简介：
Pain Now Is Easier Than Pain Later
越拖延，越痛苦
Delaying inevitable pain may not be the best route when it comes to decreasing your anxiety. Christie Nicholson reports
拖延那些迟早都要面对的痛，会增加我们的焦虑感。晚痛不如早痛，这真的不是乱讲。
撰写/播音 克里斯蒂•尼克尔森（Christie Nicholson）
翻译 尹秋媛
An upcoming dental appointment can be terrifying. So terrifying, in fact, that the fear of future pain can be a worse experience than the actual pain during the procedure. So finds a study in the journal PLOS Computational Biology.
一想到要去看牙，我心里就觉得害怕。事实上，这种恐惧带来的痛苦，比到真正拔牙时候的疼痛感更加厉害。这一项研究发表在《公共科学图书馆•计算科学》（PLOS Computational Biology）上。
Volunteers had to choose a date on which they would have hypothetical, painful dental work, and choose another date to get a real electric shock.
参与研究的志愿者需要选择两个日期，一个是假定去看牙医的日期，另一个是接受真正电击的日期。
Most subjects strongly preferred to schedule the pain (real or theoretical) as soon as possible—they felt that the dread of waiting was just too much to endure. They did not want to wait even though they were told that the shocks would be less intense if they put them off.
大部分受试者会倾向选择相对提前的日期，因为他们认为漫长的等待更加难熬——即便研究人员告诉他们，如果推迟接受电击的日期，电击的强度会更低。
The minority of participants who did choose to delay their pain thought that doing so would reduce their immediate anxiety. Which is the same motivation for those who wanted to get the pain over with sooner.
只有少部分人会选择推迟接受电击的日期，以降低迫在眉睫的焦虑感。其实，不论选择后者还是前者，他们都是为了减少现在的忧虑和恐惧。
However, the delaying group suffered increasing levels of anxiety as time wore on.
然而，随着时间的推移，选择推迟日期的试验者会变得越来越焦虑。
So, when you have the freedom to choose, the best strategy appears to be to rip off the band-aid, fast. Never dread til tomorrow what you can suffer through today.
所以，面对糟心的事情就像撕创可贴一样，撕得越快，痛苦的时间越短，疼痛也就越少。今天就能解决的“痛”，就千万别拖到明天。
（题图来源：dplindbenchmark.com）
