多吹空调容易发胖？

Air-conditioning may keep you cool and comfortable, but did you ever think it could contribute to making you fat? When it comes to putting on weight, scientists this week say there may be more to blame than eating super-sized portions and engaging in couch-potato pastimes. They say indoor air-conditioning may be helping¹ to keep on the pounds. It's not just the temptation to stay inside, lounging in the cool air. Keeping your body cool means less sweating, and less sweating means your are burning many fewer calories than you would if your body had to work to stay cool. The hotter it is, the more calories you burn even when you are sitting still.

Additional factors that could be slowing metabolism² are a lack of sleep, genetics and even hormone³ differences in the womb. Even medicines may be working against this; weight gain is a significant side-effect for many drugs, including common antidepressants, blood pressure medications and birth-control pills. Although the effect of any one of these factors may be small, the authors say the combination could be substantial. So while a focus on diet and exercise is always wise, they say health practitioners⁴ may also need to consider other approaches to conquer the obesity⁵ epidemic⁶.

With this Medical Minute, I'm Doctor Timothy Johnson.

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couch-potato :someone who spends a lot of time sitting at home watching television.This word shows that you do not approve of people like this 终日懒散在家看电视的人
metabolism:the chemical processes that take place in your body that change food and drink into energy 新陈代谢
womb:the organ in a woman's body or female animal's body where a baby grows before it is born 子宫
antidepressant:a drug used for treating someone who is depressed 抗抑郁病的药

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 metabolism   

n.新陈代谢

参考例句：

• After years of dieting,Carol's metabolism was completely out of whack.经过数年的节食，卡罗尔的新陈代谢完全紊乱了。
• All living matter undergoes a process of metabolism.生物都有新陈代谢。

3 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

4 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

5 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

6 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。