真的嗎?喝杯熱牛奶對睡眠其實沒啥幫助!

Really?: The Claim: A Glass of Warm Milk Will Help You Get to Sleep at Night(原文連結)

這個傳說應該大家都聽過,連這個都有問題嗎?看到這篇的標題時的震驚讓我決定先弄完這篇,再繼續我的沒錢online假裝歐洲之旅,身為曾經需要服藥的嚴重睡眠問題受害者,這個方法我當然試過.看來真是花了冤枉奶粉錢了(僅次於養別人小孩的奶粉錢吧).

Few foods have a reputation for curing insomnia quite like warm milk.
沒錯,溫牛奶在幫助睡眠食物排行榜就算不是榜首也是名列前茅吧!

reputation :
1.To have a reputation for something means to be known or remembered for it.
e.g.Alice Munro has a reputation for being a very depressing writer.

2.Something's or someone's reputation is the opinion that people have about how good they are. If they have a good reputation, people think they are good.
e.g.The stories ruined his reputation.

insomnia :Someone who suffers from insomnia finds it difficult to sleep.
(是的就是這個字,金歹睏,睏未去 的英文)

According to age-old wisdom, milk is chock full of tryptophan, the sleep-inducing amino acid that is also well known for its presence in another food thought to have sedative effects, turkey.
根據古早流傳下來的生活智慧,牛奶充滿了色氨酸,這種幫助入睡的胺基酸,也廣為人知存在另外一種被認為有安眠效果的食物-火雞裡.

Something that is chock-full is completely full. (INFORMAL)
e.g.The 32-page catalog is chock-full of things that add fun to festive occasions.

But whether milk can induce sleep is debatable, and studies suggest that if it does, the effect has little to do with tryptophan.
不過牛奶是否幫助睡眠還值得商討,而研究指出如果牛奶真的有效,效果也跟色氨酸沒太大關係..

To have any soporific effect, tryptophan has to cross the blood-brain barrier. And in the presence of other amino acids, it ends up fighting — largely unsuccessfully — to move across.
要達到任何助眠效果,色氨酸必須要通過所謂血腦障壁,而且在其他胺基酸的存在下,要競爭才能進大腦,大部分都失敗無法進入.

soporific: adj
1. Inducing or tending to induce sleep.
2. Drowsy.
n.A drug or other substance that induces sleep; a hypnotic.
這篇文章就用了三四個跟睡有關的字,另外一個是
drowsy :adj., -i·er, -i·est.
1. Dull with sleepiness; sluggish.
2. Produced or characterized by sleepiness.
3. Inducing sleepiness; soporific.

One study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated this in 2003. The study, which was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that eating protein-rich foods — like milk — decreased the ability of tryptophan to enter the brain.
2003年麻省理工學院的針對這個做了一個研究報告.這個報告在The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition上發表,顯示出吃高蛋白質的食物— 如牛奶 — 會降低色氨酸進入腦中的能力.

The trick, the study showed, is to eat foods high in carbohydrates, which stimulate the release of insulin. Insulin, in turn, makes it easier for tryptophan to enter the brain.

該報告指出,真正有效的把戲是吃高碳水化合物含量的食物,這會促使胰島素的釋放,胰島素相對來說讓色氨酸進入大腦容易些.

But surveys have found that many people swear by milk as a sleep aid, and that may have something to do with psychology.
不過調查卻發現許多人都深信牛奶有助眠效果,這可能是種心理作用.

Scientists say the routine of drinking a glass of milk before bed can be as soothing as a favorite old blanket.
科學家認為睡前固定喝牛奶的心理安慰作用就如同最愛的舊毯子(Snoopy裡的Linus的舊毯子).

THE BOTTOM LINE
A glass of warm milk may make you drowsy, but not because of tryptophan.
結論:一杯溫牛奶也許會讓你容易入睡,不過不是因為色氨酸.

以這個結論看來下次改喝溫米漿似乎是個好主意.

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