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美国一项最新研究结果显示，与人相比，小狗更善于让那些心力衰竭的病人放松心情。
据美国“生活科学网”11月15日报道，此项研究的负责人、美国加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校医疗中心的凯斯·克洛表示：“小狗们是些了不起的安慰者。它们会让人们的心情更愉快、更镇定，同时也让人们感受到更多的爱。当你受到惊吓或感觉不好的时候，这就对你很重要了。”
研究人员对76名因心力衰竭而住院的病人进行了相关的研究。研究过程中，分别由一名志愿者或由一名志愿者再加一只小狗与这些病人进行12分钟的接触。这些经过特殊训练的小狗会躺在床上和病人互动。
此时，研究人员会为病人测量血压，同时还会观察他们有害激素的排放情况和其它一些关于心力衰竭的可测量数值。研究人员还会在病人和志愿者或小狗接触之前及之后，对病人进行焦虑感测试。
研究发现，那些和小狗互动的病人，其焦虑指数下降了24％；而只有志愿者来访的病人，其焦虑指数只下降了10％；那些既没有见到志愿者也没见到小狗的病人，其焦虑指数没有发生变化。研究还发现，小狗的到来还使病人的一种应激激素——肾上腺素下降了17％；而志愿者只让这一数值下降了2％。患者情况由于小狗的到来达到改善的类似情况，在对其它数值的测量中也能见到。
对此，克洛表示：“研究证明，即使只和小狗接触很短的一段时间，这对那些患者来说，无论从身体上还是从心理上都是有好处的。”
Dogs are better at relaxing heart-failure patients than people, a new study found.
"Dogs are a great comfort," says study leader Kathie Cole of the UCLA Medical Center.
"They make people happier, calmer and feel more loved. That is huge when you are scared and not feeling well."
Researchers studied 76 people hospitalized with heart failure. Each got either a 12-minute visit from a human volunteer or a human volunteer and a dog. A control group got no visit. The dogs were specially trained to lie on the bed and interact with the patient.
The scientists monitored the patients' blood pressure, release of harmful hormones and other measurables that characterize heart failure. An anxiety test was done before and after the session.
Anxiety scores dropped 24 percent among patients interacting with a dog. Scores dropped 10 percent when only a human visited. The group that got no visit exhibited no change.
Dogs helped cause a 17 percent drop in a stress hormone called epinephrine, while human visitors could muster only a 2 percent dip. The hormone level rose 7 percent, on average, in the group that got no visitor.
Similar improvements were seen in other measures.
"This study demonstrates that even a short-term exposure to dogs has beneficial physiological and psychosocial effects on patients who want it," Cole said. "This therapy warrants serious consideration as an adjunct to medical therapy in hospitalized heart failure patients."
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