苏州到三国城水浒城:请留意女士，精液可以抑制抑郁。

请留意女士们：精液可以抑制抑郁

Vaginal exposure to semen elevates women's mood.

阴道揭示了，精液益于提升女性情绪。

Published on January 31, 2011

出版于2011-01-31

Perhapsyou're familiar with the McClintock effect, the observation that whengroups of reproductive-age women live or work together (in collegehousing, the military, all-female workplaces, etc.), over time theirmenstrual periods tend to become synchronized. The accepted explanationis that the women detect each other's pheromones, subtle scents thateach of us produce, and somehow these only-faintly aromatic but powerfulcompounds influence the women's hormones and make their menstrualperiods arrive around the same time.

或许你熟知芭芭拉·麦克林托克的研究成果，她的言论指出当同处育龄期的女性生活工作在一起（学院宿舍、部队、其它女性工作场所等），她们的月经期会随共处时间的推移而趋近。被广为接受的解释是：这些女性受到自身与其他人体味以及信息素之间相互作用的影响。尽管每个人分泌出的气味微弱，却在潜移默化间混合引起强烈的相互作用，致使她们的女性荷尔蒙受到影响造成月经期的趋近。

Butat the State University of New York, two evolutionary psychologistswere puzzled to discover that lesbians show no McClintock effect. Whynot? Gordon Gallup and Rebecca Burch realized that the only realdifference between lesbians and heterosexual women is that the latterare exposed to semen. They speculated that maybe semen chemistry hassomething to do with the McClintock effect. But if that were true, thevagina would have to absorb compounds in semen that affected the women'spheromones.

但是纽约美国州立大学，两位进化论心理学研究者将麦克林·托克的研究结论应用于女同性恋者时，结果令他们十分困惑。为什么出现了不同的结果？盖洛普和贝卡丽·伯奇这两位学者意识到女同性恋者和异性恋唯一的区别即是异性恋的女性，阴道会常与精液接触。他们推测精液中的某些化学成分可能影响到麦克林·托克研究结论的产生。如果这个推测成立，那么则是先由阴道吸收了精液中的化合物从而再作用于女性信息素的。

Semenis best known for what's not absorbed by the vagina, sperm, which swimthrough it on their way into the fallopian tubes where fertilizationtakes place. But sperm comprise only about 3 percent of semen. The restis seminal fluid: mostly water, plus about 50 compounds: sugar (tonourish sperm), immunosuppressants (to keep women's immune systems fromdestroying sperm), and oddly, two female sex hormones, and manymood-elevating compounds: endorphins, estrone, prolactin, oxytocin,thyrotrpin-releasing hormone, and serotonin.

众所周知精液不会被阴道吸收，只有精子游入输卵管发生受精。不过精液中只含有的3%精子，剩余物质包括大部分水和50种化合物：如糖份（用于养育精子），免疫抑制剂（用于抵制女性免疫系统对精子的破坏），还有些奇怪的成份，比如2种雌性激素，很多的情绪提升化合物：内啡肽、雌激素酮、催乳激素、后叶摧产素、促甲状腺释放激素、血清素。

Vaginaltissue is very absorptive. It's richly endowed with blood and lymphvessels. Given vaginal absorptiveness and all the mood-elevatingcompounds in found in semen, Gallup, Burch, and SUNY colleague StevenPlatek wondered if semen exposure might be associated with better moodand less depression. They surveyed 293 college women at SUNY Albanyabout intercourse with and without condoms, and then gave the women theBeck Depression Inventory, a standard test of mood. Compared with womenwho "always" or "usually" used condoms, those who "never" did, whosevaginas were exposed to semen, showed significantly better mood--fewerdepressive symptoms, and less bouts of depression. In addition, comparedto women who had no intercourse at all, the semen-exposed women showedmore elevated mood and less depression.

阴道组织有很强的吸引力，它富含大量的血管和淋巴管。全部的情绪提升激素都富含于精液里。盖尔普、伯奇和SUNY的同事史蒂芬都好奇是否阴道与精液的接触会带来好的情绪多过抑郁。他们调查了293名大学里使用和不使用安全套的女性，并且给他对她们的情绪进行研究。对比“一直”或“经常”使用安全套的和从不使用的女性之间的情绪差别，调查发现那些总是有机会接触到精液的女性们快乐积极的情绪明显多于抑郁。

Meanwhile,risky sex is usually associated with negative self-esteem and depressedmood. Among college women, risky sex includes intercourse withoutcondoms, so we would expect sex sans condoms to be associated with moredepressive symptoms, and more serious depression including suicideattempts. However, in the Gallup-Burch-Platek study, among women who"always" or "usually" used condoms, about 20 percent reported suicidalthoughts, but among those who used condoms only "sometimes," the figurewas much lower, 7 percent, and among women who "never" used condoms,only 5 percent reported suicidal thoughts. (This study controlled forrelationship duration, amount of sex, use of the Pill, and days sincelast sexual encounter.) So it appears quite possible that theantidepressants in semen might have a real mood-elevating effect.

同时，冒险的性行为通常也会引起悲观和消极的情绪。冒险性行为包括不使用安全套，我们猜想在校的多数女性都有这一方面的抑郁，甚至这种抑郁会导致自杀倾向。然而，这三位的研究却显示，这些女性里"一直“和”总是“使用安全套的一类曾有过自杀倾向的约20%，而那些”偶尔“使用安全套的女性们自杀倾向的比率更低仅为7%，另外，”从不“使用安全套的女性们，只有5%曾有过自杀的想法。（这一研究结果受制于与伴侣间建立性关系的时日，发生性行为的次数，服用避孕药，以及距离最后一次性行为间隔天数）。那么，这极可能说明精液里含有的抗抑郁剂的确拥有调节激活情绪的功效。

Finally,recall that in addition to antidepressant compounds, semen alsocontains two female sex hormones, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) andluteinizing hormone (LH). FSH spurs egg maturation in ovary. LH isinvolved in triggering ovulation. Why would semen contain compounds thatencourage ovulation? From an evolutionary perspective, this makesperfect sense.

最后，重回上文提到的，精液中除了抗抑郁化合物，同时含有2类雌性激素：促卵泡激素（FSH)和黄体化激素(LH)。FSH催促卵细胞在卵巢的成熟。LH则涉及对排卵的控制。为什么精液里还需要含有的刺激排卵的化合物呢，同样地，这也验证了生物进化论。

Considerour closest biological relatives, the chimpanzees. Chimp semen containsno FSH or LH, but ovulating females develop a red buttocks, clearlysignally reproductive readiness. In contrast, human women have concealedovulation. Men don't know when women are most fertile. Compared withmen whose semen lacked ovulation-triggering hormones, those whose semencontain these hormones would gain a small reproductive advantage. Theirsemen would encourage ovulation, and their sperm would be more likely tofertilize eggs.

参照与人类最相近的猩猩。猩猩的精液里并不含有FSH和LH，但是排卵期的雌性猩猩会进化出红色的臀部，彰显着旺盛的生育能力。相比之下，人类则是遮掩住作为雌性排卵的征兆。男人们看不出女人什么时候处于受孕最佳时机。对比精液里不含有刺激排卵激素的男人和精液里含有这类激素的男人，后者便更容易使女性受孕。他们的精液不仅可以激发女性排卵，精子也更容易卵子受精着床。1

Now,I'm not advocating that reproductive-age people shun condoms to elevatewomen's mood at the risk of unplanned pregnancy. But this effect mightcome in handy for women over age 50, who are experiencing menopausalblues.

现在，我不是在倡导育龄期的男女们不使用安全套冒险意外怀孕去调节女性们的情绪。但是这个影响迟早会有用，到50岁她们正遭遇更年期抑郁时。

I'mfascinated by the chemical complexity of semen. Until recently,scientists believed that its sole purpose was to nourish and protectsperm on their way to fertilization. But now it appears that semen spursovulation and makes women feel happier. That might explain why manywomen report increased interest in sex around the time of ovulation.

精液复杂的化学成分让我充满兴趣。到最近，科学家们仍旧坚信精液唯一的作用便是供养和保护精子受孕。但是现在我们知道精液不仅能够刺激排卵还可以让女性更加快乐。这或许能解释为什么很多女性在排卵期性欲会增强。

Source: Bering, J. "An Ode to the Many Evolved Virtues of Human Semen," Scientific American, Sept. 22, 2010.

资料来源：Bering, J. "An Ode to the Many Evolved Virtues of Human Semen," Scientific American, Sept. 22, 2010.