SCIENTISTS in Canada have found that picking your NOSE and eating it could be good for your health. 加拿大科学家发现挖鼻孔并吃鼻屎有助于你的健康。 But did you know all sorts of bad habits can improve your well being? MATTHEW BARBOUR investigates. 但你知不知道，其实各种坏习惯都能改善健康状况呢？马修巴伯尔对此做了调研。 Gossiping: Spending 20 minutes chatting about other people’s news (and misfortunes) helps 96 percent of people squash feelings of stress, tension and anxiety for up to four hours straight, say US researchers at Rhode Island’s Brown University. 八卦：美国罗德岛州布朗大学的研究员称，花20分钟聊聊别人的动态（和不幸）可以让96%的人缓解压力、紧张和焦虑情绪，疗效长达4小时。  Women who spread positive gossip found their depression alleviated by up to 72 percent within three months. 研究人员发现，抱积极态度聊八卦的女性在三个月内，抑郁症状会减轻72%。 That’s because speaking positively about others stimulates bonding instincts, which revs up the brain’s production of powerful, mood-elevating antidepressant hormones. 这是因为起劲地聊他人的八卦刺激了结合本能，加速了大脑分泌强大又能调节情绪的抗抑郁激素。 Picking your nose: Scott Napper, associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Saskatchewan, believes eating mucus in the nose may boost the immune system by introducing small and harmless amounts of germs back in to the body. 挖鼻屎：加拿大萨省大学生物化学副教授斯科特-纳帕认为，食用鼻腔中的黏液可以让大量微小无害的细菌进入体内，帮助增强免疫系统功能。 His theory follows others that suggest improved hygiene has led to an increase in allergies and auto-immune disorders. 纳帕的理论建立在其他人的研究基础上，先前的研究认为目前改善的卫生条件导致过敏和免疫系统紊乱情况的增加。 Biting your nails: Experts believe the same argument could hold true for nail biting. 咬指甲：同样的道理，专家认为咬指甲也有好处。 Dr Hilary Longhurst, consultant immunologist from Barts and the London NHS Trust, said: “Unless your hands are truly filthy, the bugs we encounter when biting our nails could boost our immune system.” 巴茨及伦敦国家医疗服务系统的顾问免疫学家希拉里-朗赫斯特博士表示：“除非你的手实在太脏，否则咬指甲时遇到的各种微生物细菌对免疫系统有好处。” The immune system works by developing a “memory” and making a note of how to fight each bug it has ever encountered. 免疫系统会产生“记忆”，制定计划对付它曾经遇见过的微生物细菌。 When a bug is encountered a second time, the immune system reaches into its memory to release weapons – called memory lymphocytes – that know how to kill it. 一旦这些微生物细菌再次出现，免疫系统就会凭记忆释放武器——这种被称为记忆淋巴球的武器知道如何杀死细菌。 Burping: This natural gas release is a normal part of digestion and suppressing it can cause problems. 打嗝：这种气体自然释放是消化的一部分，压抑打嗝会引发问题。 If you don’t belch and the gas stays on the stomach, this can cause the valve that separates the gullet and the stomach to relax, allowing stomach acid to splash up into the gullet, triggering heartburn. 假如你不打嗝，气体会停留在胃里，引起隔离食道和胃的气门松弛，使胃酸流进食道，引发胃灼热。 Cracking your knuckles: A large study following people that did and didn’t crack their knuckles over a five-year period found that knuckle crackers’ joints were just as healthy as those who didn’t. 按压指关节：一项大型研究花了5年时间，追踪调查了压指关节和不压指关节的人们，发现压指关节的人们关节更健康。 People’s joints tend to feel more comfortable after cracking because they have stretched out the joint and have a greater degree of movement. 人们的关节在被挤压后会更舒服，因为关节得到了舒展，有了更好的灵活度。 Chewing gum: Recent research shows that chomping on gum can improve both short and long-term memory (scientists are still figuring out exactly why). 嚼口香糖：最新的研究发现，嚼口香糖能提高短期和长期的记忆（科学家们还没找到原因）。 And chewing the stuff might also help you slim down, according to new research from the University of Rhode Island. 根据美国罗德岛大学的一项最新的研究发现，嚼口香糖也能帮你瘦下来。 Research suggests that frequent chewing can stimulate the brain’s satiety centre, which is responsible for making us feel full. 研究发现，频繁的咀嚼能刺激大脑的饱足中枢，使人们产生很饱的感觉。 Protect your teeth and go with a stick of the sugar-free kind. 不过为了你的牙齿着想，选择无糖的吧。 | |
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