科學家告訴你兒童尿牀的原因
Never a happy topic, bed wetting is a very distressing problem for five to seven million American kids. If we can’t explain why some people like to pick on these kids, can we at least shed some light on what causes bed wetting?
尿牀可是個不愉快的話題。尿牀困擾着500萬至700萬名美國兒童。如果我們無法解釋爲什麼偏偏這些兒童尿牀，那麼我們至少探究下尿牀的原因吧！
At one time, people punished bed-wetters for acting badly, but today scientists believe that this conditionhas several physical causes. Some kids suffer from problems like infections or anatomical defects that can be easily identified and treated.
以前，經常尿牀的兒童會被罰。但是，如今科學家相信尿牀是基於生理因素。一些兒童患常見可治癒傳染病或結構缺陷。
Other causes are harder to pin down. One promising area of research is on the kidney hormone ADH. We all produce more ADH hormone at night. ADH signals the kidney to slow down production. This is why we don’t go to the bathroom for eight hours at night but could never last that long between bathroom breaks during the day. Some children who wet their beds do not produce enough ADH at night. When given drugs that boost this hormone, they stop bed wetting.
其它原因就很難下定論了。有種可行性研究的方向是腎臟激素：抗利尿激素。夜晚人體分泌的抗利尿激素較多。抗利尿激素向腎臟發出減慢新陳代謝的信號。這是爲什麼我們夜晚八小時不上廁所，但是白天上廁所的間隔時間卻更短。一些兒童尿牀是因爲夜晚沒有分泌足夠的抗利尿激素。服用藥物促進抗利尿激素分泌就可以治療兒童尿牀。
Finally, some kids simply have small bladders and an undeveloped nervous system. The good news is that these kids, like most bedwetters, will grow out of it as their bodies develop and mature.
另外，有些兒童尿牀僅僅是因爲膀胱小且神經系統發育不完善。可喜的是隨着身體機能的發育和成熟，大多數尿牀兒童不再尿牀。
