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Throwing up is actually the worst, but at least your body has a good reason for it most of the time,
呕吐真的是最糟糕的事情了，但至少在大多情况下，呕吐也是有原因的，
like if you've eaten bad seafood or something.
比如，你吃到了坏掉的海鲜或其他食物。
But nausea and vomiting are also common side effects of severe pain,
但恶心和呕吐也是剧烈疼痛的常见副作用，
whether it's from a migraine or getting punched really hard, and that seems much less logical.
不论这种疼痛是源于偏头痛还是拳头的重击，这似乎有点不合逻辑。
Like, why would a raging migraine in your head make your body want to empty your stomach?
比如，为什么剧烈偏头痛会让你的身体想要清空你的胃部呢？
Well, there's a chance you can blame it on our old friend adrenaline.
好吧，或许你可以将之归咎于我们的老朋友肾上腺素。
There's lot of anecdotal evidence for the link between pain and vomiting,
有很多轶事证据表明疼痛和呕吐之间是有联系的，
but purposely hurting people badly enough to make them blow chunks for a study is kind of ethically sketchy.
但为了研究而故意严重伤人打到他们呕吐，这种做法在道德层面上也说不过去。
So research on this usually follows surgery patients people who will likely be in pain anyway, and at predictable times.
所以关于此的研究通常是在可预测的时间内对可能遭遇疼痛的外科病人进行观察。
In these studies, patients experienced both pain and nausea after their procedures.
在这些研究中，病人们会在手术后经历疼痛和恶心。
And the researchers found that when only the pain was treated, the nausea tended to disappear, too. At least, the vast majority of the time.
而且研究人员发现当疼痛被治愈时，恶心的症状也消失了。至少，大部分时候是这样的。
That strongly suggested the pain was the source of the queasiness in these cases, not something else about the surgery, like anesthesia.
这大大表明在这些情况中，恶心的源头是疼痛，而不是因为和外科手术相关的事物，比如麻醉。
Since pain is so complex, both in terms of where you feel it and how strong it is,
由于不论是从疼痛的地方还是痛感的程度来讲，疼痛都是非常复杂的，
it's difficult for scientists to pin down exactly what mechanism links pain and vomiting.
因此，科学家们很难对疼痛和呕吐之间的机制下定论。
But they do have some promising ideas, one of which involves hormones like adrenaline.
但是他们确实有一些比较靠谱的想法，其中一个就涉及荷尔蒙，比如肾上腺素。
Adrenaline is the stuff that gets your heart pounding before a first date or a big race, and it's also released when you're in pain.
肾上腺素是让你在第一次约会或参加大型比赛之前心跳加速的物质，在你感到疼痛的时候，也会释放这种物质。
That's probably because pain is a sign that something is clearly going wrong.
这或许是因为疼痛是某些事情出问题的迹象。
So by speeding up your breathing and heart rate, adrenaline can prepare your body to escape a potential threat.
因此，通过加速呼吸和心率，肾上腺素可以让你的身体准备好逃离潜在威胁。
As part of that preparation, the hormone activates a bunch of receptors throughout your body,
作为准备的一部分，荷尔蒙激活全身的一堆受体，
including one type called alpha-adrenergic receptors, which might be specifically responsible for the pain-induced vomiting.
包括一种阿尔法肾上腺素能受体，它具体负责由疼痛引起的呕吐。
This hasn't been directly tested in humans, but in some animals, activation of these receptors can cause neurons to fire in a brain region called the area postrema,
还没有在人体上对这一猜想进行试验，但是在一些动物身上，激活这些受体可以导致神经元在一个被称为极后区的大脑区域中被激活，
a tiny spot in your brainstem more commonly known as the vomiting center.
极后区这个位于你脑干的小地方有一个更为人熟知的名字—呕吐中枢。
And like the name suggests, it triggers the numerous systems that lead to revisiting your lunch.
正如它的名字一样，这个地方可以触发很多系统，让你的午餐在里边翻转回游。
So when you're in a ton of pain, that flood of adrenaline could activate a bunch of these alpha receptors, and therefore your vomiting center.
所以当你感受到剧烈疼痛时，洪水般泛滥的肾上腺素会刺激大量阿尔法受体，你的呕吐中枢也因而被激活。
And then it's hello, toilet. Then again, the answer could be more complicated.
然后，嗨，厕所，我来了。反正答案会更加复杂。
See, while vomiting itself has some pretty clear-cut mechanisms, the causes of nausea are still poorly understood.
虽然呕吐本身有一些相当明确的机制，但对恶心的成因我们了解的并不多。
Studying it is really tough because unlike pain, nausea is more than just a physical signal.
要对此展开研究很难，因为，不同于疼痛，恶心不仅仅是一种物理信号。
It's a full-on physical, psychological, and even emotional experience, and that makes it hard to test in animals.
这完全是身体、心理、甚至情绪的体验，因此在动物身上也很难进行测试。
It's not like you can just ask a rat how queasy they're feeling.
你又不能问这只老鼠：你觉得有多想恶心啊。
So, it's possible that pain mostly leads to nausea, and that sickly feeling is what makes you throw up, rather than pain directly leading to vomiting.
所以疼痛大部分可能会导致呕吐，并且正是这种难受的感觉让你呕吐，疼痛本身并不会直接导致呕吐。
To learn more, scientists will need to find some way to research this process in humans.
为了了解更多，科学家们需要找到一种方式在人体身上演示这一过程。
But since they can't just go around punching people until they throw up… first they'll need to find a safe way to do it.
但是你有不能走到别人旁边暴打他，打到他呕吐为止...首先他们需要找到一种让人呕吐的安全方法。
In the meantime, thanks for asking, and thanks to all of our patrons on Patreon who voted to have this question answered!
同时，感谢提问，感谢Patreon上所有对这个问题进行投票的赞助人！
Hopefully all this talk about vomit didn't make you too queasy.
希望本期谈论呕吐的话题不会让你感到太恶心。
If you have a science question for us, or want to get access to other cool rewards like exclusive blooper reels while supporting this show,
如果你想向我们提问或是想获得独家小礼物来支持科学秀
you can go to patreon.com/scishow.
请登录patreon.com/scishow。
