6 Minute Coffee with Uncle Reggie Stories: Brain Freeze and Protection
Reggie 叔叔的故事：大脑冻住和保护 (Sonic 翻译)
- Part 1 Can we air condition the brain gently?
第一部分：空调能温和的调节我们的大脑吗？ - Part 2 What can babies teach us (about air conditioning brains)?
第二部分：关于大脑的温度调节，婴儿能告诉我们什么？ - Part 3 Can we buffer the brain gently, and what can woodpeckers teach us?
第三部分：我们能让大脑温和减震吗？啄木鸟能给予我们什么启示？
Part 1 Can we air condition the brain gently?
第一部分：空调能温和的调节我们的大脑吗？
Brain freeze. In the first few years after we moved to Seattle, I began to have regular headaches, seemingly more than in the past. I wondered, why am I getting all these headaches? Then I noticed them often occurring with low temperatures at home, and I began watching the actual indoor temperatures more carefully. This strange syndrome of “brain freeze” especially occurred when I was sitting down quietly inside, and working on my computer, presumably therefore not generating much internal heat from physical activity.
大脑冻住。我到西雅图的最初几年，我开始有规律的头痛，其发作似乎比以往更频繁。我很迷惑，为什么我会头痛呢？后来我注意到头痛经常在室内温度较低的时候发作，于是我开始仔细留意室内的实际温度。这种奇怪的“大脑冻住”现象在我安静的坐在电脑旁工作时尤其容易发作，也许是因为没有通过身体活动产生较多的内在热能。
Before moving to Seattle, we lived in the Midwest for 50 years, where the outdoors is considerably hotter in summer, and colder in winter. It might seem logical that Seattle would have “better weather,” implying at least that it “isn’t as cold” as the Midwest, but it isn’t that simple. In the Midwest, the temperature indoors in winter can be like summer, since people readily turn up the heat! Seattleites like the cool air so much, they often don’t turn on the heater at all, so it’s sort of 50s cool for most of the year. I think my ageing brain was not prepared for this at all!
在搬到西雅图以前，我们在中西部生活了50年，那里夏天室外相当热，而冬天有点冷。由此看来西雅图似乎“气候更宜人”，至少不会像中西部那样冷，但是没有那么简单。在中西部，人们在冬天喜欢打开暖气使室内温度像夏天一样暖和。西雅图人太喜欢冷空气了，他们根本不开暖气，一年里大部分时间可能只有摄氏10来度。我想我的正上年纪的大脑根本没有适应这种气候。
Photo 1: Native Seattleites however don’t seem to have brain freeze.
图1:西雅图的当地人好像没有大脑被冻住的。
I figured out soon that I had a “brain freeze cut-point,” below which my headache would be triggered. This cut-point was initially 73F, but with time it started moving up, and it’s now even higher than 75F. Whenever I feel a headache coming on, I can just raise the room temperature if it is under my control, splash relatively hot water over my face or eyes, or even take out a hair blower to “blow dry my brain.” To my immense relief, the headache then starts disappearing. Which is just great, both a relief to know the diagnosis, and a relatively easy treatment. No pain killer pills at all! Which is no mean feat, in view of the national epidemic of pain killer related diseases.
我很快就观察到我的大脑冻住临界点，在其之下我的头痛就会被激发。这个临界点开始在23℃，但是随着时间推移，它逐渐上升，现在甚至高过24℃。一旦我感到头痛来临，如果有条件，我立即升高室内温度，或者向我的脸和眼睛浇上稍微有点烫的水，或者拿出吹风机“吹干我的大脑”。使我极大的宽慰，头痛就这样开始消失。无论是知道了缘由的宽心，还是相对简单的处理，这都太奇妙了。根本不需要止痛片！相对于止痛药成瘾的国家流行病学，它还值得一提。
Brain warmer. I discovered also that putting on a neck scarf and hat was also quite protective for “my brain,” so if you look at my pictures in recent years, I seem always to be wrapped up warmly. Actually, I like wearing scarves and hats anyway, so it fits my vanity angle. I have been an ardent admirer of Sherlock Holmes, so I might even use a hat like his! But when I go to church I feel embarrassed that often I still need a cap, and seem to be the only one feeling the cold. What I really need is a cap that can become invisible or camouflaged!
大脑加热。我也发现带上围巾和帽子也能很好的保护我的大脑，如果你看我近几年的照片，会发现我总是包裹得很暖和。实际上我总喜欢带围巾和帽子，它满足了我的虚荣心。我是福尔摩斯的热切的追随者。所以我要带上一顶像他一样的帽子。但是我带着帽子去相当寒冷的教堂的时候就比较尴尬，好像就我一个人感到冷。我真需要的是一顶无形的或者迷彩的帽子！
I used to have the opposite problem. In summer in Asia, where it can get very hot and humid, my brain would feel so toasted, that I needed to splash cold water on my face numerous times a day. I was particularly envious of people who seemed quite cool even in hot weather (like my wife), and admired people boldly smashing freshly cut cold watermelon onto their faces, which is an amazing summer face freshener.
我也曾遇到过相反的问题。在亚洲，夏天很热很潮湿，我感到我的大脑要烤焦了，我必须一天内无数次的浇凉水在脸上。我很羡慕那些即使在大热天里看上去也很凉爽的人，比如我太太，我也羡慕那些人，他们把新鲜切开的凉西瓜直接扣在脸上，那是特效的夏季面部爽肤水。
I used to carry an Asian fan all the time wherever I went in China, so that I could just “fan my brain,” in hopes of cooling it down. Asian scholarly gentlemen of yore seemed to do just that, at least in drawings of the period, and I was quite in style, just not the right century. Or, in modern Hong Kong, I might carry ice inside a self-improvised strap to cool or freeze my neck, which seemed to work even better. I often dreamt of inventing a localized “brain freezing” helmet, just for poor toasted brains like mine. I imagined that if this helmet fad caught on, then there might even be no need for air conditioning of homes: all you need is air-conditioned brains or necks.
我以前去到中国的时候，无论何时何地总是带把扇子，我可以给大脑扇风，让它冷却下来。旧时的亚洲学究就是这样的，至少在那个时期的图片上是这样的，我就是这个做派，只是不是那个时代。或者在现代香港，我会把冰放进自制的带子里去冷凝我的脖子，这看起来更好使。我经常设想发明一个对我这样的快烤糊了的脑袋起局部“脑冻住”的头盔。我设想如果这种头盔流行开来，家里面就不需要空调：你所需要的就是空调调节大脑和脖子温度。
You might have noticed that, in these cold or hot “sob stories,” all I needed really was just to, respectively, keep warm, or cool off, the head or neck, and I would feel quite comfortable. I didn’t really need to heat or cool any other part of my body. Which makes physiologic sense, since significant numbers of nerves in the body are actually in head and neck. If head and neck are happy, the rest of the body seems happy also.
您可能也注意到了，在这些关乎冷暖的“自怜自爱”的故事里，我最需要的是给我的头或者脖子保暖或降温，那样会让我感到舒服。身体的其他部位倒是不需要特别的冷暖关照。从生理学意义上讲，既然大量的神经分布在头和脖子，如果头和脖子快乐了，身体的其他部分也就快乐了。
Part 2 What can babies teach us (about air conditioning brains)?
第二部分：关于大脑的温度调节，婴儿能告诉我们什么？
Premature baby lessons. I learned about temperature-head interactions dramatically when I was managing sick small babies. One of our illustrious neonatologists (newborn baby specialists) on our team, Dr. P specialized in temperature control in babies. He discovered that temperature changes inside the baby incubator actually even affected the breathing pattern of premature babies.
早产儿课。我在照料生病的小婴儿的时候，我学习到头部温度会对机体有显著影响。我们团队著名的新生儿专家Dr. P 专门研究婴儿的体温调控。他发现保温箱的温度变化会影响早产婴儿的呼吸方式。
The small premature baby has times when he has “apnea,” or spontaneous stopping of breathing, presumably related to disturbed brain control of breathing. Dr. P discovered that, contrary to what you might think, the usual incubator temperature was quite unstable, and actually cycled up and down all the time, amazingly affecting even the baby’s breathing. When the temperature swung up in the incubator, he discovered small babies more often actually stopped breathing (had apnea), which he presumed was from change in brain control of breathing!
幼小的早产儿发生偶发的短暂窒息时, 或者自发的呼吸停止，推测和大脑呼吸控制紊乱有关。和我们所认为的相反，Dr. P 发现，常规的保温箱的温度是不稳定的，一直在上下波动，明显影响婴儿的呼吸。当保温箱温度向上波动时，他发现小婴儿经常呼吸暂停(窒息），他推测和大脑的呼吸控制有关！
So, this creative doctor designed a novel computer-controlled incubator which tamped down temperature swings. By reducing sudden increases in temperature, he proved the babies had less apnea and better breathing. Since he surmised that the head was the key organ to sense temperature changes, he further devised a box around the baby’s head that made it cooler than the rest of the incubator, and the babies indeed were able to breathe better.
因此，这位有创造性的医生设计了一个新奇的电脑控制的保温箱，可以避免温度波动。减少了突然的温度上升，他证实婴儿很少窒息，呼吸更平稳。自从他推测头部是感受温度变化的主要器官，他进一步设计了一个盒子，包绕婴儿的头部，让保温箱内头部的温度比其他部位稍微低一点 ，这样婴儿能更好的呼吸。
There seemed to be a remarkable interaction of temperature and brain function in these babies, and I wondered often if there were subtle effects even for adults like me! It reminded me of my attempts at “cooling the brain” in summer in Asia, by cooling head and neck, so that not only was my head more comfortable and happy, I was certainly breathing better and happier!
这样看来，在这些婴儿大脑功能和体温间有显著的相互影响，我经常很迷惑，像我这样的成年人是否也有这样细微的影响！它提醒我，在亚洲的夏天通过凉快头和脖子去给大脑降温，这样不仅我的头更舒服和愉悦，自然我的呼吸也更好了，更轻松了。
Part 3 Can we buffer the brain gently, and what can woodpeckers teach us?
第三部分：我们能让大脑温和减震吗？啄木鸟能给予我们什么启示？
Brain concussions. In my pursuit of keeping the brain nice and warm in winter but cool enough in the summer, I began to also think, here is another thing which is often neglected… After all the brain needs a lot more protection than cooling or heating. As I age, it is quite apparent to me that lots of seniors die from falling and injuring their brains.
脑震荡。在我保持大脑舒坦，冬天保暖，夏天足够凉快的尝试中，我也开始想到另外一件经常容易忽视的事情，大脑除了降温、升温以外还需要更多的保护。很明显很多在我这个年纪的老人因跌倒和损伤大脑死去了。
I remember vividly a foreign student’s mother who came from China to visit, fell down unfamiliar stairs at night at their home, and ended her life in this foreign land. It made me think there must be a way to prevent this. Homes in other countries often don’t have the American luxury of 2 or 3 stories with indoor stairs, so it can be disorientating at night to the visitor, especially when the lights are dimmed. Anyone walking in the middle of the night is likely only half awake, so it’s a potentially doubly dangerous trap.
我清楚记得一个留学生的妈妈从亚洲来探视，晚上从他们家尚不熟悉的楼梯跌落，在异国他乡结束了生命。这使我思考，一定有办法阻止这样的事情。其他国家的家一般没有美国家庭那么奢华，有两三层楼还有室内的楼梯，在晚上，尤其是光线昏暗时，访客容易迷失方向。半夜起身的人都是半梦半醒的，这就更加的危险。
And it isn’t just foreigners, since a local friend of mine was visiting her son in another American city, and she rolled down the stairs also in the middle of the night, apparently from a wrong turn in the dark. Fortunately she survived without major issues. But these are just a few examples of dangerous falls or blows on the head that could ruin a life.
不仅是外国人，我的一个本地的朋友去美国另外一个城市看望她的儿子，也在半夜从楼梯上摔下去，显然是因为在黑暗中一个错误的转身，好在没有大问题，她幸存了。但是这只是几个危险的跌落和头部撞伤引起性命之虞的例子。
Woodpecker brains to the rescue. I came upon an amazing strange new story of how the brain might be protected from a strong blow on it. Many have heard the unusual pecking of the woodpecker. He keeps pecking away at wood, blow-by-blow, and if he is drilling into your home, you worry your house might fall one day. But when you think more, you might worry that the bang, bang, bang impacts are so great, why doesn’t he blow out his brain, and repeatedly so?
啄木鸟的大脑保护。我偶然读到一篇很让人惊讶的新的文章，关于在重击下如何保护大脑。很多人都听到过啄木鸟不同寻常的啄木头的声音。它一下又一下连续的凿着木头，如果它就这样在你家的墙上钻孔, 你会担心你的房子某一天会倒塌。但是你再想想，你可能会迷惑，如此强烈的砰、砰、砰的撞击，为什么没有把它的脑浆震出来，还可以这样持续不断？
Photos 2 & 3: The anti-concussion woodpecker bang, bang, bang, secrets now being revealed. Save your brain! No simple “bird brain” here. From photographers Larry and Amy Wymer, Cincinnati.
图2 & 3：啄木鸟啄击木头时的抗震荡的秘密已经揭示了。保护您的大脑! 不要再藐视“小鸟脑袋”. 图片来自摄影师Larry 和Amy Wymer，辛辛那提。
After all, the pressures are huge, as much as 1,000G (1,000 times gravity). His brain should have severe concussion with each blow, but it seems quite content and happy. Shockingly, we now have learned a possible explanation. It seems that the woodpecker has a fascinating (long) tongue that is able to wrap around the neck when he is pecking away at the wood, and therein lies a likely secret!
毕竟，压力有1000G（地心引力的1000倍）那么巨大。它的大脑每一次撞击都应该导致严重脑震荡，但是它看起来既满足又快乐。我们了解到一个令人惊讶的可能的解释。啄木鸟好像有一个相当长的舌头，在它凿木头的时候舌头把脖子绕起来，这可能是其中的一个秘密吧。
The tongue wrapping around the neck compresses the neck veins so that brain veins, which flow down into neck veins, are backed up and engorged. In turn, the brain is engorged, and turgid, full of brain and fluid essentially! Like a balloon filled totally with water, and therefore filling out any dead space inside the skull. The brain then fits the skull perfectly and snugly.
舌头包绕脖子，压迫颈部静脉，回流到颈部的大脑静脉受阻变得充盈。啄木鸟颅内本来就充满着脑组织和液体, 因此变得更加充盈，像装满水的气球，填充了颅内的所有腔隙。脑组织完美地、紧密地填充了颅骨腔。
So, when the head receives each peck and blow, the brain has no free space to move, and doesn’t “slosh around” and stretch or tear up brain tissue, or dangling blood vessels and nerves. Thus, the woodpecker pecks merrily away with no concussions or brain injuries, even from such great impact pressures.
因此，当大脑受到每一次啄击或敲打，脑组织都没有地方可移动，不会“四处飞溅”，不会拉伸或撕裂脑组织，也不会震荡血管和神经。因此，即使是这么高强度的打击，啄木鸟也欢快的啄击，没有发生脑震荡、脑损伤。
I just learned that investigators at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, my mother institution, have been taking off on this idea, and are studying specially designed neck wraps to reduce children’s head trauma from concussion causing blows, during (“American”) football games. Even though we talk disparagingly about small “bird brains,” stealing this novel brain protection idea from birds might remind us the small bird brain is “not so dumb” after all.
我是在辛辛那提儿童医院，我过去的研究所，了解到这个观点, 从这个观点扩展开，他们开始进一步研究，特别设计了颈部保护带以减少美式足球比赛中头部打击引起的震荡造成的头部创伤。尽管我们不屑地说这是“小鸟脑袋”，有什么用呢？, 但是从小鸟那里启发出的这个新奇的大脑保护点子，也许会提醒我们小鸟脑袋根本不是那么“傻气”。
Brain Fantasy. Senior citizens definitely have a high risk of falling and having brain concussions, which can be fatal. So, in my fantasy, if God could create a remarkable woodpecker tongue “scarf,” maybe we could be inspired to create a simple preventive, senior scarf that has anti-concussion (“woodpecker style”) function!
大脑的幻想. 老年人毫无疑问有摔倒和脑震荡的高风险，那是可能致命的。因此，我设想，既然上帝创造一个非凡的啄木鸟似的舌头围巾，我们也可以受此启发创造出简单的、有预防脑震荡功能的、“啄木鸟式”老人围巾。
Photo 4: Head and neck well protected from brain freeze headache. With refinements one day, maybe even also prevent concussion, Woodpecker scarf, someone?
图4:头和脖子被好好的保护，以免大脑寒冷性头痛。随着进一步的改进，也许可以防止脑震荡，也许是啄木鸟似的围巾，也许是其他的？
Maybe, thinking ahead, in the future that scarf could even be electronically activated to tighten up automatically when falls are actually happening, to maximize the protection. This response will probably need to be faster even than activation of auto airbags at time of collision.
设想在未来，这个围巾可能在真的摔倒时电子启动，自动化的收紧，最大限度的起保护作用。这个反应速度甚至比撞车时自动的气囊启动还要快。
Plus, in my personal bias, it should then be easy to program this scarf also to keep brain and neck nicely warm in winter, but cool in summer (“Uncle Reggie style”). Computer nerds and geniuses, you got the ideas here, without patent or royalties. You can send an acknowledgement to my website, reggietales.org!
另外，出于我个人的偏好，这个围巾还要好控制，能在冬天保持头和脖子舒适温暖，夏天凉爽（Uncle Reggie 的风格。）电脑高手电脑奇才们，没有付专利费和使用费你们就得到了这个点子，你可以在我的网站上Reggietales.org 说声谢谢吧!
