much or as little information as their individual coping style dictates.