和另一半同居時,你的身體會發生何種變化

Couples who live together agree to share a lot of things, like a bed, a bathroom, and a kitchen. Naturally, when you move in with a partner, everything changes, including your skin bacteria. Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada have found when we live with a significant other, we exchange bacteria, which causes our Microbial profile to change.

同居的情侶會共用很多東西，比如：牀、浴室和廚房。因此，當你搬去和另一半同住時，一切都自然而然的發生了變化，包括肌膚上的細菌。加拿大安大略省滑鐵盧大學的研究人員發現：當我們與另一半住在一起時，我們會交換細菌，導致自身的微生物分佈狀態發生改變。

In the study, published in MSystems, an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, researchers found each person in the relationship significantly influenced the microbial communities on their partner's skin. Using microbial data, computer algorithms were able to match couples with 86 percent accuracy. The body part most likely to host skin bacteria shared by a couple were the feet.

該研究發表在美國微生物學會的MSystems期刊上，大衆可自行獲取。研究員發現：戀愛關係中的每一個人都會影響另一半皮膚上的微生物羣。使用微生物數據和計算機算法可匹配情侶，精確度高達86%。情侶之間最容易宿主皮膚細菌的身體部位就是雙腳。

Causality was not analysed, but Canadian researchers believe it could be due to couples walking barefoot on the same surfaces in their house, therefore it's easy to transfer bacteria with each other and their immediate environment.

加拿大研究員尚未分析這一因果關係，但他們認爲這可能是因爲情侶在家中都是光着腳走在同樣的表面，所以很容易彼此交換細菌和它們的直接環境。

"You shower and walk on the same floor barefoot, and this process likely serves as an effective form of microbial exchange with your partner, and also with your home itself," said Josh Neufeld, study author and a biology professor at the University of Waterloo, in a statement.

"你們赤腳在同樣的地面洗澡、走路，這一過程很有可能使你和另一半、以及整個房子交換微生物，"滑鐵盧大學的生物教授和本研究的作者喬希·諾伊菲爾德在一份聲明中說道。。

Individuals have various skin bacterial communities from region to region, but this finding shows factors like cohabitation can actually shape one's microbiome.

每個地區的每個人都有不同的皮膚細菌羣，但這一研究表明：同居等因素真的能形成一個人的微生物菌羣。

However, not all of couple's skin regions will share the same microbiome. For example, the study found microbe communities collected from the thighs were more similar between people of the same sex than those who lived together. This may be linked to the fact that bacteria on women's inner thighs are influenced by the vaginal microbiome.

然而，並非所有的情侶皮膚都將共享同樣的微生物菌羣。比如，研究發現：相比同居的情侶，那些性別相同的人擁有更相似的大腿微生物羣。這也許是因爲女性大腿內側的細菌實則是受陰道微生物菌羣的影響。

Microbiomes are unique, but they can also be easily influenced. Diet, environment, and even simple chance encounters are known to affect the microbiome. It's not surprising to share a bed with someone and have their skin bacteria, since it affects the composition of your own microbial profile.

微生物菌羣是獨一無二的，但它們也很容易受到影響。飲食、環境、甚至是簡單的碰觸都能影響微生物菌羣。因此與他人共享一張牀並感染他們的皮膚細菌也就不足爲奇了，因爲它會影響你自身的微生物分佈狀態的組成。