時差N小時:睡覺不打噴嚏 We don't sneeze during sleep

The signs are unmistakable: the eyes water, thechest heaves, the nose twitches, the body tenses,suspense builds... until finally a sneeze blasts forth,concluding the drama.

眼睛濕潤，胸部隆起，鼻子一陣抽搐，身體緊繃，就這樣待定著，到最后一個噴嚏響起，像是演了一出戲劇!

It's a momentarily paralyzing experience that canseize one at almost any time.

這使得人的身體短暫麻痹，它幾乎可以在任何時間讓一個人給緊縮。

But try and recall if you've ever been jarred out of apeaceful sleep by an explosive sneeze.

但是，試想你曾經(jīng)有過在安詳?shù)乃咧斜灰粋€突然的噴嚏給震醒的情況嗎?

Chances are you can't, because, thankfully, we don't sneeze while we sleep.

你是不會有的，因為很慶幸，我們在睡覺的時候不會打噴嚏。

To understand why, first we need to know why we sneeze while we're awake.

要理解其原因，我們首先需要了解為什么我們會在醒的時候打噴嚏。

Sneezing is a reflex, which means that it's an uncontrollable physical response to an outsidestimulus.

打噴嚏是一種反射，也就是說它是一種生理對外界環(huán)境的反應，不可控制。

When something, say a piece of dust ora strong odor, stimulates nerve endings in the lining of the nose, the stimulus travels to thecentral nervous system and is then routed back to the muscles of the face, throat and chest.

有時候，像一顆塵?；蛞还蓮娏业奈兜来碳ち吮亲永锏纳窠?jīng)末梢，這個刺激就會到達中樞神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)，繼而再返回到臉部、喉嚨和胸部的肌肉。

Once stimulated, these muscles go to work and cause us to forcefully expel air from themouth and nose.

這些肌肉一旦被刺激，它們就會運動，導致我們強有力的排出口腔和鼻子里面的空氣。

Or, in other words, we sneeze.

或者，換句話說就是打噴嚏。

Because the nose lining tends to swell when we lie down, making it even more sensitive tosneeze-causing particles, it would seem that sneezing would be likely during sleep.

因為在我們躺下的時候，鼻子里面部分趨于隆起，這使得它對引起打噴嚏的微小顆粒更加敏感。這樣看來，似乎在睡覺的時候更容易打噴嚏。

However, since there is little airflow in most bedrooms at night, and little movement to stir updust and other particles, the nose is not bombarded by as many foreign particles as it is duringthe day.

然而，由于我們的臥房里在晚上幾乎沒有空氣流動，也沒有什么運動會揚起灰塵及其它微粒，所以就不會有像白天那么多外界微粒來刺激我們的鼻子。

Furthermore, the area of the brain responsible for the sneeze reflex relaxes while we sleep.

而且，當我們睡覺的時候，腦袋中負責打噴嚏反射的區(qū)域也休息了。

So, even when a particle does touch the nose lining, the brain doesn't notice, and we don'tsneeze.

所以，即使有微塵碰觸了鼻子內部，大腦也沒意識到，我們就不會打噴嚏。