2023年经济学人 让免疫系统睡个好觉(1)

（单词翻译）

 

    Give it a rest

    休息一下吧

    To ensure vaccines² work properly, get a good night’s sleep.

    为了确保疫苗正常工作，晚上睡个好觉。

    Vaccines get all the glory, but it is really the immune system that does the heavy lifting.

    获得了所有荣誉的是疫苗，但实际上是免疫系统做了繁重的工作。

    Indeed, those with weak immune systems often benefit little from vaccines.

    事实上，免疫系统较弱的人从疫苗中受益很少。

    Aware of this, researchers have long thought that people deprived of sleep意识到这一点，研究人员长期以来一直认为，睡眠不足的人also ought to benefit less from vaccines, as sleeping less is thought to reduce immune function.

    从疫苗中受益也应该较少，因为睡眠不足被认为会降低免疫功能。

    A new analysis reveals that this is clearly the case—though only in men.

    一项新的分析报告表明，情况确实如此——尽管仅限于男性。

    The immune system is metabolically³ expensive for the body to operate.

    免疫系统的运作需要大量的新陈代谢。

    When resources run low, it cannot function as well as it might when well supported.

    当资源不足时，它无法像得到全力支持时那样发挥作用。

    This is why people who are profoundly cold for long periods of time tend to fall ill—这就是为什么长时间处于极度寒冷的人容易生病——their bodies are burning calories to stay warm that might otherwise have been used to fuel their defence.

    他们的身体正在燃烧卡路里来保持温暖，不然这些卡路里就会被用来增强抵抗力。

    The immune system is similarly hamstrung by a lack of sleep since a number of its key components,睡眠不足同样会削弱免疫系统的功能，因为免疫系统的许多关键成分，such as the white blood cells that produce antibodies, are predominantly made by the body when a person is slumbering⁴.

    如产生抗体的白细胞，主要是在人睡眠时由身体产生的。

    Yet it has remained unclear whether poor sleep at a time of vaccination⁵ leads to reduced immune benefits.

    然而，目前尚不清楚接种疫苗时睡眠不足是否会导致免疫益处降低。

    Vaccines work by presenting the immune system with the foreign material of a pathogen.

    疫苗的工作原理是向免疫系统提供病原体的外来物质。

    The system reacts by making antibodies, though these do not last for ever—系统通过产生抗体来进行反应，尽管这些抗体不会永远持续——they circulate in great numbers shortly after a real or vaccine¹-induced invasion它们在真正或疫苗诱导的病毒入侵不久后大量循环，but their population wanes⁶ over time.

    但随着时间的推移，它们的数量会逐渐减少。

    Eventually, another shot of vaccine is needed to boost the antibody count.

    最终，需要再注射一针疫苗来增加抗体数量。