午休時間和同事窩在小吃攤抱怨主管，下班後去喝酒講講客戶的壞話，我們喜歡抱怨，並不是喜歡用負能量折磨朋友，是因為當我們講出來之後，像是一種宣洩，感覺好多了。

During the lunch break, you and colleagues complained about the supervisor at the food stall. After work, you went to drink and talked about the bad things about the customers. We like to complain. Not to torture others with our negativity, but when we say it out, it’s like a catharsis. It makes you feel better.

 

也許偶爾一兩次無妨，但如果我們常常抱怨，或是我們一直聆聽來自家人、朋友、同事的抱怨，神經科學家派頓指出，抱怨會重塑你的大腦，從此成為容易負面的人，也會改變我們對生命的看法。從生理上，也會升高壓力，引發各種慢性病。

It doesn’t matter for once or twice, but if we complain a lot, or if we keep listening to complaints from family, friends, and colleagues, neuroscientist Steve Parton points out that complaining will reshape your brain, making you easy to go negative and changing our perception of life. Physiologically, it also increases stress and triggers various chronic diseases.

 

「在大腦中，大量的神經元突觸被一種稱為突觸間隙的空間隔開。當我們有一種想法時，神經元突觸就會釋放化學物質穿過空隙到另一個神經元，因此就建立了橋樑，這個橋樑可以傳遞帶電的訊號，它所攜帶的電荷就是你所想的事情，」派頓對媒體解釋。

"Throughout your brain, there is a collection of synapses separated by empty space called the synaptic cleft. Whenever you have a thought, one synapse shoots a chemical across the cleft to another synapse, thus building a bridge over which an electric signal can cross, carrying along its charge the relevant information you're thinking about," Parton explains to the media.

 

為什麼你變得愈來愈容易抱怨？

 Why are you complaining more and more often?

 

當神經元突觸反覆連結，更緊密地結合在一起，以便減少電荷要旅行的路程，讓連結更有效率，也因此大腦重新連結了迴路，讓神經元突觸連結得更快，也會鼓勵神經元不斷地走這條不費力的路徑，這也是你之後愈來愈容易抱怨的原因，抱怨因此改變了你的個性。負面情緒也會傳染。不過，如果你一直和愛抱怨的人出去，你也會漸漸變得不快樂。同樣的，如果你也常常向朋友、同事抱怨，你也將負面情緒帶入他們的生活。

When synapses are repeatedly connected, they grow closer together in order to decrease the distance the electrical charge has to cross, making the connection more efficient. The brain is rewiring its own circuitry to make synapses connect faster and trigger them to constantly take this effortless path, which is why you complain more afterwards and it also changes your personality. Negative emotions can also be contagious. However,[1] if you hang out with people who complain a lot, you gradually become unhappy. Similarly, if you often complain to friends and colleagues, you also bring negative emotions into their lives.

 

[1] 這裡應該不需要用「不過」，前後兩句並沒有相反的意思。