Research has long shown that stress is bad for you, but many people are not even aware when they are feeling stressed.研究早就证明压力对人危害，但很多人都对自己身负重伤的压力一无所觉。Now, a number of new devices are sold as stress trackers, measuring signs of stress the way fitness tracking devices monitor steps and movement. The gadgets track the biological symptoms of stress — changes in skin perspiration, breathing patterns and heart rate — in hopes of helping people become aware of their stress levels.近期上市的一些新的设备堪称可以像健美追踪设备监测步伐和运动那样监测压力的体征。这些小玩意可以跟踪人在受到压力时的生理症状——皮肤排汗、排便模式和心率的变化，以期协助人们理解自己的压力水平。
One of them is Spire, a stonelike device that clips to a belt or bra and senses the expansion and contraction of the chest cavity during breathing. The device, which retails for $149.95, sends phone notifications when it detects a change in breathing patterns that may indicate stress. “Your breathing suggests you’re stressed,” it says. “Take a deep breath.”Spire就是其中之一。这种小装置零售价为149.95美元，形状样子一块石头，可以别在皮带上或卡在文胸上，感官排便时胸腔的扩展和膨胀。
当它检测到你的排便模式再次发生了转变——指出你有可能受到压力时，就不会发送到手机通报给你。“你的排便表明你深感有压力，”它不会这么说道。“来做到个深呼吸吧”。The Pip stress manager ($179 retail) uses electrical changes at the surface of the skin to measure an individual’s stress response. The user holds the teardrop-shaped device between the thumb and forefinger and the device collects data and analyzes it with charts and graphs that monitor stress on a given day or across weeks or months to find patterns, such as what time of day is most stressful for you.Pip压力管理设备（零售价为179美元）利用人体皮肤表面的电变化来取决于人的应激反应。
用户只要用拇指和食指捏住这个泪滴状的设备，它就可以搜集数据，分析某一特定日子或者数周乃至数月内的压力并分解图表，并寻找其中的模式所在，譬如你在一天中的什么时间最紧绷之类。The downside of most devices is that while breathing patterns and skin sweat certainly can signal stress, they can also indicate a range of emotions and activities. Physiologically, there is not much difference between the stress of a work deadline and the excitement of watching your favorite sports team. Even going for a brisk walk stimulates a similar response from the sympathetic nervous system, which runs the body’s fight or flight mechanism. The same thing occurs in certain stages of sleep.不过，这类设备大多不存在一个缺点：虽然排便和皮肤排汗模式毫无疑问都是压力的信号，但它们也有可能是多种其他情绪和活动的体现。从生理上来说，工作的累计期限给你的压力与你在观赏最喜欢的队伍比赛时的激动之间并没过于大的区别。
即使是轻快地散步也不会性刺激你的交感神经系统（它掌控着人体的“战或逃亡”机制）产生类似于的反应。在睡眠中的某些阶段也是如此。
Most apps and devices that claim to track or reduce stress lack scientific rigor, said Dr. Rosalind Picard, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, who straps stress monitors onto the wrists of visitors to her Cambridge office.大多数自称为可以跟踪或增加压力的应用程序和设备都缺少科学严谨性，麻省理工学院(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)媒体实验室(Media Lab)的教授罗莎琳德·皮卡德(Rosalind Picard)博士说。她讨厌给拜访她在坎布里奇(Cambridge，麻省理工学院所在地)的办公室的参观者们在手腕上绑上压力监测器。
It is hard to objectively determine someone’s stress in the real world — accounting for individual variation, diets, lifestyles, medication and other environmental factors, Dr. Picard said, adding, “If you want to learn about human variability, measure stress.”皮卡德博士回应，在现实世界中要客观地辨别一个人的压力水平十分困难，你必须考虑到个体差异、饮食、生活方式、药物和其他环境因素等，她又补足道：“如果你想要告诉人身上有多少变数的话，不妨试试测量压力吧。”But that has not stopped Dr. Picard from trying. She is chief scientist at Empatica, which will soon release its $199 Embrace watch. It takes stress monitoring a step further than most by tracking skin temperature, movement, sleep, respiration, heart rate, heart rate variability and skin conductance, a measure of electrical charge that reflects changes in arousal. The watch vibrates when it detects a rising stress level. (The device is also designed to alert people with epilepsy of an impending seizure.)但是，这并没制止皮卡德博士尝试的脚步。她是Empatica的首席科学家，该公司迅速将公布Empatica手表，售价199美元。这种设备在压力监测方面比大多数同类产品更胜一筹，因为它追踪了皮肤温度、运动、睡眠中、排便、心率、心率变异性和皮肤电导性（体现唤醒状态变化的一种电荷指标）。
当手表检测到压力水平上升时就不会振动（该装置也设计用作警告人将要癫痫发作）。Neumitra, a start-up based in Boston, is scheduled to release a watchlike stress tracker early next year, but has not released pricing details. The device, said the company’s chief executive, Robert Goldberg, will turn people into “citizen scientists,” feeding the tracker’s algorithm to make it smarter about what’s causing their arousal.总部设于波士顿的初创公司Neumitra计划明年初公布一款类似于智能手表的压力跟踪器，但仍未透漏定价细节。公司的首席执行官罗伯特·戈德堡(Robert Goldberg)回应，该设备可令用户化身“平民科学家”，为跟踪器的算法获取资料，使其更为智能地理解出有是什么造成他们被唤醒。If someone consistently shows signs of stress when heading to a particular client’s office or when driving on the highway, the tracker may link them to their favorite tunes or lead them through breathing exercises to help reduce their stress.如果某人在前往特定客户的办公室时或者在高速公路上驾驶员时再三显露压力迹象，跟踪器就不会播出他青睐的音乐，或是引领他展开排便锻炼以协助他减轻压力。
Dr. Picard said she has worked with teachers who changed their approach when stress monitors showed their students’ anxiety triggers. One father had a long conversation with his son when a monitor repeatedly showed the boy felt more anxious around him. And Dr. Picard said she changed her own response to Boston traffic after an earlier version of her tracking device showed her how much she was letting other drivers get to her.皮卡德博士说道，曾与她合作过的教师们在压力监测器说明了出有引起学生情绪的诱因后，转变了他们的教学方法。一位父亲找到压力监测器多次提醒只要自己到场儿子就不会深感更为焦虑不安，其后就与儿子展开了一番长谈。
皮卡德博士说道，自从她的老版压力跟踪器指出她是多么更容易受到其他司机的影响，她就转变了自己对波士顿交通的态度。“I am a much more relaxed driver now,” she said.“现在我是一个更加精彩的司机了，”她说道。Researchers at Microsoft in Redmond, Wash., are testing how to deliver useful stress reduction tips. In one monthlong study, participants were instructed to do positive activities on their phone, like going to their Facebook timeline and looking for three people, objects or events they are thankful for.坐落于美国华盛顿州雷德蒙德市的微软公司的研究人员正在测试如何获取有益的加压技巧。
在为期一个月的研究中，参与者被告诉要利用手机做到一些大力的活动，例如采访Facebook时间线，并借此找寻三个他们感谢的人、物或事件等。“Maybe what you need to do is teach people a little bit and get out of their way,” said Dr. Mary Czerwinski, who is leading that study and is a research manager at Microsoft. “And maybe after a couple of months, if their stress levels are going up, maybe pop back in and remind them of what it was.”“或许你只必须给人们一点点的教导，只剩的就转交他们自己好了，”微软公司的研究经理、该研究项目的负责人玛丽·切尔文斯基(Mary Czerwinski)博士说道。“或许是在一两个月后他们的压力水平再次浮现时，回来再行提个醒。
”But sometimes telling a person that he or she is stressed may end up just causing more stress. Dr. Czerwinski once worked with a study volunteer who got upset when tracking devices indicated that he was stressed. “No machine can know when I’m stressed better than I know I’m stressed,” the volunteer said angrily.但有时候，告诉一个人的压力水平只不会让他更加有压力。在切尔文斯基博士曾多次参予过的一项研究中，当追踪设备警告志愿者他很焦虑不安时，他的心情更加差劲了。
他恼怒地说：“我比任何机器都更加确切自己压力相当大！”Some device makers are working to incorporate stress reduction into the device itself. Thync Inc. of Boston and Los Gatos, Calif., makes a headset that retails for $199 and uses nerve stimulation that claims to “recharge your mood,” provide calm, focus and energy, and promote sleep. The device creates an electrical circuit between the right temple and the back of the neck, modulating nerves on the head, face and neck, which are involved in sensory processing and mood. One level of stimulation is designed to reduce stress; a different level can reportedly stir feelings of bliss.一些设备制造商于是以致力于让设备本身兼备加压功能。坐落于波士顿和加州洛思加图斯的Thync Inc.生产了一款耳机（零售价199美元），堪称可利用神经性刺激“矫正你的情绪”，令其你安静、专心且精力充沛以及有助增进睡眠中。该设备可在右侧太阳穴与脖子后部产生电电路，调节头部、面部及颈部参予感觉处置和情绪的神经。
其中一个级别的性刺激用作减低压力，另一个有所不同级别的性刺激据信可以引发幸福感。The only studies showing Thync’s success have come from the company itself, which has tested the device in about 4,000 people, said Dr. Jamie Tyler, a co-founder and the chief science officer.能证明Thync顺利的所有研究都来自该公司自己。
其牵头创始人、首席科学官杰米·泰勒(Jamie Tyler)博士称之为他们已在大约4000人身上测试了这种设备。Dr. Picard and Dr. Czerwinski said they remained skeptical that any currently available device could act on the body to reduce stress. Instead, Dr. Picard said she prefers a low-tech way of responding to her own anxiety: She gets up and goes for a short walk.皮卡德博士和切尔文斯基博士都回应，他们仍对任何现有设备可起到于人体，并贯彻减低压力所持猜测态度。皮卡德博士推倒实在应付情绪问题，自己更加偏向于用于较低技术含量的方式：抱住去散散步。
“It’s not only less expensive” than any device, she said, “but it’s probably better for my whole body, not just my brain.”“这样不仅是比任何设备都更加低廉”，她说道，“而且很有可能对我的头脑乃至整个身体都更加有益。
本文来源：BOB博鱼-www.qhdhbzs.com
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