一詞：通宵熬夜會讓你的身體發生這些，可怕

n. 墮落；毀壞；惡化

圖片來源：視覺中國

There are times when it's unavoidable - a dissertation is due, a family member is in the emergency room, it's make-or-break for your company - but you should be aware of just how damaging pulling an all nighter can be for your body.

有時這是無可避免的--論文要交了，家人在急救室裏，公司到了生死存亡的關頭--但是你應該要知道開夜車會對你身體造成何種傷害。

Neuroscientists from Norway looked closely at the potential repercussions on our health, and it's not pretty (as you might expect if you've ever suffered a sleepless night).

挪威的神經學家仔細研究對我們健康的潛在負面影響，這不妙。（就像你可能預料到的那樣，如果你曾經歷過不眠之夜的話。）

They recruited 21 healthy young men to undergo a series of diffusion tensor imaging (or DTI) tests, which indicate water diffusion in the body and thus the health of the nervous system.

他們招募了21名健康的年輕男子進行一系列彌散張量成像測試（DTI），這項測試能顯示水在體內的彌散，進而顯示神經系統的健康程度。

The volunteers stayed awake for 23 hours, and to provide some control conditions, they weren't allowed to consume alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine during the study, and they couldn't eat anything before a DTI scan.

志願者23小時保持清醒。爲了提供對照組，他們在研究期間不被允許攝入酒精、咖啡因或者尼古丁，並且在DTI掃描前不能進食。

The 2015 report pointed to "significant" changes in the white matter inside the brain after a night with no sleep, finding that "sleep deprivation was associated with widespread fractional anisotropy".

這份2015年的報告指向一夜未眠之後，大腦中白質的“巨大”變化。發現“睡眠剝奪與普遍的局部各向異性有關。”

In other words, a degradation of the 'connectivity' networks inside the brain - something you might have felt first-hand if you've ever tried to collect your thoughts after a sleepless night.

換句話說，就是腦內“連接”網絡的惡化--如果你曾在不眠之夜後試圖聚集自己的想法，這就是你可能切身體會到的東西。

Changes were noticed throughout the brain, covering the corpus callosum, brainstem, thalamus, fronto temporal and parieto-occipital tracts.

腦中各部位都能看到變化，包括胼胝體、腦幹、丘腦、額顳和頂枕束。

What's not quite as clear is how permanent this damage is: could a long sleep the next night repair all the damage that's been done, for example?

尚不清楚這種損傷會持續多久：例如，下一晚的長時間睡眠能修復已造成的所有損傷嗎？

今日詞彙

degradation [,degrə'deɪʃ(ə)n]