我们在晚餐后进入“食物昏迷”状态可能有一个很好的理由

我们在晚餐后进入“食物昏迷”状态可能有一个很好的理由

Ever feel a bit sluggish after a big meal?

你是否曾经在一顿大餐后感到有点懒洋洋的?

Animals of all shapes and sizes tend to nap after a large meal. (Photo: nikitabuida/Shutterstock)

Maybe even a little sea sluggish? (Okay, that's stretching it. Sea slugs probably don't celebrate Thanksgiving — American, Canadian or otherwise.)

也许甚至有点海洋迟缓?(好吧，这太夸张了。海参可能不庆祝感恩节——不管是美国的、加拿大的还是其他地方的。)

But they may, surprisingly, have a lot to tell us about that peculiar condition we know as a "food coma" — you know when you really gorge and then claim that you can't do dishes because you're incapable of movement and just need to close your eyes for a moment?

但是，令人惊讶的是，他们可能有很多关于我们所知道的“食物昏迷”的特殊情况要告诉我们——你知道当你真的狼吞虎咽，然后声称你不能洗碗，因为你不能运动，只是需要闭上眼睛一会儿吗?

According to a study published this week in the journal Scientific Reports, sea slugs fall into a kind of food coma, too. And rather than making them completely useless, this food coma serves an important biological function.

根据本周发表在《科学报告》杂志上的一项研究，海蛞蝓也会陷入一种食物昏迷状态。这种食物昏迷并不是完全无用的，而是具有重要的生物学功能。

"The sensation of a 'food coma' after a hearty meal is well known to anyone who has ever experienced a Thanksgiving dinner," senior author Thomas Carew of New York University's Center for Neural Science notes in a release. "In fact, most animals tend to slow down and rest after a large intake of calories, suggesting that there is a biological function to this reaction."

纽约大学神经科学中心的资深作者托马斯·卡鲁在一份新闻稿中写道:“每一个吃过感恩节大餐的人都知道，大餐之后会有‘食物昏迷’的感觉。”“事实上，大多数动物在摄入大量卡路里后都会放慢速度并休息，这表明这种反应具有生物学功能。”

"Our new study proposes that such 'rest-and-digest' responses to feeding may have been shaped by evolution to promote the formation of long-term memories."

“我们的新研究表明，这种对进食的‘休息和消化’反应可能是进化形成的，以促进长期记忆的形成。”

Specifically, researchers looked at the California sea hare, also known as Aplysia californica. The team noted that after having their fill of seaweed, the creature would slow down and become, well, extra sluggish.

具体来说，研究人员观察了加利福尼亚海兔，也被称为加利福尼亚兔。研究小组注意到，在吃饱海草后，这种生物会放慢速度，变得特别迟钝。

Sound familiar? In humans, a food coma often follows a big meal. As our bodies labor to digest it, blood is rerouted from the rest of the body to work overtime in the stomach and gut. That rush of blood to the digestive end of the body can leave people feeling weak. Some people may even nod off — embarrassingly — at the Thanksgiving table while Uncle Ned is telling one of his always-riveting tales from back in the day.

听起来是不是很熟悉?对于人类来说，一顿大餐之后通常会出现食物昏迷。当我们的身体努力消化它的时候，血液从身体的其他部分被重新输送到胃和内脏。血液涌入人体的消化系统会让人感到虚弱。有些人甚至会在感恩节餐桌上尴尬地点头，而内德叔叔则讲述着他那时候一直引人入胜的故事。

It's important to keep in mind that a food coma isn't caused strictly by how much you cram into your belly — but also the quality and combinations in that food.

重要的是要记住，食物昏迷并不是由你往肚子里塞了多少食物引起的，而是由食物的质量和组合引起的。

The California sea hare noticeably reduces its movements after a big meal. (Photo: Elliotte Rusty Harold/Shutterstock)

Now, let's get back to those sea slugs. Thanks to their oversized neurons and relatively simple physical structure, the researchers could get a glimpse of what was happening when they fell into a food coma.

现在，让我们回到那些海蛞蝓。多亏了它们超大的神经元和相对简单的物理结构，研究人员得以一窥它们陷入食物昏迷时的情况。

"In humans, food intake promotes the release of the hormone insulin, which prompts the cells of the body to absorb nutrients from the bloodstream and turn them into fat for long-term storage," notes Nikolay Kukushkin, a postdoctoral student who worked on the study.

从事这项研究的博士后学生尼古拉·库库什金(Nikolay Kukushkin)指出:“在人类中，食物的摄入促进了荷尔蒙胰岛素的释放，促使身体细胞从血液中吸收营养，并将其转化为脂肪进行长期储存。”

"However, insulin is thought to have little effect on the brain. By contrast, a related hormone, insulin-like growth factor II, has been shown to be critical for proper brain function, including long-term memory formation. However, its release does not depend on calorie intake."

“然而，胰岛素被认为对大脑几乎没有影响。相比之下，一种相关的激素，胰岛素样生长因子II，已被证明对正常的大脑功能，包括长期记忆的形成至关重要。然而，它的释放并不依赖于卡路里的摄入。”

Essentially, the human body makes use of two types of insulin. One is tied to calorie intake, helping us pack away food's energy. The other — insulin-like growth factor II, or IGF2 — arises independently of digestion and bolsters the brain.

本质上，人体利用两种类型的胰岛素。一种与卡路里摄入有关，帮助我们储存食物中的能量。另一种——胰岛素样生长因子II，或IGF2——独立于消化系统产生，并支持大脑。

In fact, IGF2 is known to fortify contacts between neurons and lock long-term memories into place.

事实上，已知IGF2可以加强神经元之间的联系，并锁定长期记忆。

Sea slugs produce both insulin and IGF2 at the same time. Their bellies grow, along with their brains.

海蛞蝓同时产生胰岛素和IGF2。他们的肚子变大了，脑子也变大了。

"Thus, Aplysia's 'food coma' is controlled by their insulin-like system, which acts by redistributing the animal's energy away from active behavior and towards storage of both nutrients and memory," Carew explains.

卡鲁解释说:“因此，兔兔的‘食物昏迷’是由它们的胰岛素样系统控制的，该系统通过重新分配动物的能量，使其远离活跃的行为，转而储存营养和记忆。”

The insulin system in humans, on the other hand, isn't unified, but rather pumps each protein out at different times. It's possible though that they interact with each other much like those in a sea slug. We may have even once shared the sea slug's all-in-one system.

另一方面，人类的胰岛素系统不是统一的，而是在不同的时间将每种蛋白质抽出来。不过它们之间的相互作用可能很像海蛞蝓。我们甚至可能曾经共享过海蛞蝓的一体化系统。

"It remains to be established whether the human 'food coma' is a vestige of our evolutionary past, or still an important part of memory formation," Kukushkin says.

库库什金说:“人类的‘食物昏迷’是我们进化历史的遗迹，还是记忆形成的重要组成部分，这一点仍有待证实。”

'I'm listening. Just resting my eyes and neck.' (Photo: And-One/Shutterstock)

We know that for many animals, humans included, sleep is crucial for locking in memories of what we experienced during the day.

我们知道，对包括人类在内的许多动物来说，睡眠对于锁定白天经历的记忆至关重要。

"Perhaps the drowsiness experienced after a meal is a similar way to preserve a memory about that meal, so as to come back to it in the future," says Carew. "Whether seaweed or Thanksgiving turkey, a good dinner is always worth revisiting."

卡鲁说:“也许饭后的睡意是一种类似的方式来保存关于那顿饭的记忆，以便将来能回忆起来。”“无论是海带还是感恩节火鸡，一顿丰盛的晚餐总是值得回味的。”

Maybe a food coma is our way of remembering Auntie Sue's delicious holiday feast — in addition to being a way to get out of dish duty.

也许“食物昏迷”是我们怀念苏阿姨的美味节日大餐的一种方式——除了作为一种逃避洗碗义务的方式。