Meeting a beautiful woman can be bad for your health, scientists have found.

科研人员日前发现，与美女会面可能有害健康。

Meeting a beautiful woman can be bad for your health, scientists have found.

The effects are heightened（提高，升高） in men who believe that the woman in question is "out of their league".

Cortisol（皮质醇） is produced by the body under physical or psychological（心理的） stress and has been linked to heart disease.

Researchers tested 84 male students by asking each one to sit in a room and solve a Sudoku（九宫格游戏） puzzle. Two strangers, one male and one female, were also in the room.

When the female stranger left the room and the two men remained sitting together, the volunteer's stress levels did not rise. However, when the volunteer was left alone with the female stranger, his cortisol levels rose.

The researchers concluded: "In this study we considered that for most men the presence of an attractive woman may induce（引诱，引起） the perception（感觉，知觉） that there is an opportunity for courtship.

"While some men might avoid attractive women since they think they are 'out of their league', the majority would respond with apprehension¹（理解，恐惧） and a concurrent²（一致的，并发的） hormonal³ response.

"This study showed that male cortisol levels increased after exposure to a five-minute short social contact with a young, attractive woman."

Cortisol can have a positive effect in small doses, improving alertness and well-being⁴. However, chronically⁵ elevated cortisol levels can worsen medical conditions such as heart disease, diabetes⁶（糖尿病） , hypertension and impotency（无力，阳痿） .