Debaucherous evening last night? You're probably dealing with veisalgia right now.

昨天晚上大饮特饮了？那么，你现在很可能正在经历宿醉。

veisalgia：宿醉

More commonly known as a hangover, this unpleasant phenomenon has been dogging humanity since our ancestors first happened upon fermentation.

宿醉，俗称醒酒，是一种让人不愉快的现象。这种现象自从我们的祖先在第一次经历酒精发酵后就一直纠缠着人类。

Those nasty vertigo-inducing, cold sweat-promoting and vomit-producing sensations after a raucous night out are all part of your body's attempt to protect itself from injury after you overindulge in alcoholic beverages.

经过喧闹的一夜后，这些令人讨厌的眩晕感、出冷汗以及呕吐感都是身体努力保护自己避免在纵情于酒精饮料后受伤害的一种表现。

Your liver is working to break down the alcohol you consumed so your kidneys can clear it out ASAP. But in the process, your body's inflammatory and metabolic reactions are going to lay you low with a hangover.

你的肝脏正在分解你所饮下的酒精，这样你的肾脏就可以尽快将这些酒精排出。但在这一过程中，身体的炎症和代谢反应将会让你感到异常不适。

lay low: 把……打倒

As long as people have suffered from hangovers, they've searched in vain for a cure. Revelers have access to a variety of compounds, products and devices that purport to ease the pain.

只有经历过宿醉的人们，才会发现任何寻找解决办法的努力都是徒劳。纵情于酒精的人们会尝试各种复合物、产品以及设备来缓解宿醉的痛苦。

But there's a lot of purporting and not a lot of proof. Most have not been backed up well by science in terms of usefulness for hangover treatment, and often their effects don't seem like they'd match up with what scientists know about the biology of the hangover.

虽然有许多尝试，但是大部分却没有任何效果。绝大多数的尝试在缓解宿醉的效果方面并未得到科学的证实。而尝试的效果也似乎证明，它们与科学家所了解到的宿醉生物学并不匹配。

Working overtime to clear out the booze

身体机能超时运转以清除酒精

Hangovers are virtually guaranteed when you drink too much. That amount varies from person to person based on genetic factors as well as whether there are other compounds that formed along with ethanol in the fermentation process.

饮酒过量几乎肯定会引起宿醉。引起宿醉的具体饮酒量取决于人类的基因以及是否在发酵过程中除了乙醇外是否还存在其他复合物。

Over the course of a night of heavy drinking, your blood alcohol level continues to rise. Your body labors to break down the alcohol -- consumed as ethanol in beer, wine or spirits -- forming damaging oxygen free radicals and acetaldehyde, itself a harmful compound. The longer ethanol and acetaldehyde stick around, the more damage they can do to your cellular membranes, proteins and DNA, so your body's enzymes work quickly to metabolize acetaldehyde to a less toxic compound, acetate.

经过一晚的狂饮，你血液中的酒精浓度将继续升高。身体开始努力分解酒精-即啤酒、葡萄酒或烈性酒中的乙醇（本身就属于有害的复合物），以防止其形成具有破坏性的氧游离基和乙醛。乙醇和乙醛粘合在血液中的时间越长，它们对细胞膜、蛋白质和DNA所造成的破坏也就越大。因此，身体中的酶就会快速工作，以将乙醛分解为毒性稍小的复合物-醋酸酯。

oxygen free radical：氧游离基

acetaldehyde：乙醛

acetate：醋酸酯

Over time, your ethanol levels drop through this natural metabolic process. Depending on how much you consumed, you're likely to experience a hangover as the level of ethanol in your blood slowly returns to zero. Your body is withdrawing from high levels of circulating alcohol, while at the same time trying to protect itself from the effects of alcohol.

随着时间的推移，身体内的乙醇浓度会随着自然的代谢而下降。随着血液中的乙醇浓度逐渐减少，直至消失，你很可能会经历宿醉作用，这具体取决于你饮下多少酒。在体内循环的高浓度酒精会慢慢消失，同时，身体也会保护自己免受酒精的伤害。

Scientists have limited knowledge of the leading causes of the hangover. But they do know that the body's responses include changes in hormone levels to reduce dehydration and cellular stress. Alcohol consumption also affects a variety of neurotransmitter systems in the brain, including glutamate, dopamine and serotonin. Inflammation increases in the body's tissues, and the healthy gut bacteria in your digestive system take a hit too, promoting leaky gut.

科学家们对于造成宿醉的主要原因还不够了解。但是，科学家们知道，饮酒后的身体反应包括荷尔蒙水平改变以缓解脱水和细胞应激。酒精的摄入还会影响大脑中的各种神经递质，比如谷氨酸，多巴胺和5-羟色胺。身体细胞的炎症反应会有所增加，消化系统内健康的肠道细菌也会遭受打击，并导致漏肠症。

Neurotransmitter：神经递质

cellular stress：细胞应激

glutamate：谷氨酸

dopamine：多巴胺

serotonin：5-羟色胺

Altogether, the combination of all these reactions and protective mechanisms activated by your system gives rise to the experience of a hangover, which can last up to 48 hours.

总而言之，所有这些由身体触发的反应和保护机制相结合就会导致宿醉。宿醉最长可以持续48小时。

Your misery likely has company

你可能并不是一个人在受罪

Drinking and socializing are cultural acts, and most hangovers do not happen in isolation. Human beings are social creatures, and there's a high likelihood that at least one other individual feels the same as you the morning after the night before.

饮酒和社交都属于文化行为，绝大多数宿醉都不是在独自一人时发生的。人类属于社会性动物，那么很有可能至少有一人在经过一晚狂饮后，会在第二天早上出现和你一样的不适感。

Each society has different rules regarding alcohol use, which can affect how people view alcohol consumption within those cultures. Drinking is often valued for its relaxing effect and for promoting sociability. So it's common to see alcohol provided at celebratory events, social gatherings and holiday parties.

关于酒精摄入，每种社会都有不同的规则。不同文化中的这些规则会对人们如何看待酒精摄入产生不同的影响。饮酒经常因其具有放松和社交促进功能而备受人们重视。因此，在庆祝活动、社交聚会以及假日聚会上看到酒水供应则是一件稀松平常的事。

In the United States, drinking alcohol is largely embraced by mainstream culture, which may even promote behaviors involving excessive drinking. It should be no surprise that overindulgence goes hand in hand with these celebratory social events -- and leads to hangover regrets a few hours later.

在美国，饮酒在很大程度上被主流文化所接受。而这种主流文化甚至会鼓励包括过量饮酒在内的行为。因此，在庆祝性的社交活动中看到人们纵情饮酒并在随后的几个小时后出现因为出现宿醉而感到懊悔则并非一件稀奇的事情。

Your body's reactions to high alcohol intake and the sobering-up period can influence mood, too. The combination of fatigue that you experience from sleep deprivation and hormonal stress reactions, in turn, affect your neurobiological responses and behavior. As your body is attempting to repair itself, you're more likely to be easily irritated, exhausted and want nothing more than to be left alone. Of course, your work productivity takes a dramatic hit the day after an evening of heavy drinking.

身体对大量酒精摄入以及醒酒期的反应还会影响心情。由于彻夜不眠所导致的疲惫以及荷尔蒙应激反应，反过来会影响神经生物反应和行为。由于身体正在试图修复自己，你更有可能变得烦躁，疲惫以及孤僻。当然，在经过一夜的豪饮后，你的工作效率也会受到非常严重的影响。、

sobering-up period ：醒酒期

When all is said and done, you're the cause of your own hangover pain, and you're the one who must pay for all the fun of the night before. But in short order, you'll forget how excruciating your last hangover was. And you may very soon talk yourself into doing the things you swore you'd never do again.

说到底，造成宿醉痛苦的人正是你自己。而需要为前一晚纵情狂欢而付出代价的人同样是你。但很快，你就会将上一次宿醉所带来的痛苦抛在九霄云外。你可能很快就会说服自己做一些你发誓要戒掉的事。

Speeding up recovery

加快恢复

While pharmacologists like us understand a bit about how hangovers work, we still lack a true remedy.

尽管像我们这样的药理学家对宿醉的工作原理有浅显的了解，但是我们仍然不知道如何彻底治疗宿醉。

Countless articles describe a variety of foods, caffeine, ion replenishment, energy drinks, herbal supplements including thyme and ginger, vitamins and the "hair of the dog" as ways to prevent and treat hangovers. But the evidence isn't really there that any of these work effectively. They're just not scientifically validated or well reproduced.

有无数文章提供了防止和治疗宿醉的办法，比如各种食物、咖啡因、离子补充、能量饮料、草本补充剂，包括百里香和姜、维他命以及“以毒攻毒”的药，但是并没有证据表明，这些物品能够奏效。这些物品并未得到科学验证或仿效。

Hair of the dog:以毒攻毒的药

For example, Kudzu root (Pueraria lobata), a popular choice for hangover remedies, has primarily been investigated for its effects in reducing alcohol-mediated stress and hangover. But at the same time, Kudzu root appears to inhibit the enzymes that break down acetaldehyde -- not good news since you want to clear that acetaldehyde from your system quickly.

比如说，葛根（Pueraria lobata），一种流行的解酒药，因其能够减少酒精所造成的应激和宿醉功效而受到重点研究。但与此同时，葛根似乎会阻碍分解乙醛的酶。这并非一则好消息，因为我们希望能够快速将身体系统内的乙醛清除掉。

To fill this knowledge gap, our lab is working with colleagues to see if we can find scientific evidence for or against potential hangover remedies. We've focused on the benefits of dihydromyricetin, a Chinese herbal medicine that is currently available and formulated as a dietary supplement for hangover reduction or prevention.

为了填补这项知识空白，我们的实验室与同事展开合作，以了解我们是否能够针对潜在的宿醉治疗找到科学支持或反对的证据。我们将注意力放在双氢杨梅树皮素，一种中药上。其目前被制作成饮食添加剂以用于缓解或预防宿醉。

Dihydromyricetin appears to work its magic by enhancing alcohol metabolism and reducing its toxic byproduct, acetaldehyde. From our findings in mice models, we are collecting data that support the usefulness of dihydromyricetin in increasing the expression and activity of enzymes responsible for ethanol and acetaldehyde metabolism in the liver, where ethanol is primarily broken down. These findings explain one of the several ways dihydromyricetin protects the body against alcohol stress and hangover symptoms.

双氢杨梅树皮素似乎在促进酒精代谢以及减少毒性副产品-乙醛方面具有神奇的作用。通过老鼠模型中的实验结果，我们收集到证明双氢杨梅树皮素能够增加肝脏内酶的表现度和活性的数据。酶可以代谢掉乙醇和乙醛，而肝脏是绝大多数乙醇被分解的地方。这些研究结果证明双氢杨梅树皮素保护身体免受酒精应激和宿醉症状的数种方式之一。

We are also studying how this enhancement of alcohol metabolism results in changes in alcohol drinking behaviors. Previously, dihydromyricetin was found to counteract the relaxation affect of drinking alcohol by interfering with particular neuroreceptors in the brain; rodents didn't become as intoxicated and consequently reduced their ethanol intake. Through this combination of mechanisms, we hope to illustrate how DHM might reduce the downsides of excessive drinking beyond the temporary hangover, and potentially reduce drinking behavior and damage associated with heavy alcohol consumption.

我们也在研究改善酒精代谢将如何使饮酒行为发生变化。在这之前，我们发现双氢杨梅树皮素能够通过干扰大脑中特定的神经受体来抵消饮酒所带来的奉送效果。啮齿动物并未喝醉，从而它们的乙醇摄入量也有所减少。通过这一机制的结合，我们希望说明DHM如何减少过量饮酒所造成的不良后果并潜在减少饮酒行为以及与过量饮酒所有关的损害。

Of course, limiting alcohol intake and substituting water for many of those drinks during an evening out is probably the best method to avoid a painful hangover. However, for those times when one alcoholic beverage leads to more than a few more, be sure to stay hydrated and catch up on rest. Your best bet for a smoother recovery is probably some combination of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug like ibuprofen, Netflix and a little downtime.

当然，在晚上聚会时，限制酒精摄入以及用水来替代许多含酒精饮料可能是避免宿醉最好的办法。然而，在这种情景下，一杯酒精饮料会导致更多杯。在这种情况下，因保持补水并休息。让醒酒变得顺利一些的最好办法可能是非甾类消炎药，比如布洛芬、Netflix和适量的休息。

nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug：非甾类消炎药

Daryl Davies is a professor of Cliical Pharmacy, Joshua Silva a Ph.D. Candidate in Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics, and Terry David Church Assistant Professor of Regulatory and Quality Sciences at the University of Southern California.

Daryl Davies是临床药剂学教授，Joshua Silva 为临床和实验治疗学博士候选人，Terry David Church，南加州大学监管和质量科学助教。

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