喜歡：都是荷爾蒙惹的禍
踢球好似談戀愛?當我們在假期日夜追看精彩比賽時，恐怕很少有人想到這一問題，然而在研究后葉催產素對競技運動的影響時，它已經成為眾多研究者的關注焦點。后葉催產素，即著名的“愛情荷爾蒙”，是一種由腦下垂體分泌、能促進人際關系的荷爾蒙。它能增加人類彼此的好感，特別在親密關系中作用尤為明顯。女性在生產和哺乳過程中也會大量分泌后葉催產素——它能增進母親和嬰兒之間的感情。大量研究證明，情侶在剛剛確定關系時，體內的后葉催產素含量會大幅上升。情侶間的原始吸引力促成后葉催產素的釋放，后葉催產素又反過來加強和穩固彼此間的吸引力。
Until recently, though, scientists had not considered whether a substance that promotes cuddliness and warm, intimate bonding might also play a role in competitive sports.But the idea makes sense, says Gert-Jan Pepping, a researcher at the Center for Human Movement Sciences at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, and the author of a new review of oxytocin and competition. "Being part of a team involves emotions, as for instance when a team scores, and these emotions are associated with brain chemicals."In the shootouts, he says, each player almost certainly had experienced a shared burst of oxytocin, and in the rush of positive feeling, had shot better.
盡管如此，科學家直到最近才開始思考：這種物質既然能拉近人與人的距離，提升彼此之間的親密關系，那么它是否也會對競技運動產生影響?這一想法不無道理，戈特-讓·佩平(Gert-Jan Pepping)如此認為。佩平博士是荷蘭格羅寧根大學(University of Groningen)人類運動學研究中心的研究員，他發表了一篇新的論文， 探討后葉催產素與競爭的關系。“參與球隊與情緒有關，比如當球隊得分時;這些情緒又離不開大腦分泌的化學物質。”佩平解釋說，在點球大戰中每一位球員幾乎都會出現后葉催產素的釋放，心中進而涌起積極樂觀的情緒，因此射得更準。
More telling, in a study presented last month at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans, male prairie voles that exercised by running on wheels over six weeks displayed changes in their nervous systems related to increased oxytocin production and bonded rapidly and sturdily with new female cage cohabitants, while unexercised males showed little interest in any particular mate."Lots of stresses can trigger oxytocin release, among them exercise," says William Kenkel, a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who led the study. He continued that "it stands to reason, then," that such exercise-related oxytocin release "could facilitate social bonding."Athletes, by the way, aren't the only group affected by oxytocin in a sports setting, "Sports fans, too, experience spurts of oxytocin release," Dr. Pepping says, including the half-hearted. "Even when you don't much like sports," he says, watching others high-five and leap about the living room after their favored team scores will lead "your body to release oxytocin." At that moment, we are all a fervent Bears or Giants or Oklahoma City Thunder fan, whatever we might think, in our more sober moments, about that James Harden trade.
更有說服力的是，上個月在新奧爾良召開的神經科學學會年會中，一項研究指出大草原雄性田鼠經過六周的跑輪鍛煉之后，體內影響后葉催產素分泌的神經系統出現明顯變化，它們與同籠的雌性田鼠關系迅速變得親密;相反那些未經鍛練的雄性田鼠對異性田鼠基本沒有興趣。“重壓能激發后葉催產素的釋放，鍛煉也是壓力的一種”研究主導者、伊利諾伊大學(University of Illinois)的博士候選人威廉·肯克爾(William Kenkel)說：“與鍛煉相關的后葉催產素分泌有助社交，這一想法經得起推理。”值得一提的是，運動場上受后葉催產素影響的并非只有運動員。“球迷身上也會出現后葉催產素激增的現象，”佩平博士表示，這同時包括那些心不在焉的看客。看到身邊的人在喜歡的球隊得分后擊掌相慶，或者在客廳里歡呼跳躍，“就算你不那么喜歡體育，你的身體也會釋放后葉催產素。”那一刻，我們都是芝加哥熊隊、紐約巨人隊，或是俄克拉荷馬雷霆的狂熱球迷——就算更多的時候，我們會悲傷地想起詹姆斯·哈登(James Harden)的交易。
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